School

Spanish and French at St Marie’s RC Primary School (Years 3–6)

Delivered by Lingotot North Manchester – Specialist Teacher: Catharine Townley

Curriculum Intent

At St Marie’s RC Primary School, our Modern Foreign Languages curriculum is designed to ensure that all pupils develop strong linguistic foundations, cultural awareness and a positive attitude towards language learning. We provide a broad KS2 languages offer that includes both French and Spanish, enabling pupils to experience more than one language and build transferable language‑learning skills.

Our intent is that pupils will:

1. Communicate with increasing confidence in a foreign language
2. Develop accurate pronunciation and intonation
3. Understand and apply key grammatical structures
4. Broaden their vocabulary and language‑learning strategies
5. Gain an appreciation of French‑ and Spanish‑speaking cultures
6. Be well prepared for the transition to KS3

Curriculum Implementation

All KS2 language teaching is delivered by Catharine Townley from Lingotot North Manchester, ensuring specialist subject knowledge and high‑quality progression.

Our structure is as follows:

1. Years 3–5: Pupils study Spanish through a carefully sequenced curriculum that builds speaking, listening, reading and early writing skills.
2. Year 6: Pupils continue with French from September until Easter, consolidating prior learning and strengthening their understanding of language structures.
3. Summer Term (Year 6): Pupils transition to Spanish to ensure they are fully prepared for KS3, where Spanish is the taught language at our local secondary schools.

This model allows pupils to:

1. Experience continuity in French
2. Transfer grammatical knowledge between languages
3. Enter secondary school with confidence in Spanish
4. Develop metalinguistic awareness (understanding how languages work)

Teaching includes songs, stories, games, role‑play, cultural content and structured grammar progression. Key vocabulary and structures are revisited regularly to support long‑term retention.

Curriculum Impact

By the end of Year 6, pupils at St Marie’s will:

1. Speak with growing confidence, fluency and accuracy in Spanish
2. Understand and respond to spoken and written language
3. Apply key grammatical structures independently
4. Demonstrate secure knowledge of core French vocabulary and concepts
5. Show positive attitudes towards learning languages
6. Be well prepared for the expectations of KS3 Spanish

Impact is monitored through ongoing assessment, pupil voice, observation and end‑of‑unit tasks. This ensures that learning is secure, misconceptions are addressed and pupils are ready for the next stage of their language education.