❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞ ‒Nelson Mandela

Learning a foreign language provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality languages education fosters pupils’ curiosity and deepens their understanding of the world. Teaching enables pupils to express their ideas and thoughts in another language, both in speech and in writing. It also provides the foundation for developing pupils’ language skills, giving further insight into their own language, and starting them on their journey to potentially learn future languages. Learning the structures of a language and how to think about languages other than English also primes children for developing the skills used in coding, as code is, in essence, another language.

We want children leaving our school to have high self-esteem, as well as respect and understanding for people from different cultures, lifestyles and customs. We want to expand their personal horizons, instil in them a love of learning and foster inquisitive minds, self-discipline and self-motivation. We want them to be flexible and adaptable, to think outside the box, to be good communicators and problem solvers. It is for these reasons that we teach a language to every child from Year 3 to Year 6. We teach French as it has a similar language construction to English and has had a significant influence on the development of English since the time of William the Conqueror (40% words are recognisable).

Our Curriculum provides opportunities for the children to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and about a different culture, be creative and read literature in the original language. It is enriched by cultural activities such as food tasting, celebrating events such as European or International Day of Languages and by being part of the University of Warwick’s Adopt-a-Class project.

We are proud that last year we obtained the International Schools Award (foundation level) through the British Council for our work in enriching the language and cultural education of the children. We also value the diversity of languages spoken by the children in our school, by celebrating those children who speak another language as a home language, and by providing access to a platform where they can extend their language learning outside school.