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. With growing foreign economies and more global communication than ever before, languages are becoming a crucial skill for professionals.

At The Churchill School we believe strongly in the benefit of this and have therefore implemented the teaching of French for all KS1 and KS2 children from Year 1 to Year 6.  

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.

The natural links between languages and other areas of the curriculum can enhance the overall teaching and learning experience.

Some interesting language facts

• The UK is the worst country in Europe at learning languages – around 61% of British adults cannot speak a second language.
• Contrary to popular belief, English is not widely spoken worldwide. Only 6% of the world’s population are native English speakers and 75% of the world’s population speak no English at all.
• Languages most commonly spoken are Asian languages, followed by European, African and South American languages.   
• 320 million people speak English, but 885 million people speak Mandarin.  
• 1 in 3 Londoners were born in foreign country and 107 different languages are spoken there.
• 1 in 8 people in England and Wales were born abroad
• In 4% of households, no one speaks English as a main language
• There are so many French people living in London that it is now regarded as France’s 6th biggest city in terms of population.  

Teaching and learning styles and procedures

At The Churchill School we will use a variety of teaching and learning styles in our lessons. Our principal aim is to develop children’s knowledge, skills, and understanding.

Since this September lessons are being taught throughout the school by specialist teachers who have language degrees and a good understanding of grammatical structures.

Children have the opportunity to support their work with a variety of resources and lessons aim to be active, fun and practical so that children will make significant progress throughout their time at The Churchill School.

Our main language is French as we are so close to France geographically but year 6 children will be given some experience of other languages through our partnership with the Harvey Grammar schools language students.