THE University of Winchester has been given a six-figure grant to develop a modern foreign language project with primary schools across Hampshire.

The university has been awarded £202,000, from part of a larger £1.8m fund provided by the Department for Education for use on a training project for teachers at 216 primary schools across Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton.

The project is being coordinated by Louise Pagden and Marnie Seymour, senior lecturers in teacher development at the university.

“We’re really excited to be part of this important initiative,”

said Louise. “Learning a language at primary school engenders a love of languages and an appreciation of intercultural understanding which is so important in this global age.

“Young children have an opportunity to make significant progress across a range of language skills at primary school and ensuring that teachers are effectively equipped is key to the success of this initiative.

“The university relishes the opportunity to continue to support teachers in their professional development in this area and we look forward to working with local schools in the near future.”

As part of a Government drive to improve the take-up of foreign languages, schools across England are now teaching a new, more challenging curriculum, including a requirement for languages to be compulsory for all children aged between seven and 11.

The University of Winchester’s project focuses on supporting teachers with elements of the new curriculum that may be more challenging, including the use of more spontaneous speaking and complex writing and grammar.

To ensure that the support and training being offered is relevant, programmes were only considered for funding if they could show that they were led by teachers with collaboration between primary and secondary schools wherever possible.