Hackney New Primary School

Intent

At Hackney New Primary school the intent of teaching Spanish is to deliver an academically robust curriculum that gives our students the opportunity to develop key skills, knowledge of phonology, grammatical structures and vocabulary in a broad range of topics and to foster a multicultural  understanding. Our curriculum ensures academic excellence and intellectual curiosity for all, at HNPS we strive to help our students understand that “learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures. A high-quality language education should foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world” as stated in the National Curriculum. 

We have a diverse and high-quality Spanish curriculum that inspires all pupils to communicate for practical purposes, learn new ways of thinking and read great literature in the original language. Our aim is to provide the foundation of the language, jump starting the journey to equipping pupils with the skills required to study and work in other countries. 

HNPS intends to deliver an inspirational curriculum which is accessible to the diverse socioeconomic, cultural and neurodiverse backgrounds of the school’s community and that will maximise the opportunities for the development of every child’s ability to learn a language. By providing  a wide range of cultural references from most of the Spanish speaking countries, children are taught to understand and respect other cultures, traditions and celebrations around the world .

With a significant portion of our students having Spanish as a mother tongue, our Spanish curriculum gives those students and their families the opportunity to see themselves represented and to feel included and proud of their backgrounds.

Spanish at HNPS provides a valuable educational, social and cultural experience for pupils but it also prepares them for a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly carried out in languages other than English. By the time children leave key stage 2 they will have:

• Learnt to understand and respond to spoken and written language from a variety of authentic sources
• The ability to speak with increasing confidence, fluency and spontaneity, finding ways of communicating what they want to say, including asking questions and discussion. Also continually improving the accuracy of their pronunciation and intonation
• Know how to write at varying lengths, for different purposes and audiences, using a variety of grammatical structures that they will have learnt
• Read a range of writing in Spanish and discover and develop an appreciation for the literature written in Spanish
• Be exposed to a variety of musical genres from Spain and Latin America
• Learn about an inspirational figure from the hispanic world
• Learn where the spanish speaking countries are located in the world map 

Through our teaching of Spanish we aim to:

• Foster a love of learning other languages by stimulating and encouraging children’s curiosity about language in an enjoyable and engaging way  
• Develop their understanding of what they hear and read and have the ability to express themselves in speech and writing.
• Extend their knowledge of how language works and explore differences and similarities between Spanish and English  
• Promote a deeper intercultural understanding through learning about the traditions, culture and geography of other countries including Spain  
• Lay the foundations for the learning of further languages when they move on to secondary school

Implementation

At Hackney New Primary School, Spanish is introduced from reception. Children have 30 minute lessons once a week delivered by the class teacher.  Throughout the school, teachers are implementing the evidence-informed practice of I do, We do, You do to ensure all children are accessing learning. This is a model of teaching which is also known as the “gradual release of responsibility”. It enables our pupils to learn new knowledge through precise teaching, and gives them a chance to practise, with support, before embarking on independent application. Spanish is taught in line with the National Curriculum for languages expectations and we have ensured that our curriculum incorporates woven strands of prior learning. Our curriculum has a carefully planned knowledge and skills progression. Alongside explicit skills teaching, topics are sequenced and revisited each year to ensure that previous knowledge and skills are built upon.

Additional opportunities to use the Spanish language the children are learning, are explored in a variety of ways, including the lunch hall, displays in the classrooms, registers and greetings, assemblies, spanish week with the participation of the families in different activities, International celebrations and music lessons. 

The Spanish curriculum develops four core skills: listening, reading, writing and speaking, and has six general topics across the 6 years of primary education: 

• Greetings,personal information and classroom instructions
• Geographic and cultural references, 
• Routines, food and family
• Animal and human features
• Hobbies and interests
• communication for practical purposes. 

Our curriculum ensures that it is accessible to all children by relying on high-quality modeling of language, visual, auditory and kinaesthetic inputs, opportunities for pupils to manipulate the language, especially in pairs, and on-going formative assessment to ensure progress.

Children with high levels of needs have a broad curriculum offer, linking into National Curriculum themes, but with scaffolded learning which meets their needs, ensuring they are also making good progress from their initial starting points.

Students in reception will explore a wide range of songs and rhymes to explore the patterns and sounds of the  Spanish language, providing a link to the prime areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. In Key Stage 1, students build on their knowledge of patterns and sounds of Spanish and will be able to “play” with Spanish sounds through songs and games. Also, they will be able to understand and respond to simple questions and classroom commands. In Key Stage 2, students enhance these skills alongside developing their listening, reading, writing and speaking skills.

We strongly believe in a “Talk for Writing” approach where pupils practice verbally before committing work to the written form. At the end of Key Stage 2 we aim to link the learning in Spanish to other curriculum areas so the students can apply their knowledge independently.

To support staff with their planning and teaching the programme Language Angels is used. This provides clear learning objectives, activities (including visual and oral presentations) and clear grammatical foci. A number of staff are fluent Spanish speakers and support the effective implementation of Spanish across the school. 

Impact

Progression of knowledge and skills has been carefully mapped and Spanish as a result is delivering:

• High levels of exposure to different accents and intonations of Spanish language.
• Read  a wide variety of high standard written texts in Spanish.
• An understanding of different cultures around the world.
• A geographical comprehension of the hispanic world.
• Exposure to different musical genders, instruments and dances from the hispanic world.
• Impact on our students’ ability to acquire the knowledge and skills required to learn a language.
• The foundations to deepen their skills and knowledge of the Spanish language and seek work opportunities in a different part of the world.
• Foster the pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.

Outcomes in Spanish are recorded in folders and on Tapestry, evidencing a broad and engaging Spanish curriculum and demonstrating the children’s acquisition of identified core knowledge. Children are encouraged to use their newly acquired language skills in everyday school life so they have regular opportunities to practice and embed learning.