Intent

The Modern Foreign Languages curriculum at All Saints’ Catholic High School will provide all pupils with an ambitious and academic learning experience that builds knowledge and develops skills to nurture their God-given talents to ensure that all “SHINE”. The curriculum will be planned coherently and will be sequenced towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills allowing all pupils to succeed at each stage of their learning, see the progression in their ability to communicate in their own and another language, widen their cultural horizons and have a plethora of choice in order to progress to aspirational post-16 destinations and beyond.

The MFL curriculum will  support the Catholic ethos of the school with prayers in the target language. It will be enhanced by an extra-curricular programme (WIP) which provides pupils with opportunities to consolidate and extend their learning and gain further cultural capital. The key MFL pedagogy is that of Gianfranco Conti’s Extensive Processing Instruction.

MFL curriculum will be designed around the following five areas:

• Knowledge (and skills) - explicit teaching of knowledge and skills.
• Vocabulary - explicit teaching of tier two and three vocabulary.
• Sequenced five year continuum - pupils will experience a sequential and gradually more challenging academic curriculum through their five years at All Saints’.
• Memory, recall and cognition - pupils will be exposed to metacognition strategies and how to improve long-term memory.
• Reliable assessment - this will be formative and summative over the five-year continuum.

We aim to produce linguists who can recall prior learning and who can work independently in their speaking and writing with a range of vocabulary, tenses and complex structures. Our pupils are able to express opinions and offer justifications. All students use Satchel:One / sentencebuilders.com to help develop their independent learning. We listen to pupil and assessment feedback to review and adapt the teaching and learning experience to ensure students enjoy and make progress in their MFL learning. Through studying languages, we hope they develop as literate and articulate citizens of the world and that their improved knowledge of how language works and how people learn languages will enable them to understand and express other languages as well as enhancing their English and develop future relationships by valuing other cultures; even if with just a few words in another person’s language and some appreciation of their customs. Additionally, the knowledge and skills they will gain will ensure they are well-prepared for GCSE examinations.