Latin Curriculum Statement  

Bishop Chavasse Church of England Primary School  

Our School Vision:  

Bishop Chavasse Church of England School Policies are all underpinned by respect and our school parable 'The Wise and the Foolish Builder', which forms the basis of our whole school vision, highlighting the importance of wisdom, compassion and honesty.  

Bishop Chavasse School values every wonderfully and uniquely created child and adult; inspiring everyone to fulfil their potential, as we achieve excellence together. As Jesus teaches through the parable of the house on the rock: we grow in wisdom, supported by the compassion of God to establish firm, honest foundations on which every child can build.   

Latin Overview 2023-2024 

Intent 

At Bishop Chavasse, we want to encourage a passion for language learning. We want to encourage a curiosity of words and the confidence to ‘have a go’. Teaching Latin will give children a greater wisdom to be able to use words correctly, whether in Latin or English or another language in the future. Learning Latin will develop the children’s attention to detail and support them to identify tiny variations in grammar and vocabulary. This will train their minds to look at languages in a logical way, making it much easier for them to understand how other languages work.  

Through the teaching and learning of some basic structures of language, we hope that pupils will explore and apply strategies to improve their own reading and writing and lay a strong foundation for learning a Modern Foreign Language learning in KS3.  

Implementation 

At Bishop Chavasse, we teach Latin for one lesson a week in KS2. Throughout KS1 children are introduced to some of the characters from the Latin scheme. Latin is an excellent next step after phonics and supports children to make progress in their reading and spelling. Half of the English language originates from Latin and therefore many spelling patterns and meanings of root words can be learnt in Latin lessons.  

Our teaching and learning follows the ‘Minumus’ programme of Study which sets out a clear progression of content and language. The Minimus programme is based on a real family who lived at Vindolanda in 100AD: Flavius, the fort commander, his wife Lepidina, their three children, assorted household slaves, their cat Vibrissa - and the main character ‘Minimus the mouse’.  It is an engaging and fun way to learn a language and also teaches the history of Roman life. Children have opportunities to show empathy and compassion towards those who were less fortunate in Roman times and often subjected to severe hardship or cruelty. We support learning of revisited and new language through a balanced variety of class, group and independent activities, including stories, games, videos and role play.  

In all classes, children have a wide range of abilities, and we strive to provide suitable learning opportunities for all, supporting those with special education needs and comparing the many similarities of Latin and other languages spoken by children throughout the school.  

Our assessment in Latin takes the form of verbal and written feedback within the lesson. Progress is measured and recorded against learning objectives in books. Also, and very importantly for pupil motivation, children have the opportunity at the end of each lesson to self-assess using the learning objective and can share successes and their own suggestions for possible next steps.  

Wherever possible, we encourage children to use and apply their Latin learning whenever they are using language, whether listening, speaking, reading or writing. Children often make links to other words in Latin and use this knowledge to support their spelling in all subjects.  

Impact 

Children will leave Bishop Chavasse school as curious, confident learners with positive attitudes and compassion towards other cultures, peoples and languages and a better appreciation of our own language and way of life. Children will have an in-depth knowledge of types of words, their spelling patterns and meanings. 

We measure the impact of our curriculum through the following methods: 

• Observing children speaking and listening in another language. 

• Marking of written work. 

• Pupils assessing their own learning. 

• Learning walks. 

• Subject tracking. 

• Student and teacher feedback. 

The Latin subject leader will continually monitor the impact MFL teaching is having on the children’s learning, through work scrutinies, to ensure the progress of knowledge and skills is being taught.  They will also ensure the knowledge taught is retained by the children and continually revisited and that the learners are able to apply the skills they have been taught to a variety of different settings, showing independence with their learning. Impact will also be measured through key questioning skills built into lessons, child-led assessment such as success criteria grids and summative assessments aimed at targeting next steps in learning. The honest feedback of both students and teachers will be gathered to inform the subject leader on next steps to ensure a continued love of language. 

Learning Latin will have the valuable impact of preparing the children to access any modern foreign languages at KS3 and supports the widening of their culture capital but fostering a curiosity about languages across the world.