French Curriculum

Overview of Department 

Key Stage 3 French at Rye College  

At Rye College, we recognise that learning a foreign language is not only a way of developing and nurturing key life skills and attributes such as reasoning, problem-solving and creativity, but an important factor in fostering and promoting a curiosity of the world and its cultures. We strongly believe feeling confident in communicating questions, ideas and opinions along the way is a way of unlocking bright futures for all of our students.  

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Curriculum Statement: Values and Aims 

At Rye College, students develop their speaking, listening, reading and writing skills in French through a structured approach. Starting with basic introduction, students build towards conversational French so that they can holiday in France with confidence! Alongside developing students’ linguistic skills, we look at French life and culture. This includes introduction to French literary heritage through the study of short extracts and poems. 

Foreign language qualifications can lead to many areas of work or can be a passport to a higher stage in many careers. Foreign language graduates are, in fact, among the highest paid professionals according to a recent survey. You will also develop an understanding of other countries and other cultures. 

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GCSE French 

Study languages and have a passport to the world! The study of languages develops confidence, curiosity, communicative skills as well as a wealth of cultural capital. All specific language skills are developed through a range of interesting and stimulating themes. 

Foreign modern languages are one of the compulsory subjects that form the EBACC, studies show that students who complete it are more likely to have success in higher education. 

The transferable skills from learning French are invaluable for life.  

The Edexcel GCSE in French consists of four papers. Listening, speaking, reading and writing are all equally weighted at 25% for each skill area. 

During the two-year course, students will complete the following thematic contexts: 

• My personal world 

• Lifestyle and wellbeing 

• My neighbourhood 

• Media and technology 

• Studying and my future 

• Travel and tourism 

The course covers a range of vocabulary and grammar that can be reused fluidly across the different thematic contexts. The topics will be examined at regular intervals across all four modern foreign language skills over the two years. This will include specific revision sessions in Year 11. 

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Knowledge Summaries - French

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Progression Routes

Students from a GCSE French qualification can progress to take A-Level French. In addition, the study of one language at GCSE can facilitate and help promote the learning of other languages. The qualification may also add to an individual’s employability profile. Furthermore, some universities or studies will require applicants to have a language GCSE including universities abroad which famously have much lower fees.