Languages

French, German & Polish

Languages Department Staff

Curriculum Leader: Mr K Lemon

Languages Teachers:
French: Miss O Cunningham, Mr K Lemon, Mrs D Topping & Miss L Whitworth
German: Mr K Lemon, Miss T Kristiansen & Miss L Whitworth
Polish: Mrs K Pussak

Curriculum Maps

French

German

Polish

GCSE French Revision Resources GCSE German Revision Resources

Intent

““Undoubtedly there are all sorts of languages in the world, yet none of them is without meaning.” (Corinthians 14:10)

We strive to deliver a meaningful and inclusive language learning experience for all pupils. Careful lesson planning and course structure is designed make the curriculum accessible, engaging, fun and instil pupil confidence. Pupils learn specific phonics to drive good pronunciation. They then learn carefully selected, key language which will maximise communication and enable them to use language fluently.

Parallel to, and of equal importance to, the rich language learning experience is the link to culture capital as well and Catholic Social Teachings. Culture and tolerance permeate all lessons and links to the liturgy are exploited.

Catholic Social Teaching with Languages

In line with the whole school approach, Catholic Social Teachings are integral to the Languages curriculum. We strive to promote global understanding, tolerance and compassion and enlighten pupils about the wonders of God’s creations in all that we do.

The curriculum provides a rich and varied range of topics which are aligned to the teachings: For example, pupils learn about global and environmental issues at Key Stage 4 with a focus on Care for God’s Creation. Poverty and other global issues are discussed with a clear light shone upon the Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. Family and Community permeate many of the topic areas at Key Stage 3 and 4.

The Curriculum also follows and celebrates events of the Liturgical Year: Advent, Easter and Epiphany to name a few. Time is taken to highlight these and other events but with a focus on France and Germany.

Prayer also permeates the curriculum with the sign of the cross regularly completed in French / German.

Pupil Affirmation

“I think that languages are very useful and interesting and I enjoy learning them”

“French is fun because the listening and writing can help your fluency in languages”

“Languages are important to me as it means I can go anywhere without having to worry about speaking confidently. I love languages as they are also fun”

“I love languages! They all share similarities to English which make them easy to grasp. Languages are very important and I love the past tense in French – j'adore ça!

Learning Outside of the Classroom

In the Languages Department we offer a rich and diverse range of opportunities for learning outside the classroom including trips abroad, exchange programmes, national competitions and careers focused activities.

In Year 8 all pupils have the opportunity to go on the French trip to Château Beaumont in Normandy. As part of this trip pupils are immersed in the French Language and have the opportunity to visit some of France’s most spectacular attractions: St Malo, le Mont St Michel and Fougères castle to name a few. All activities and mealtimes are conducted in French, backed up with English if support is needed.

We have a long-established partner school in Bavaria in Germany: The Julius-Echter Gymnasium in Elsenfeld. We offer pupils the opportunity to take part in an Exchange Programme to the school, this happens every 2 years. Pupils are paired up with a German partner and stay with them whilst in Germany (this is reciprocated when our partners visit us) and we all meet up every day to take part in excursions. The area is beautiful and rural and provides lots to explore, for example, the towns of Würzburg, Frankfurt as well as the river Main and its surroundings. In addition to the Exchange, in 2026 we are running our first Germany Trip to Koblenz.

In addition to trips abroad, we also offer day trips within the UK to practice our language skills: every year we take a group of pupils to take part in a competition run in conjunction with Business Language Champions and GCHQ. We have won this competition on numerous occasions. We also celebrate the European Day of languages with different activities each year, in 2024 we teamed up with Futbol Lingo to run workshops about the football industry and the role of Languages. We also invite guest speakers in to highlight career opportunities with languages, for example for Languages assemblies.

Inclusivity

In Languages we aim to give all pupils the same Language experience. Education is about enlightenment and widening of perspectives which is pivotal to our approach. All pupils study at least one Language with vast majority continuing this to GCSE. Pupils are provided with support through sentence builders and carefully crafted lessons which gradually build and develop learning. Classrooms offer a safe space to explore and practice language skills.

Reading

Reading is one of the four pillars of language learning, we work to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills and all are of equal importance having equal curriculum time. Most lessons have a range of texts to read and pupils are supported to access these and read them with correct pronunciation.

Reading aloud is part of the GCSE assessment.

Rewards

Each pupil has a lingua-leaders sheet in their exercise book and every time that they receive a positive point in lessons they receive a French or German sticker to add to their sheet. When they reach eight stickers, they can claim a prize. The prizes increase in status as they progress through the sheet.