Kirkdale St Lawrence is an urban school of average size, situated in an area of high deprivation in the North of Liverpool City; we are a State Maintained Voluntary Aided Church of England School. We currently teach MFL in Key Stage 2; our aim is to integrate MFL throughout our school, from Nursery to Year 6, therefore we have applied for a grant to fund European Mobility as a project to enhance: - Language skills - Subject leadership - Understanding of European dimension - Planning, teaching and assessment of MFL which, in turn, will develop staff confidence and competency in relation to MFL. These areas for development where chosen, in line with new curriculum guidance, as we want to integrate MFL securely within our setting; allowing children to develop fluency in their language skills, cultural awareness and the ability to write in a foreign language applicable to their level. In a bid to motivate our children to be more culturally accepting and improve their writing, by providing a purpose (a whole school agenda), we are planning to make European Links with a school in France. We believe that this link will develop positive attitudes towards MFL and encourage our pupils to continue learning a language in later education. All of these aims were realised through Performance Management Meetings, staff discussions and our School Development Agenda. Our staff believes that learning a language enriches the curriculum and creates enthusiastic learners (and teachers) as a result of providing excitement and challenge. Before the participant selection process, our newly appointed MFL coordinator expressed a strong desire, by forwarding on their interests to the Head Teacher and selection committee, to take part in the language training in France. It was decided that this participant would be best suited to the course as they displayed a high level of motivation and interest in developing their language skills and gaining confidence to lead this subject – in relation to supporting other staffs’ CPD, planning, teaching and assessing - in the direction our school expects MFL to take. We believe that PQ-France was the best course to allow our MFL coordinator to develop these areas for progression. During this course the participant will embark on language training suited to their level of competency, along with gaining an insight into European dimension and pedagogy and methodology in this area. They will develop a European school link that will provide the participant with one-to-one connections allowing them to further build upon speaking and listening skills, fluency and confidence. Following on from the training there will be a forum for discussion around the changes that will impact on MFL in our setting. The introduction of new schemes of work, as a result of careful planning and focus on progression, will be shared with all staff and this will be expected to impact on the teaching, planning and assessment of MFL within our setting. A new MFL policy outlining the areas that our school must focus on (teaching and cultural awareness) will be drawn up and discussed with governors and the curriculum committee within our setting. To ensure that these changes are impacting in the way we envisaged we plan learning walks, observations, auditing of resources, pupils interviews and Performance Management Meetings to take place; allowing the MFL coordinator, HT and SLT to monitor the schools development in relation to MFL. Time will also be provided for the MFL coordinator to provide in house training to staff wishing to develop their own language skills and fluency. We envisage that participating in this project will allow our school to revise and strengthen the professional profile of our staff through targeted support and training, therefore impacting on our approach to MFL. Through creating a European link we will address our area for development in relation to teaching - especially developing children's cultural awareness and acceptance. New schemes of work will benefit our curriculum greatly – ensuring that all pupils are stimulated and challenged. Finally, our organisation intends to reach out to many people through this project, to develop cultural awareness and language, namely: staff, governors, pupils and parents who will gain immensely from a new found enthusiasm towards MFL that our setting will develop. In summary, we at Kirkdale St Lawrence, believe that this project has long term benefits for our school and will provide our staff and pupils with the opportunities to: - Confidently express themselves in a foreign language; - Explore their own cultural identities and those if others; - Discover and apply strategies to improve their learning of MFL; - Apply and develop their knowledge of language and language learning creatively; - Gain enjoyment, pride and a sense of achievement, within MFL; - Approach the teaching and learning of MFL with a new found vivacity.