Languages

At St Olave’s, children start learning French in Reception and are taught Spanish as they move further up the school.

The aim of the Modern Languages Department is to promote an appreciation of other languages and cultures and a passion for language learning. Through learning another language, we hope to improve the children’s literacy and communication skills and encourage them to be independent and resilient when faced with new challenges.

We place a big emphasis on the development of communication right from the beginning. Pupils learn how to ask and answer simple questions in the target language as early as KS1. All skills are practised regularly (Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing) and progress according to age and ability.

Younger pupils demonstrated excellent linguistic skills, immersed in the native tongue, motivated by the high expectation and expert modelling provided in the teaching

ISI June 2019

The aim of the Languages Department is to promote cultural understanding, curiosity for language learning and motivation. We recognise the excellent start that early exposure to different languages can give pupils as they move onto secondary education.

To deepen pupils’ learning experience, Latin is introduced in Year 6. It helps children make connections between Latin, English and European languages and allows us to strengthen pupils’ grammatical and linguistic understanding while building a strong academic foundation for further foreign language studies at secondary school.