Curriculum Aims

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things but learning another way to think about things.” Flora Lewis

Students become increasingly confident in their ability to understand and express themselves in French. Through in-built retrieval practise they can recall the grammar and vocabulary pertinent to the Kay Stage 3 and GCSE curriculum. They also learn about geography, culture, problem-solving, patterns and logic as well as developing a greater understanding of the English language.

Key Stage 3 Curriculum Overview

Our Key Stage 3 curriculum follows the aims of the National Curriculum for languages to ensure that all students:

• understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources

• speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including through discussion and asking questions, and continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation

• can write at varying length, for different purposes and audiences, using the variety of grammatical structures that they have learnt

• discover and develop a appreciation of a range of writing in the language studied

Throughout Years 7, 8 and 9, students study various concepts from the following topic areas:

Describing self, family, friends and pets

Jobs and opinions

Comparing people’s appearance and personality

Classroom equipment and furniture

Food

Clothes

Free time

Weather

Daily routine

My house and what I do at home

Holidays

Key Stage 4

Course: GCSE French (8658 – Y11, 8652 – Y10)

Exam Board: AQA

Final Assessment: Four equally weighted papers: listening, 

speaking, reading, writing

Curriculum Overview

The GCSE French courses consist of three broad themes: Identity and Culture; Local, National, International and Global Areas of Interest; Current and Future Study and Employment. Within these themes, the curriculum covers a variety of topics including Technology in Everyday Life, Customs and Festivals in French-speaking countries and communities, The Environment and Jobs, Career Choices and Ambitions. In exploring these topics students will develop their ability in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), as well as gaining a broader understanding of the world around them.

Y11 French GCSE French Specification Specification for first teaching in 2016 (sanity.io)

Y10 French GCSE French Specification for first teaching in 2024: Specification (aqa.org.uk)