Why do we learn a language?
Head of Department
Our approach
Year 7 French
Year 7 Spanish
Year 8 French
Year 8 Spanish
Year 9 French
Year 9 Spanish
Studying French at GCSE
Studying Spanish at GCSE
Year 10 French
Year 10 Spanish
Year 11 French
Year 11 Spanish
A Level

Why do we learn a language?

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” (Ludwig Wittgenstein.)

Modern Foreign Languages are an important part of education as there are many cognitive and cultural benefits and we believe that every student should have the opportunity to study another language.

Our aim is for students to become emotionally intelligent, confident global citizens with language skills which will enable them to secure a place in today’s competitive, international job market and today’s multicultural society. 

Head of Department

Head of MFL

Dawn Burfitt

Our approach

The MFL curriculum develops speaking, listening, reading and writing skills over a range of topics in French or Spanish in order to achieve the highest academic outcomes. We also inspire students’ love of the language and broaden their horizons by placing an emphasis on cultural knowledge and authentic resources, including studying festivals, literature, history and songs, as “learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things.” (Flora Lewis.)

In MFL our curriculum is designed to provide students with the tools to enable them to communicate and understand target language, both written and spoken. We aim to teach our students a range of grammatical structures which will enable them to communicate proficiently. We teach these grammatical structures within topics which are relevant to them (free time, sports, holidays, school etc) and we also teach the environment topic, which has close links to geography and science, and which can be related to real life. 

The topics and grammar are frequently revisited throughout the 3, 5 or 7 years of study to allow students to build upon prior knowledge. 

Year 7 French

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Basic greetings 

  • Numbers, months 

  • Family 

  • Pets and colours 

  • Hair and eyes 

  • Likes and dislikes 

  • Describing others 

  • Writing skills 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • School (subjects, opinions, school day, schools in other Francophone countries) 

  • Time 

  • Food 

  • School (subjects, opinions, school day, schools in other Francophone countries) 

  • Time 

  • Food 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Sports (using jouer and faire) 

  • Free time activities 

  • Talkin about your house and your town 

  • Sports (using jouer and faire) 

  • Free time activities 

  • Talkin about your house and your town 

All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Design Technology

Year 7 Spanish

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Greetings 

  • Numbers 

  • Personality adjectives 

  • Alphabet 

  • Pets and colours 

  • Sports 

  • Hobbies 

  • Present tense 

  • Opinions 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Schools subjects and opinions 

  • Times 

  • Food 

  • Family members 

  • Hair and eyes 

  • Adjectives 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Talking about your house and your town 

  • Using the near future tense 

  • Talking about your house and your town 

  • Using the near future tense 

All Year 7 subjects Next Year 7 Subject - Design Technology

Year 8 French

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Films and TV 

  • Reading preferences 

  • Technology 

  • Introduction to the perfect tense 

  • Describing a trip to Paris 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Introduction to the perfect tense 

  • Describing a trip to Paris 

  • Using the neat future tense 

  • Using 3 tenses together 

  • Talking about francophone festivals 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Revision of….. 

  • Where you live 

  • Hobbies 

  • Sports 

  • Tenses 

  • Food 

  • Revision of….. 

  • Where you live 

  • Hobbies 

  • Sports 

  • Tenses 

  • Food 

All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Design Technology

Year 8 Spanish

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Talking about holidays in the preterite (past)tense. 

  • Countries 

  • Methods of transport 

  • Activities 

  • Opinions 

  • Weather 

  • Technology 

  • Music 

  • TV and films 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Food and different meals 

  • Ordering food in a café/restaurant 

  • Using 3 tenses together 

  • The conditional tense 

  • Arranging to go out 

  • Daily routine and reflexive verbs 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Where you live (house) 

  • Town 

  • Summer activities 

  • Ideal holidays 

  • Where you live (house) 

  • Town 

  • Summer activities 

  • Ideal holidays 

All Year 8 subjects Next Year 8 Subject - Design Technology

Year 9 French

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Revision of family and friends 

  • Adjectives 

  • Perfect tense 

  • Near future tense 

  • Using the imperfect tense 

  • Introduction to GCSE writing skills 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • films/TV/technology/reading 

  • sports 

  • food and healthy eating 

  • films/TV/technology/reading 

  • sports 

  • food and healthy eating 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • simple future tense 

  • daily routine 

  • music 

  • festivals 

  • introduction to GCSE speaking skills 

  • simple future tense 

  • daily routine 

  • music 

  • festivals 

  • introduction to GCSE speaking skills 

All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Design Technology

Year 9 Spanish

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • School subjects and opinions 

