Our Directors of Learning design sequences of lessons which combine with our Personal Development Programme delivered by Form Tutors. These closely align with our mission to ‘Teach What Matters’, a deliberate approach to ensure we address challenges that our students are likely to face and to give them the best possible chance of meeting their limitless potential. 
We want all Holyhead students to be able to;

• Solve problems
• Apply knowledge to the real world
• Adapt to change and be resilient to failure
• Be aware of their own thought processes and memory (meta cognition)
• Be articulate and express themselves
• Think critically

We want all students at Holyhead to be strong in relation to the following attributes;

• Leadership
• Organisation
• Resilience
• Initiative
• Communication

We also want them to recognise the best of human thinking and appreciate the fundamental British Values.

At Holyhead School we aspire to provide a broad, ambitious and engaging curriculum for all pupils who are taught MFL. Our journey through the key stages builds on pupils’ prior knowledge at KS2 and develops them into effective linguists by Teaching What Matters. Our French and Spanish curricula expose pupils to the linguistic skills and knowledge they need, whilst also providing them with character and value driven personal development. We instil a lasting interest in language learning and an understanding and tolerance of other countries and cultures. Our intent is to create multifaceted pupils who have been exposed to a wealth of enrichment activities and ultimately are masters in their chosen language.

We believe that the essential skills of a high performing linguist that we hope to promote through our curriculum are that they:

• Develop their ability to communicate confidently and coherently with native speakers in speech and writing, conveying what they want to say with increasing accuracy
• Express and develop thoughts and ideas spontaneously and fluently
• Listen to and understand clearly articulated, standard speech at near normal speed
• Deepen their knowledge about how language works and enrich their vocabulary to increase their independent use and understanding of extended language in a range of contexts
• Acquire new knowledge, skills and ways of thinking through the ability to understand and respond to authentic spoken and written material, adapted and abridged, as appropriate, including literary texts
• Develop awareness and understanding of the culture and identity of the countries and communities where French is spoken
• Make appropriate links to other areas of the curriculum to enable bilingual and deeper learning, where the language may become a medium for constructing and applying knowledge
• Develop language learning skills both for immediate use and prepare them for further language study in school, higher education or employment
• Develop language strategies, including repair strategies

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Key Stage 3

Overview of the KS3 Curriculum:

What are the fundamental principles and concepts that students need to acquire in order to progress successfully through the curriculum in MFL?

Students must be able to understand a continually widening range of vocabulary and how to structure sentences effectively. This vocabulary must be effectively used in line with the conjugation of verbs which is at the heart of all language learning. Students must grasp the idea of regular and irregular verbs and spot the patterns which emerge when using them. Furthermore, students must understand the context of subject pronouns and how this translates into the target language. Students must be able to translate effectively between English and the target language in all 4 skills.

What have you started off with in Year 7 and why? 

Students enter Year 7 with a wide range of prior knowledge and skills, having either studied a language at KS2 in depth or not at all. Therefore, in order to ensure a purposeful transition, in Year 7 we diagnose and identify which students in our groups who need additional support or provide more challenging material. With all pupils we start at word level with basic introductions and work through to sentence level within the first 3 weeks. For those few students who are already at sentence level, they are provided with additional material to ensure they receive the breadth and depth of the curriculum they require at this stage. We begin with the topic “all about me” as it is a gentle introduction to some of the most frequently used verbs and vocabulary.

What key steps will be taken to ensure that students gain a broad and balanced knowledge within MFL by building on what they have already learnt (carefully sequenced and effectively delivered)?

• Throughout the KS3 curriculum students are building knowledge and skills incrementally which means that content is regularly revisited and interleaved between all modules – students are repeatedly having to draw upon long term schemas to support learning current knowledge.
• Students are exposed to a mixture of language and cultural knowledge to draw from
• Each module has been carefully selected so that it is directly linked to the prior
• The journey that pupils take in MFL is related to the different stages in their own personal and academic lives

 

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Key Stage 4

Overview of the KS4 Curriculum:

What are the fundamental principles and concepts that students need to acquire in order to progress successfully through the curriculum in GCSE French and Spanish?

Students must be able to understand a continually widening range of vocabulary and how to structure sentences effectively. This vocabulary must be effectively used in line with the conjugation of verbs across a range of tenses. Students must grasp the idea of regular and irregular verbs and spot the patterns which emerge when using them. Students must be able to translate effectively between English and the target language in all 4 skills. Students must be proficient in the use of various grammatical structures, understand and respond to a range of questions. Be able to discuss and justify their ideas. Fundamentally understand the role that the target language plays in the wider world around them.

What have you started off with in Year 10 and why?

Year 10 begins with the topic me, my friends and family, it revisits the most commonly used verbs both regular and irregular and revisits the 3 main tenses taught at KS3. Students are then introduced to regular reflexive verbs, a new concept for pupils but which has links to prior verb conjugation. Students then progress through the themes broadening their vocabulary and grammatical skills.

 

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Key Stage 5

Overview of the KS5 Curriculum:

What are the fundamental principles and concepts that students need to acquire in order to progress successfully through the curriculum in MFL?

Students need to have a good grasp of verb tenses studied at GCSE in addition to being able to express themselves confidently in the past, present and future time frames. Students need to be aware of the main characteristics of the history, politics and culture of the Target Language country (French and/or Spanish).
Students need to recall the vocabulary covered in the AQA GCSE themes with additional A-level vocabulary as a fundamental requirement. Students need to demonstrate an interest in exploring the cultures and identities of the wider Francophone/ Hispanic speaking world through music, film and the arts.

What have you started off with in Year 12 and why?

The topic areas and grammatical structures which are introduced at KS3 and 4 are seen as building blocks for more in depth learning at KS5. There is continuity of development of knowledge through effective interleaving. Students begin with the topic of family which was introduced at KS3 and then consolidated at KS4. There is progression from describing their own family to expressing their views on the importance of having a family. A language A-level is often seen as a challenge therefore it is important to build on previous knowledge and ensure a smooth transition.