KS3 Overview
Our KS3 curriculum is sequenced in a way that grammar is delivered in a progressive manner, revisiting prior learning to form a basis for new and more complex concepts. It has its roots in the culture of the target language countries and encompasses art, geography and the media. Another aim of our KS3 curriculum is to set students up well for KS4; both in terms of the language and the confidence that it takes to speak a new language. We spend lots of our lessons speaking and listening as we believe that this is the bedrock for successful and engaged linguists.
The main aims of our KS3 curriculum are:
- To introduce and consolidate the phonetic rules of the target language and to build confidence in speaking French, German or Spanish aloud
- To lay the foundation for a comprehensive grammatical understanding of the target language and the key ways in which it differs from English
- To be able to confidently and accurately use the past, present and future tenses in a range of contexts
- To create confidence in producing accurate written work
- To develop an awareness and appreciation of culture in the French, German and Spanish speaking world
We are mindful of the fact that students will be studying two languages, so we have designed our curricula to ensure that there is no overlap of topics at the same time, to ensure minimal confusion between languages.
Building on KS2 and preparing for KS4…
Our Key Stage 3 curriculum builds on the statutory KS2 curriculum, but we are aware that students study a range of different languages at primary school to a range of different levels.
As mentioned in our KS3 curriculum intent, one of our main aims is to set students up well for KS4 and ensure that they have all the tools and the confidence to allow them to aim for the very highest grade from day one of the course.
KS3 Assessment
To ensure that the intent and implementation of our curriculum is having the optimum impact, formative assessment can be seen in each and every languages lesson at TGGS and we continually monitor, review and evaluate all of the steps that our students take towards their end point with us. Teachers’ formative assessment forms an important part of knowing our impact as a subject team, and we put a lot of emphasis on this; discussing this often in subject team time and adapting and amending wherever and whenever we see a need. We use the following strategies in class to constantly check for understanding:
- Mini whiteboards
- Strategic questioning
- Live marking
- Low-stakes vocabulary tests
- Retrieval practice ‘Do Now’ activities
Because this is a constant process, we are rarely surprised when it comes to more formal assessment points; we have a solid knowledge of what our students have understood and what needs to be revisited and we will have done this before we reach formal assessments.
Formal assessments at KS3 vary in style and include:
- Grammar assessments
- GCSE exam style listening, reading and writing tasks
- Translation assessments
Speaking assessments (where logistically possible)
KS3 Content
Exam Board and website link
French: Pearson Edexcel GCSE French (2016) | Pearson qualifications
German: Pearson Edexcel GCSE German (2016) | Pearson qualifications
Spanish: Edexcel GCSE Spanish (2016) | Pearson qualifications