At St Mary’s, we understand the importance of language learning in order to help us change our world for the better. Many of our children and staff speak different languages at home and some have learned to speak a modern foreign language fluently as well. Learning a language is something that we consider to be vitally important as it brings communities closer together.
At St Mary’s, we have chosen to study French in Key Stage Two. As well as this, we have decided to introduce elements of British Sign Language across our school to support inclusion. We do this through the School of Signs in Summer 2 and through various songs during our Singing Praise Assembly for EYFS to Year Six. This also shows how we focus on the UNHCR Children’s Rights, specifically number 30.
What’s happening at the moment?
Our Year Six classes are looking forward to an MFL Masterclass taster with the Head of MFL from Edgar Wood Academy in October! They will start their journey to learn Spanish!
St Mary’s took part in European Day of Languages at the end of September this year, but this year with a difference! As a school, we learned the alphabet in British Sign Language and some classes even learned nursery rhymes and held conversations in BSL! We have also changed our KS2 awards assembly to include the BSL sign for clapping/cheering instead of actually clapping, making our awards assembly a much calmer and inclusive place to celebrate.