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:
Curriculum Statement for Latin discere, vincere, honorare 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!