French

"One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way." Frank Smith

Curriculum Principles

2024-25 brings an exciting new development to the French curriculum at Rossett School, as we adopt the collaborative Red Kite Trust Languages scheme. With a new curriculum and/or resources in every year group, KS3 and KS4 journeys are sequenced following three components - phonics, vocabulary and grammar - which are at the heart of language acquisition.

We use a variety of authentic materials, for reading and listening purposes; we encourage our students to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, through discussion and asking questions, so that they continually improve the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation; we provide writing opportunities, for different purposes and audiences, using a variety of grammatical structures; we help pupils to discover and develop an appreciation of a range of French writing.

Rossett - Classroom - 2024 (1)

Curriculum Journey

At Rossett, our French curriculum journey develops excellent communication skills, and equips students with the confidence, resilience and knowledge to view their language learning as a lifelong journey. Through their learning of French, our students gain a rich culture capital whereby they value the diversity of Francophone communities, their customs, history and literature.

Curriculum Intent

Our recently reviewed French curriculum is carefully designed to ensure success at all levels. The ambitious Red Kite Learning Trust curriculum we share clearly outlines the skills and knowledge that students gain at each stage of their learning journey. We have high academic ambitions for language students at Rossett, and we adapt this curriculum, so that all pupils make progress during lessons and over time. The curriculum is carefully sequenced and is built using the following three components: phonics, vocabulary and grammar.

Key Strengths of the Curriculum

The deep, broad and high-quality provision that we offer means that:

all students study either French or Spanish language from Y7 and have four lessons per fortnight through to Y9
a large number of students opt for a language at GCSE and meet the criteria for EBACC
GCSE results are strong and each year a small number of our students continue to study French at KS5
we have subject specialists in MFL, including a native speaker
we run a highly popular trip to northern France, with a focus on food and culture
we have high-profile events within school such as European Day of Languages, and we produce a languages magazine
our shared Red Kite planning, with well-sequenced lessons, is very strong

Curriculum Maps

Year 12 French

Year 13 French