Languages at YWJS

Languages Statement of Intent

Resilient    Respectful   Inspired   Curious

Language Learners at Yeadon Westfield Junior School

Since September 2014, the learning of a Foreign Language at Key Stage 2 has been taught as a statutory requirement of the National Curriculum. In making it compulsory, the Government recognised the value that could be gained from language learning, not only as a worthwhile academic pursuit but also as a vehicle to challenge insularity and encourage tolerance and understanding. 

Here at Yeadon Westfield Junior School, our Languages curriculum aims to take our children on a learning journey that both educates and inspires through the learning of French as an additional language. We celebrate children’s natural curiosity and aim for them to be able to express their thoughts and ideas in another language and be able and willing to respond to others speaking a different language in either written or spoken forms.

In starting language learning at a young age, we also hope to prepare the foundation for our children’s later language education at Secondary School and potentially during Further Education.

The specific aims of the language curriculum are to:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources;
• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding differing ways of communicating, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation;
• write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt;
• discover and develop an appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied.

To meet these aims, we will endeavour to provide exemplary language lessons through a variety of activities including interactive games, songs and role play, to ensure stimulation and enjoyment.  We want children to adopt a mindset of being a Fearless Failure by always adopting a ‘have a go’ attitude to ensure our children become resilient learners.

By the end of Year 6, we want our children to leave with a firm foundation of skills, knowledge and vocabulary to be further developed at Key Stage 3 and beyond. They will have broader horizons having developed deeper understanding and respect of other cultures alongside their own, through recognising similarities and differences between their culture and that of others.

'You live a new life for every language you speak.

If you only know one language, you only live once.'

Czech proverb.