Latin
At Hartwell Primary School, we teach Latin as our Ancient Foreign language. When making this choice, the first decision was to choose the best language for our school. One of the main reasons we have chosen Latin is that as our pupils move to KS3, they will encounter different modern foreign languages depending on which secondary school they choose. Currently, this could be Spanish, French or German. We believe that learning Latin at KS2 gives our pupils a good linguistic foundation for future language learning and also underpins many English grammar and spelling requirements, whilst introducing them to the best that has been thought, said and written in classical civilisations. This is supported by the National Curriculum, which states:
If an ancient language is chosen the focus will be to provide a linguistic foundation for reading comprehension and an appreciation of classical civilisation. Pupils studying ancient languages may take part in simple oral exchanges, while discussion of what they read will be conducted in English. A linguistic foundation in ancient languages may support the study of modern languages at key stage 3.
In short, we know that learning is about making connections. The more you know, the more you can learn and the easier it is to acquire new knowledge because it will stick to something you already know. Latin gives you more stickies than any other subject. It is like academic Velcro. It connects with everything!
Intent
A high-quality Latin curriculum will provide pupils a solid foundation for learning further languages in Key Stage 3, in addition to enriching their current knowledge of the English language both in reading and writing. It will equip children with linguistic knowledge, cultural capital and provide purposeful links to other topics in the national curriculum to foster pupils’ curiosity and deepen their understanding of the world.
Pupils will be taught to:
- Listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding
- Explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words
- Speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures
- Read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing
- Broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using their own Latin dictionary
- Write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly
- Understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.
Implementation
Teachers plan Latin using progression maps and the Maximum Classics schemes of work to ensure teaching is designed to help learners to remember, in the long-term, the content they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.
Retrieval practice is a fundamental part of our Latin curriculum as it is proven to strengthen memory and make it easier to retrieve the information later (Rosenshine, 2012). Opportunities for retrieval practise occur in two places in the curriculum:
- Weekly review to activate prior learning forms the start of most lessons.
EYFS & KS1
The teaching of a foreign language is not required in EYFS and KS1 as stated in the National Curriculum 2014.
KS2
The teaching of KS2 Latin will occur once weekly in an approximate block of 30 minutes. This will generally in the afternoon. Over the course of a half term, one unit of Latin will be taught.
Latin will be planned to build on prior learning and supplement the teaching of reading and writing. Upon initial implementation of teaching of Latin at Hartwell, Years 3-6 will have the same starting point on the programme of study. After the first year of implementation, Year 3 will have the same starting point (Unit 1) and Years 4-6 will continue to progress where the left off in the previous year group. This will continue until a full Year by Year group scheme of work can be applied.
Each unit of work will be planned to build on prior learning and provide a foundation for the next unit. As an example, Unit 1 will begin with the origins of language and units will progress through to writing complex sentences and reading stories in Latin. Additionally, at the start of each lesson, prior learning will be reviewed to consolidate knowledge and commit learning to long-term memory.
Useful documents