English and French
ENGLISH
“English is concerned with clarity and precision, but it also encourages individuality of thought, perception and expression”.
In both KS 1 and KS 2 English is divided into 3 main areas:
1. Speaking and listening
2. Reading
3. Writing – incorporating spelling, grammar and handwriting
English is taught everyday throughout the school. Children are heard read every day and great emphasis is put on the teaching of reading and instilling a love of books from an early age.
Throughout this Key stage incorporating Years 3 – 6 the main areas of English that were taught in Ks 1 are extended and developed in more depth, hence are taught in individual lessons throughout the week.
Skills in spelling, grammar, comprehension, speaking and listening, and presentation are developed and enhanced. As pupils progress, they will learn to write for specific audiences and purposes, study a variety of genres (fiction and non-fiction), develop comprehension skills and plan and participate in debates and presentations.
Children regularly participate in class assemblies and have the opportunity to take part in school productions. Recent school productions have included Hoodwinked and Sheherazade
Speech and drama lessons are offered at an extra charge.
To See Details of 'Private Peaceful' theatre visit Click Here
To see details of Rainbow Theatre Shakespeare Workshop - Click Here
To see details of Caroline Lawrence children's author visit - Click Here
FRENCH - French
Key Stage 2
In Our Lady of Sion Junior School, we believe in the importance of teaching a foreign language as early as possible as children under the age of ten are more receptive and eager to learn a new language than teenagers in secondary school. We also think that it helps the children to develop understanding and tolerance toward foreign cultures and to build self-confidence, communication and social skills.
The aim of the curriculum is to help the children to:
• Increase awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity,
• develop a basic understanding of the process of learning a foreign language,
• use the language creatively and effectively by providing a wide range of appropriate activities,
• develop ability to listen attentively by exposing them to a variety of native speaker voices (e.g. teacher, video, audio),
• develop the confidence and ability to speak in front of different audiences.
In years 4, 5 and 6 the children reinforce and develop their oral skills from previous years and acquire new written skills. Thus they progress from single words through to short phrases and moving on to read and write accurately simple sentences.
Resources
Resources include a range of textbooks, readers, video and audio resources, games and websites subscriptions covering a variety of topics and levels, together with materials devised and produced by the teachers themselves.
Topics covered
In year 4:
Greetings, saying your name, classroom objects, colours, numbers 1-60, age and birthday, Christmas in France, dates and seasons, saying where you live, common town places, pets, family, breakfast, ice-creams.
In year 5:
Personal information , alphabet, numbers 1-100, tell the time, weather, meals, basic daily and weekly activities, part of the body, clothes, like/dislike , holidays, countries, transport, basic French geography.
In year 6:
Nationalities and languages, numbers to 1000 , school, expressing opinions, time and daily routine, houses, sports and games, pets and wild animals, places in the town and directions, French food and drink , shopping, musical instruments, French assembly.