Trust Curriculum Intent

Our mission is to provide a cradle to career education that allows our children to enjoy lives of choice and opportunity. By the age of 18, we want every child to have the option of university or a high-quality alternative. 

Subject Curriculum Intent

'To learn a language is to have one more window from which to look at the world.'

Brigshaw linguists are developed as curious, competent and culturally aware global citizens. We believe that every child is able to speak another language and we give all of our pupils the tools to engage in the most impressive use of that language. MFL is vital within the curriculum because it not only allows learners to enhance their cultural capital, but promotes a deep understanding of communication skills. In today’s increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, proficiency in an additional language is a highly advantageous skill.    

MFL at Brigshaw inspires a love for language learning and life beyond our country’s borders. Pupils build mastery in all skill areas, which promote deep thinking, deep questioning, resilience and a determination to succeed. Learners in languages experience academic rigour through extended reading and listening activities, sophisticated speaking and writing abilities and grammatical expertise. Staff provide a learning environment for all, rich in regular and varied cultural experiences, which broaden horizons and ignite a passion for languages. 

Linguists at Brigshaw are equipped with transferable skills and the foundation for learning further languages. This provides students with opportunities, from studying and working in a country of their choice, to the simple joy of conversing in another language.

‘You live a new life for every language you speak. If you only know one language, you only live once.’ Czech Proverb

Curriculum Principles

• Reverse Planning is approached in the MFL curriculum by carefully considering both the knowledge required by pupils to succeed at A-Level and GCSE, as well as the skills required to become successful and talented linguists. The learning journey in MFL involves the careful sequencing of learning outcomes, vocabulary, grammatical concepts and phonics. 
• Powerful Knowledge is demonstrated in the MFL curriculum by consistently developing the four language skill areas of listening, speaking, reading and writing. These skills, as well as key grammatical concepts, feed through all topic areas and allow pupils to apply their learning to new contexts.   
• Cultural Capital is developed in the MFL curriculum by exploring the different countries and cultures of the target language. MFL teachers grasp opportunities to broaden pupils’ knowledge of the target language country and bring the language to life. Examples include exploration of  going to school in Senegal, traditional food in Austria and festivals in Mexico. Brigshaw linguists have opportunities to take part in international immersion visits to practise their language skills and develop their cultural experiences in an authentic environment. 

• Substantive (“Know That”) knowledge is developed in the MFL curriculum through the interleaving of vocabulary, key grammatical concepts and phonics.  Formative assessment in day to day lessons and robust summative assessment captures current and previous knowledge and encourages pupils to actively learn more and remember more.

• Procedural and Disciplinary (“Know How”) Knowledge takes place through the regular development and practice of the four language skill areas. Listening, speaking, reading and writing skills are taught explicitly and consistently across the department and pupils build confidence and independence through the interleaving of these skills in each topic area. 
• Cognitive Psychology is addressed in the MFL curriculum through the regular and planned provision of independent learning so that a deeper understanding of the curriculum can be built.  Examples of this in MFL are through reading comprehension tasks in the target language or extended writing, allowing pupils to manipulate language and grammatical concepts independently. There are regular opportunities for retrieval practice and revisiting themes and topics in a variety of contexts to build greater breadth, depth and complexity of language.  To develop the long term memory and build resilience, pupils in MFL are expected to study independently at specified times each lesson and to complete the majority of assessment tasks from memory. Lesson activities are carefully planned to deliver the lesson objectives efficiently and for students to meaningfully grapple with the work.  This is through the use of “I, we, you” style lesson planning and clear outcomes from activities in class.  Students are required to “think hard” during their lessons and student attention is carefully guided by the teacher so that lesson objectives are met effectively. In MFL regular assessment for learning takes place through targeted questioning, circulation of the classroom and mini-whiteboard use.  

What will this look like at implementation?

Please use the links below to explore how our curriculum looks, for each year group, as a result of these guiding principles

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How can you support students’ learning from home?

• At Brigshaw High School, all pupils have access to Language Nut to complete their home-learning tasks. Please encourage your child to undertake these tasks in order to consolidate their classroom learning.
• Pupils also have access to Linguascope and Quizlet to build and support their learning of vocabulary. 
• When travelling as a family, encourage discussion with your young person on different cultures and traditions. Take any opportunities to speak the target language.  

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