Curriculum Intent

Learning a foreign language is an essential skill which allows us to play a part in today’s multicultural society. It also provides an opening to other cultures, communities and life-enriching experiences.   A high-quality language education should foster children’s curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world. Learning another language can help pupils to better understand their own culture, as well as the one around them.

At Ovingham, we aim to help young people become successful and enthusiastic language learners. In lessons, our goal is to enable all our pupils to become confident in expressing their ideas and thoughts in another language, and to understand and respond to its speakers, both in speech and in writing. Through our MFL curriculum, we hope to provide opportunities for pupils to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and enjoy reading authentic texts. We would like them to be creative in their approach to grammar, reading and writing, but also be able to engage with and enjoy language through art, music, film and literature.

Our core HEART values support pupils in their language learning. We encourage them to strive for excellence in communication, being ambitious in the development of their skills and resilient in the challenges that are presented to them.  Acceptance of others is integral to their intercultural understanding and paired, group and whole class work provides opportunities to develop their honesty and teamwork skills.

Language teaching should provide the foundation for learning further languages in the future: equipping children to study, and work, in other countries, and be global citizens. We hope to inspire a life-long interest in other languages and a desire to explore ever more diverse cultures.