Introduction
The Purpose of the MFL (French & Spanish) Curriculum is to:
- Develop students’ comprehension, communication and metacognitive skills across listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation
- Expose students to a wide-range of high-frequency and topic-specific vocabulary; transferable and inclusive words that students really need
- Guide students’ understanding of and ability to manipulate grammar in French and Spanish
- Learn about the social and cultural identities of countries across the French- and Spanish-speaking worlds
- Build the linguistic skills and particular assessment techniques required to excel in languages at ks3, GCSE and beyond
- Inspire curiosity amongst students and encourage a lifelong love of languages
Staff
- Dr Mark Goodwin – Curriculum Leader for MFL; Teacher of French and Spanish
- Ms Emilie Marchioni – Teacher of French
- Ms Alice Lambert – Teacher of French and Spanish
KS3 Learning Journeys
More information about the topics listed can be found in the Student Resources area of Sharepoint.
KS4 Courses Offered
- Examination Board: AQA
- Syllabus Number: 8658 (last examined 2025)
- Syllabus Number: 8652 (first examined 2026)
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Course content (8658):
Learning and Assessment is set in the context of these three themes:
- Theme 1: Identity and culture
- Theme 2: Local, national, international and global areas of interest
- Theme 3: Current and future study and employment
GCSE French and Spanish has a Foundation Tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher Tier (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question papers must be taken in the same series.
- Paper 1: Listening
- Understanding and responding to different types of spoken language
- Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation Tier), 45 minutes (Higher Tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation Tier), 50 marks (Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Paper 2: Speaking
- Communicating and interacting effectively in speech for a variety of purposes
- Non-exam assessment (Role-play; Photocard; General conversation)
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation Tier) + preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher Tier) + preparation time
- 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Paper 3: Reading
- Understanding and responding to different types of written language
- Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation Tier), 1 hour (Higher Tier)
- 60 marks (for each of Foundation Tier and Higher Tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Paper 4: Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing for a variety of purposes
- Written exam: 1 hour (Foundation Tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher Tier)
- 50 marks at Foundation Tier and 60 marks at Higher Tier
- 25% of GCSE
GCSE students will be expected to develop and use their knowledge of grammar throughout their course.
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Course content (8652)
Learning and Assessment is set in the context of these three themes:
- Theme 1: People and lifestyle
- Theme 2: Popular culture
- Theme 3: Communication and the world around us
GCSE French and Spanish has a Foundation tier (grades 1–5) and a Higher tier (grades 4–9). Students must take all four question papers at the same tier. All question papers must be taken in the same series.
- Paper 1: Listening
- Understanding and responding to spoken extracts comprising the defined vocabulary and grammar for each tier
- Dictation of short, spoken extracts
- Written exam: 35 minutes (Foundation tier), 45 minutes (Higher tier)
- 40 marks (Foundation tier), 50 marks (Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE Recording controlled by the invigilator with built-in repetitions and pauses.
- Paper 2: Speaking (Non-exam assessment) (NEA)
- Speaking using clear and comprehensible language to:
- Undertake a Role-play; Carry out a Reading aloud task; Talk about visual stimuli
- 7–9 minutes (Foundation tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 10–12 minutes (Higher tier) + 15 minutes' supervised preparation time
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Paper 3: Reading
- Understanding and responding to written texts which focus predominantly on the vocabulary and grammar at each tier
- Inferring plausible meanings of single words when they are embedded in written sentences
- Translating from French into English
- Written exam: 45 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
- Paper 4: Writing
- Writing text in the language in a lexically and grammatically accurate way in response to simple and familiar stimuli
- Translating from English into French
- Written exam: 1 hour 10 minutes (Foundation tier), 1 hour 15 minutes (Higher tier)
- 50 marks (for each of Foundation tier and Higher tier)
- 25% of GCSE
GCSE students will be expected to develop and use their knowledge of grammar throughout their course.
KS4 Learning Journey
More information about the topics listed can be found in the Student Resources area of Sharepoint.
Reading Curriculum
Coming Soon
Other MFL:
A Spanish club currently runs weekly after school for the younger year groups.
Some pupils come to us already fluent in a second language. Provided they are competent in the four skills of Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing, these boys are encouraged to take an additional GCSE in Year 9 or Year 10. In recent years, excellent results were achieved in Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Turkish.