We know that around 60% of our English lexicon is drawn from a combination of Latin and Greek origins, with the more technical vocabulary of school reaching even higher, to something like 90%…By making the roots of the English language more obvious, we present many teachable moments

Alex Quigley (2018)

Salve et gratissimum  (Hello and welcome)

At Heartwood CE VC Primary School, we promote a love of learning languages and a fascination for how language works. We teach the AFL (Ancient Foreign Language) Latin throughout KS2.

We teach Latin as:

• it offers the opportunity to reinforce the teaching of English vocabulary and grammar

• the language lends itself to a systematic and effective style of teaching

• Latin is a logical step after phonics, reinforcing the notion of structure and pattern in language

• it provides a paradigm for language learning in KS3 and beyond, and enables the learning of other romance languages such as Spanish and French

• teaching the subject allows insights into myth and other cultural aspects that form the basis of modern Western culture

Intent

Our aims of teaching Latin in KS2 are for children to:

* listen attentively to spoken language and show understanding by joining in and responding

* explore the patterns and sounds of language through songs and rhymes and link the spelling, sound and meaning of words

* engage in conversations; ask and answer questions; express opinions and respond to those of others

* speak in sentences, using familiar vocabulary, phrases and basic language structures

* read carefully and show understanding of words, phrases and simple writing

*appreciate stories, songs, poems and rhymes in the language

* broaden their vocabulary and develop their ability to understand new words that are introduced into familiar written material, including through using a dictionary

*write phrases from memory, and adapt these to create new sentences, to express ideas clearly

* describe people, places, things and actions in writing

* understand basic grammar appropriate to the language being studied, including (where relevant): feminine, masculine and neuter forms and the conjugation of high-frequency verbs; key features and patterns of the language; how to apply these, for instance, to build sentences; and how these differ from or are similar to English.

Implementation

Latin is taught weekly in KS2, using Minimus. Minimus is a story-based Latin course for primary pupils based around two textbooks - Minimus and Minimus Secundus.

Impact

After the implementation of Minimum, pupils should leave school equipped with alinguistic foundation for reading comprehension and an appreciation of classical civilisation. A linguistic foundation in ancient languages should support the study of modern languages at key stage 3.