Bonjour et bienvenue!

Our French curriculum follows a carefully sequenced scheme of learning designed to build pupils’ confidence, vocabulary and speaking skills year by year. We use the Grammarsaurus French scheme of work, which provides a clear progression from simple language acquisition in Year 3 through to more detailed and independent language use in Year 6.

Our intent

The aim of French at our school is to give pupils a strong foundation in a modern foreign language by developing:

• listening and speaking skills through practical, engaging activities
• reading and writing through familiar vocabulary and simple sentence structures
• confidence and enthusiasm for learning another language
• an understanding of French culture and how language is used in everyday life

This supports the expectations of the 2014 National Curriculum for Languages in England, which emphasises spoken interaction, reading, writing, phonics, grammar and cultural awareness.

We follow the Grammarsaurus French scheme, which provides a progression of units across Key Stage 2. Each year, the group revisits and extends prior learning, ensuring that new vocabulary and grammar are taught in a structured way.

The scheme includes topics such as:

• greetings, names and classroom instructions
• the alphabet, numbers, colours and dates
• family, home, school and daily life
• weather, food, hobbies and clothes
• transport, directions, occupations and personal description

These topics are revisited and deepened over time so that pupils become increasingly fluent and accurate.

Our French curriculum is planned so that pupils return to key languages repeatedly, but with increasing complexity each year. This means they do not simply learn a topic once – they build on it over time.

Year 3 – Building foundations

In Year 3, pupils begin with basic vocabulary and simple phrases. They learn:

• greetings and introducing themselves
• classroom instructions
• the French alphabet
• numbers to 50
• colours, dates and birthdays
• simple topics such as family and farm animals

This year focusses on listening carefully, repeating accurately and gaining confidence in spoken French.

Year 4 – Expanding vocabulary and sentence building

In Year 4, pupils revisit some Year 3 content and move into new areas such as:

• pets and home
• school life
• subjects, sports and hobbies
• weather and food
• celebrations such as Christmas and Easter

Pupils are encouraged to speak in fuller phrases, recognise patterns in French and begin to apply simple grammar more independently.

Year 5 – Developing accuracy and range

In Year 5, pupils deepen their understanding by learning to:

• describe emotions, body parts and appearance
• talk about health, travel and nationality
• use numbers up to 100
• Discussing money and festivals

At this stage, pupils start to combine vocabulary more confidently, ask and answer more detailed questions and produce short written responses with increasing accuracy.

Year 6 – Greater independence and fluency

In Year 6, pupils are expected to use French with more confidence and independence. They cover topics such as:

• time and daily routine
• physical description and personality
• clothes and shopping
• directions, cafés and occupations
• letters from France and cultural content

Pupils build towards more extended speaking and writing, using language they have already met in new and more purposeful contexts.

How this supports pupils

The curriculum is designed so that pupils:

• secure essential vocabulary
• improve pronunciation and listening
• develop accurate sentence building
• understand how language works
• gain confidence in communication
• broaden their cultural understanding

This ensures that learning is not fragmented. Instead, it is carefully cumulative, with each year preparing pupils for the next stage.

Children in Key Stage 2 have a weekly language lesson, where they learn French.

 

	Autumn 1	Autumn 2	Spring 1	Spring 2	Summer 1	Summer 2
Year 3	France and its culture   Greetings and Names	Classroom instructions   The French Alphabet   Christmas cards	Numbers 0 - 20   Colours	Numbers 20 – 50   Date and Birthdays   Easter	The Hungry Caterpillar   My Family	At the farm   Review of Year 3
Year 4	Review of Year 3   Pets   At Home	Going to School   In the Classroom   Christmas Decorations	Lunch at School   School Subjects	Sports and Hobbies   Play an Instrument   Easter – Mardi Gras	The Weather   The Fruits	Catch Up     Review of Year 3 and 4
Year 5	Review of Year 3, 4   Emotions   The Body	At the Doctors   Country and City   Christmas Cards	Travel Around the World   French Around the World	Nationalities   Numbers 50–100   Easter	Money	Review of Year 3,4 and 5
Year 6	Review of Year 3,4 and 5   The Time   Daily Routine	Describe Myself Physically   My Personality   Christmas Decorations	Clothes   Shopping for Clothes	Town and Directions   At the Café   Easter – Mardi-Gras	Occupations   A Letter from France