Spanish

"Learning a new language is becoming a member of the club – the community of speakers of that language.”
Frank Smith

At St Bartholomew’s, we recognise that we are building the foundations for life-long learning with Christ at the centre. We want to capture and nurture a love of learning that our pupils will carry with them as they grow. We therefore strongly believe that learning should be memorable, hands-on, active and challenging. Our curriculum is carefully planned to ensure that all our pupils are encouraged to reach their full potential. In order to achieve this, the Governors, Headteacher and Staff recognise the need to constantly review our practices to ensure our goals and objectives are being achieved. 

Our curriculum will: 

•Develop skills, knowledge and understanding to think and act spiritually and morally, to engage in the culture in which they live and to understand and appreciate the cultures of others. 

•Provide a rich, engaging and memorable programme of study which is tailored to the needs of our pupils and one which overcomes potential barriers to learning that we as a school identify. 

•Develop pupils’ subject specific knowledge, understanding and skills, inspires a love of learning and is aligned with national intent so that pupils can reach and exceed their potential to directly impact their life chances and own future aspirations. 

•Develop the behaviours that pupils will need to succeed in the world and will create confident and successful lifelong learners. 

•Inspire pupils to learn with a curiosity and fascination about the world and its people. 

The Spanish curriculum supports this by being engaging, multi-sensory, inclusive and progressive. The curriculum overview demonstrates how children build on prior knowledge alongside introducing new skills and enhancing them further to become fluent and confident communicators via oral and written means. Our Spanish programme enables pupils to develop self-assurance, cultural awareness, respect, resilience, oral clarity and creativity. Independence is also instilled so that we can provide a solid foundation for learning additional languages. 

At St Bartholomew's, we begin timetabled Spanish lessons in Year 1 and build on our children’s skills each year until they leave in Year 6. Focusing mainly on the practical nature of language acquisition, class teachers deliver regular Spanish lessons using our Primary Languages Network programme, including powerpoints, games, songs, stories and worksheets. We begin by learning the basic core vocabulary, which includes greetings, talking about yourself, colours, numbers, calendar, basic grammar and the alphabet, before moving on to general topics or those related to our year group themes.  Lessons are engaging, simple and fun using repetition and games to help us to consolidate learning.  Throughout our time at St Bartholomew' s we have many opportunities to learn about Spanish culture. All of this prepares our pupils to be confident linguists prepared for the workforce and to communicate as they travel across the globe feeling at home wherever we go.