At key stage 3, our curriculum has been designed to provide a solid foundation for the skills required at key stage 4.
At KS3, the curriculum initially focuses on phonics and key grammatical structures by introducing students to the concept of gender, word order, adjectival agreement and high frequency verbs. We have specifically chosen topics which are suitable for younger children, namely, family and friends, free time, my house, my town, and media and technology. As students progress through key stage 3, there is a greater focus on grammar and sentence structure. We teach these through a variety of topics relevant to the age groups.
In year 7, the focus is on the language in the present tense and conditional.
In year 8, students interact with a range of tenses such as perfect tense, present and near future.
In year 9, students work with a wider range of tenses including present, perfect, and imperfect tenses, and near future.
As students progress, they are gradually introduced to skills required at GCSE level, for example, translation, decoding, listening for gist and detail, and inference.
Year 7
Autumn Term
Mi vida
My life
Spring Term
Mi familia y mis amigos
My family and friends
Summer Term
Mi tiempo libre
My free time
Year 8
Autumn Term
Mi case, mi piso
My house, my flat
Spring Term
Mi ciudad
My town
Summer Term
El cine y la música
Cinema and music
Year 9
Autumn Term
¡Diviértete!
Have fun!
Spring Term
¡Desconéctate!
Holidays and travel
La vida en el insti
School life
Summer Term
Viajes
Travelling
Assessment at Key stage 3
In years 7, 8 and 9 students will study a range of topics.
Students are assessed at regular points throughout each module with high stake and low stake assessments, In line with the Scheme of Work, most high stake and low stake assessments will cover vocabulary and grammar from sentence builders studied in lessons. They have also been designed to provide a foundation for the study of MFLs at key stage 4, aiming to upskill students in order to be able to tackle both productive and receptive GCSE style questions in years 10 and 11.
Sentence Builder booklets are shared with students at the beginning of each module to provide an overview of the vocabulary and grammatical structures that will be studied.
Areas for development become clear from their assessment results.
Staff give feedback to students and implement appropriate interventions in subsequent lessons to address misconceptions.
How can parents help support their child’s learning?
In order for your daughter to make good progress in her studies, it is important that she regularly revises vocabulary and grammar structures, either online or by using the following revision techniques: self-quizzing, mind maps, or flashcards.
Additional strategies that can further support her learning include:
• Encouraging her to practise dialogues or read passages aloud at home.
• Testing your daughter on the spellings and meanings of new words.
• Encouraging your daughter to revise new grammar learnt and practise applying it in writing and speaking activities.
• Encouraging your daughter to download the Quizlet app to increase vocabulary acquisition.
• Suggesting that she make full use of the independent learning resources available on ActiveHub.
Enrichment opportunities
There are a number of activities that students can take part in. These include attending our Language Ambassadors club, attending a Spanish theatre production.