  • School facilities 

  • Rules 

  • School trips 

  • Clubs 

  • Uniform 

  • School subjects and opinions 

  • School facilities 

  • Rules 

  • School trips 

  • Clubs 

  • Uniform 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Holidays in past/present/future tenses 

  • Talking about accommodation 

  • Booking a hotel room 

  • Holidays in past/present/future tenses 

  • Talking about accommodation 

  • Booking a hotel room 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Technology 

  • Present continuous tense 

  • Reading habits 

  • Family and relationships 

  • Technology 

  • Present continuous tense 

  • Reading habits 

  • Family and relationships 

All Year 9 subjects Next Year 9 Subject - Design Technology

Studying French at GCSE

Studying Spanish at GCSE

Year 10 French

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • GCSE town topic 

  • What’s in your town/region 

  • Using negatives 

  • Tenses practise 

  • GCSE town topic 

  • What’s in your town/region 

  • Using negatives 

  • Tenses practise 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • GCSE holidays topic 

  • Holidays in past/present/future 

  • Introduction to the conditional tense to talk about an ideal holiday 

  • GCSE holidays topic 

  • Holidays in past/present/future 

  • Introduction to the conditional tense to talk about an ideal holiday 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • GCSE school topic 

  • School subjects and opinions 

  • The French school system 

  • School trips 

  • Future plans 

  • School rules 

  • Mock GCSE speaking exams 

  • GCSE school topic 

  • School subjects and opinions 

  • The French school system 

  • School trips 

  • Future plans 

  • School rules 

  • Mock GCSE speaking exams 

All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Design Technology

Year 10 Spanish

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • Tenses recap 

  • Free time 

  • TV and films 

  • Sports 

  • Role models 

  • Tenses recap 

  • Free time 

  • TV and films 

  • Sports 

  • Role models 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • laces in town 

  • Describing your town/region 

  • Directions 

  • Shops 

  • Pros and cons of your town 

  • What you’d like to improve (conditional tense) 

  • laces in town 

  • Describing your town/region 

  • Directions 

  • Shops 

  • Pros and cons of your town 

  • What you’d like to improve (conditional tense) 
Summer 1 Summer 2

  • Food and festivals 

  • Speaking prep and mock speaking exams 

  • Food and festivals 

  • Speaking prep and mock speaking exams 

All Year 10 subjects Next Year 10 Subject - Design Technology

Year 11 French

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • GCSE jobs topic 

  • Jobs you’d like to do 

  • Voluntary work 

  • Applying for jobs 

  • Work experience 

  • GCSE jobs topic 

  • Jobs you’d like to do 

  • Voluntary work 

  • Applying for jobs 

  • Work experience 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Mock speaking exams (Jan) 

  • GCSE Environment topic 

  • Issues affecting the planet 

  • Impacts of hosting large events 

  • GCSE speaking exams (April) 

  • Mock speaking exams (Jan) 

  • GCSE Environment topic 

  • Issues affecting the planet 

  • Impacts of hosting large events 

  • GCSE speaking exams (April) 
Summer 1 Summer 2
   

All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Design Technology

Year 11 Spanish

Autumn 1 Autumn 2

  • GCSE jobs topic 

  • Jobs you’d like to do 

  • Voluntary work 

  • Applying for jobs 

  • Work experience 

  • GCSE jobs topic 

  • Jobs you’d like to do 

  • Voluntary work 

  • Applying for jobs 

  • Work experience 
Spring 1 Spring 2

  • Mock speaking exams (Jan) 

  • GCSE Environment topic 

  • Issues affecting the planet 

  • Impacts of hosting large events 

  • GCSE speaking exams (April) 

  • Mock speaking exams (Jan) 

  • GCSE Environment topic 

  • Issues affecting the planet 

  • Impacts of hosting large events 

  • GCSE speaking exams (April) 

All Year 11 subjects Next Year 11 Subject - Design Technology

A Level

Over the course of year 12 and 13, students will study: 

French Spanish

  • Changes in French society 

  • Music 

  • Education 

  • Festivals/customs/traditions 

  • World of work 

  • Immigration 

  • Occupation and resistance 

  • Vichy regime 

  • Literature study 

  • Film study 

  • Changes in Spanish society 

  • Music 

  • Education 

  • Festivals/customs/traditions 

  • World of work 

  • Immigration 

  • Franco regime 

  • Spanish civil war 

  • Literature study 

  • Film study