At St Teresa’s, we celebrate every member of the school community as a member of God’s family and recognise that, as the UK is becoming an increasingly multicultural society, we have a duty to provide our children with an understanding of other cultures and languages. At St Teresa’s, we believe strongly in the benefit of this and have therefore implemented the teaching of French for all KS2 children.

Learning a language enriches the curriculum, providing excitement, enjoyment and challenge for children and teachers, helping to create enthusiastic learners and to develop positive attitudes to language learning throughout life.

Language learning stimulates children's creativity.   

Children enjoy taking an active part in language lessons. They join in with singing, reciting rhymes and poems, and respond to stories. They create mimes, sketches and role-play, imitating accurate intonation and pronunciation. They play games, take turns, make things, take the role of the teacher and experiment creatively with language.

Language learning supports oracy and literacy.

Children spend much of their time in language lessons speaking, listening and interacting - more than in most other subjects. They take part in role-plays, conversations and question and answer work; sing songs and recite; perform to an audience and respond to a wide range of aural stimuli. This emphasis on communication, including language learning's important role in the 'education of the ear', underpins children's capabilities in oracy, which is critical to effective communication as well as a key foundation for literacy.

Language learning leads to gains across the curriculum.

Children approach a broad range of learning activities in a new and challenging context; these relate to mother tongue literacy, and other subject areas such as geography, music and citizenship. This can lead to deep learning and significant gains in their general understanding as they recycle and reinterpret existing knowledge. Through the conscious development of language learning they are also learning how to learn.