Spanish

Spanish at Northallerton School & Sixth Form College develops confident communicators who can understand and express ideas clearly in spoken and written Spanish.

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced from Year 7 to Year 11 to build:

  • Secure phonics and pronunciation

  • Core vocabulary and grammatical accuracy

  • Fluency across the four skills - listening, speaking, reading and writing

  • Cultural understanding of Spain and the Spanish-speaking world

Lessons follow a structured Model–Assess–Practise (MAP) approach to ensure students develop both accuracy and confidence.

 

Key Stage 3

Curriculum Intent

Spanish begins in Year 7.

At Key Stage 3, students develop:

  • Strong phonics and pronunciation

  • Secure understanding of present tense verbs

  • Increasing confidence with past and future tenses

  • Structured sentence building and translation skills

The curriculum is sequenced to progressively increase grammatical complexity and independence, preparing students for GCSE.

KS3 Curriculum Overview

Term Year 7 Year 8 Year 9
Autumn Term 1 Introduction & Phonics Identity & Relationships School & Future Plans
Autumn Term 2 Family & Descriptions Free Time & Media Holidays (Multiple Tenses)
Spring Term 1 School Holidays (Past Tense) Health & Lifestyle
Spring Term 2 Free Time Local Area Technology & Social Media
Summer Term 1 Local Area Health & Lifestyle Environment & Global Issues
Summer Term 2 Holidays Cultural Studies GCSE Transition Skills

Year 9 strengthens use of multiple tenses and develops extended speaking and writing in preparation for GCSE.

Key Stage 4 (GCSE Spanish – AQA)

Students study the AQA GCSE specification, developing skills across:

  • Listening

  • Speaking

  • Reading

  • Writing

Themes include:

  • Identity and culture

  • Local, national and global areas of interest

  • Current and future study and employment

Students build fluency in:

  • Present, preterite and imperfect tenses

  • Future and conditional structures

  • Complex sentence forms

  • Justification and opinion development

KS4 Curriculum Overview

Term Year 10 Year 11
Autumn Term 1 Identity & Relationships Revision: Theme 1
Autumn Term 2 Free Time & Media Revision: Theme 2
Spring Term 1 School & Future Plans Revision: Theme 3
Spring Term 2 Holidays & Travel Speaking Preparation
Summer Term 1 Local Area & Environment Listening & Reading Practice
Summer Term 2 Health & Lifestyle Final Exam Preparation

Year 11 includes structured speaking preparation (Role Play, Photo Card and General Conversation) and targeted revision informed by assessment data.

Sixth Form

Spanish is currently offered to GCSE level only.

Literacy, Careers and Personal Development

Across all key stages:

  • Phonics is explicitly taught to secure confident pronunciation

  • Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary is revisited regularly

  • Grammar structures are explicitly modelled and practised

  • Cultural knowledge of Spain and Spanish-speaking countries is embedded

Careers linked to Spanish include:

  • International business

  • Tourism and hospitality

  • Translation and interpreting

  • Diplomacy

  • Teaching

  • Global organisations

Students develop confidence, resilience and global awareness through structured speaking practice and cultural exploration.