Spanish
Intent
At Edgware Primary School our goal is to inspire a love for languages in our students. Our Spanish curriculum is designed to be engaging, and reflects the interests of our diverse community encouraging every student to reach their potential and feel confident and interesting to continue learning beyond primary school.
The curriculum also makes cross curricular links with other subjects e.g. Maths, Geography, allowing students to recognize connections in their learning. We strive to celebrate the culture differences between Spanish-speaking countries and the United Kingdom by exploring traditions, history building a deep interest in languages and culture understanding.
Implementation
Our Spanish curriculum is taught by a native Spanish speaker. Year 2 to Year 6 have weekly lessons. The curriculum progressively develops pupils skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing Spanish.
The lessons are organised into units with each tailored to different skill levels ensuring concepts are clear and retained.
The three ‘pillars’ of language learning (phonics, grammar and vocabulary) are all weaved into the curriculum and, as pupils progress through the units and teaching types, previous language is recycled, revisited and consolidated. Any new language is introduced gradually and becomes more complex and sophisticated as pupils move from Early Language to Intermediate to Progressive units. Pupils follow a programme that has ‘language learning steppingstones’. Phonics, vocabulary and grammar are taught gradually and recycled constantly. As they move through the various units and teaching types, the quantity of phonics, vocabulary and grammar increases so, by the end of Year 6, pupils will have met and often exceeded the 12 PoS attainment targets.
Over time, children, acquire, use and apply a growing bank of vocabulary, language skills and grammatical knowledge. This is organised into year groups and topics.
Children begin by learning basic vocabulary and then this is extended and incorporated into phrases. Children respond to simple known songs, learn vowels, sound to actions in stories, identify and say colour names, understand simple phrases and commands, use simple adjectives, count to 10.
In KS2 children build further upon this language and begin to explore it in more depth. Children learn how to hold a simple conversation, answer questions, sing and create songs, use simple and then more complex sentences.
Children are encouraged to self-assess their learning, reflect on their learning identifying what they’ve achieved and identifying areas for improvement. Teacher assess progress through various methods, including observing participation, engagement, pronunciation, written work, and test. These assessments help shape future lesson planning ensuring targeted support and promote progress.
Impact
Our Spanish curriculum is designed to support students in making steady progress while fostering resilience and enthusiasm in learning the language. We recognize that mistakes are part of learning but maintain high expectations to encourage growth.
By the time students leave primary school, our aim is for them to have a genuine love for learning languages and ability to communicate effectively. Regular practice builds confidence, enabling them to feel capable and comfortable speaking Spanish.