Construction of the Languages Curriculum:
At Newby Primary School, we believe that it is crucial that all pupils show a curiosity for language. We want to foster a school community of language detectives who are armed with a strong background knowledge of how languages are constructed and linked which enables them to better understand the world around them. We want our children to be confident and successful when conversing in whichever language they choose. We also want them to understand the rich history of their language and how this is interwoven with other languages across the world.
We want children to have fun exploring and using language in a range of situations. Children will have plenty of opportunities to read, write, speak and investigate the Latin language. They will play games, sing songs, read stories and act out plays to help bring this ancient language to life. Our curriculum makes strong links with real historical artefacts, events, places and includes stories about Roman families who actually lived in England 2000 years ago. This means that their Latin lessons also enrich their learning across the curriculum. We follow the Minimus Latin scheme with planning adapted to suit the needs of our pupils and curriculum.
Making our children language and vocabulary rich and broadening their knowledge of ancient civilizations and their impact on the world today will improve their education and employment prospects for the future.
Ambition of the Curriculum:
Our ambition for Latin at Newby is that our pupils become confident when faced with unfamiliar language and proficient at conversing with others in whichever language they choose. We also want our pupils to broaden their world view with a deeper understanding of ancient civilizations and their continued impact. We believe that a strong foundation in Latin will prepare our pupils for learning further languages at secondary school but will also enable them to better understand the etymology of their own language. Through our rich Latin curriculum pupils will also learn more about history, art, geography and the wider world making them more equipped to be global citizens in the future.
Skills and Content
As Latin is new to the curriculum at Newby, all year groups in Key Stage 2 started on year 1 of the Latin curriculum in 2021. In the curriculum Intent documentation, further details of the roll-out of this new curriculum can be found. In September 2023 - Y3 will study the first year of Latin, Y4 will be studying the second year, Y5 and Y6 will both be studying the third year. This will be our final year of the roll out programme.
At all stages, pupils will be taught vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation and sentence construction. The curriculum is planned to cover a range of vocabulary and topics such as family, food, animals, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, plurals, numbers and much more. They will be given opportunities to apply their knowledge to a range of situations and will keep revisiting past learning in order to ensure that learning is retained. All Latin learning will be presented in an historical and etymological context in order to anchor and embed their learning across the curriculum. They will deepen their knowledge through use of historical sources and Roman mythology. Key language skills are mapped from the national curriculum and will build on pupils’ knowledge, year on year. Planning is based around the Minimus Latin scheme for Primary schools.