Latin
At Coppice Valley, in consultation with some of our Secondary School colleagues, we have decided to teach our children Latin as the foreign language aspect of our school curriculum.
Latin is the origin of many languages that are taught in the high schools around the Harrogate area, namely French, Spanish and Italian, as well as begin the root of many English words that we use today. Latin is introduced in Year 2 so that the children will receive 5 years worth of our Latin programme before moving to secondary education and putting the skills that they have learned into further practise. By studying the etymology (origins) of words, children will be able to expand their vocabulary by identifying parts of words and their original meaning. For example; 'solus' means 'alone' in Latin and is where we get words such as solo, sole, solitary and solitude.
Values Led-Learning
Brave: Children will explore a new language through song, conversation and story. They will learn academic resilience by learning through mistakes. Children will learn the value of learning through practice and repetition to embed key facts.
Curious: Children will be curious and fascinated by other languages. They will learn about the origins of languages, and their etymology, making links to their own language.
Kind: Children will learn to have a deeper appreciation of other cultures and countries. They will appreciate the difficulty in speaking other languages than your first language.
Curriculum at each phase
Children start learning aspects of Latin in Year 2 - when they first encounter Romans and Ancient Greeks - using our online resource 'Maximum Classics' - which all teachers have been trained in. At this stage, throughout Years 2 and 3, of the Latin curriculum children are introduced to the sentence structure of the language as well as focussing on etymology and vocabulary.
As the children move into Year 4, reading Latin is introduced using the 'Hands Up' Latin programme. Children will continue to develop their knowledge of vocabulary and etymology.
In Year 5 and 6, children further develop their skills in Latin by using text books and translating Latin into English.
This is a five year plan and all children currently at Coppice will begin their Latin education by using the Maximum Classics programme and then progressing year on year.
The Knowledge and Skills pupils will learn:
- listen and show understanding of the language
- explore patterns and sounds of Latin, using stories, songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words.
- speak in sentences and understand the sentence structure of the language
- read and show understanding or what is being read
- broaden their vocabulary
- write phrases from memory
- describe people, places and things orally and in writing
- understand basic grammar including tenses, irregular verbs and masculine and feminine forms of nouns.
