“Learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.” DFE 2013

 

At St Peter’s, we value the importance of children learning a language in today’s multicultural society.  We believe that the learning of a foreign language provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for our pupils. It motivates them to develop communication skills including key skills of speaking and listening and extends their knowledge of how language works, including the English language. Learning another language provides children with a new perspective on the world, encouraging them to understand their own cultures and those of others.

 

Spanish is the second most widely spoken language in the world, and is also the first foreign language they learn at Rushcliffe Secondary School. We aim to make the learning of Spanish interesting, relevant, with links to other subjects in the curriculum and to ensure pupils are secondary-ready.  From Year 3, children progress from responding in oral form, to reading and writing Spanish; the complexity increasing according to age and ability.

 

Pupils learn Spanish (including grammar and vocabulary, using terminology also used in English lessons) through listening, speaking, reading and writing Spanish, building on prior knowledge in each Year group.  They also learn about Spanish and Latin-American culture. Where themes are repeated, prior knowledge (including grammar and vocabulary) is revised and more complex vocabulary/questions/conversations are added progressively each term/year.

 

Our Spanish curriculum has been designed to give every pupil at St Peter’s the opportunity to learn skills in a foreign language and experience another culture.  Where required, tasks are differentiated to suit different abilities from those who need extra support to challenging pupils whose learning is at Greater Depth.  Our scheme of work has been designed in close cooperation with Rushcliffe Secondary School to ensure that pupils learn core skills, to aid transition by aligning the KS2 and KS3 curriculum.  KS2 attainment levels for each pupil are passed on to Rushcliffe (or any other school that a pupil may attend after leaving St Peter’s). 

 

We have Year 5 and 6 language ambassadors in St Peter’s and Language Clubs (Spanish, Japanese and French) are run by our MFL teacher to further spread an interest and love of languages and an appreciation of different cultures amongst our pupils and to raise the profile of languages across our school.

If you would like further information on the curriculum we teach, please contact the school directly.