THE Government has announced plans to bring foreign languages into primary schools. However, one primary in Bolton is already teaching its pupils French.

Gayle McBain speaks to the headteacher about its benefits and looks at whether it could buck the trend of children dropping languages.

BOLTON school is flying the flag for France -- as the Government announces plans to teach foreign languages in primary schools.

A big shake-up for the country's education system will include the reintroduction of French and German in primary schools.

But headteacher at The Oaks Primary School, Mr Robert Livesey, had already introduced French language lessons for his year six pupils, prior to hearing the news from education headquarters in London.

He says his children "really enjoy their French classes" and he welcomes Education Secretary Estelle Morris' move to include foreign languages on the primary curriculum.

She has promised an early start in French and German for children as young as seven, although the lessons will not be introduced until the year 2010. Some Bolton schools do have foreign language classes as optional out-of-school activities and others, like The Oaks, in Sharples Hall Drive, had already introduced the lessons as part of the school timetable.

Mr Livesey says: "Around four or five years ago we ran, on a private basis, an after-school French club. The lessons were very popular.

"The teacher who ran these left to start a family but she has returned now and we have included the French lessons in the timetable for our year six pupils. I would love to include them for other years too.

"The children have one hour of French a week and they really enjoy the lessons. They do seem to be beneficial to the children."

He adds: "We had already included the French lessons in the timetable when we heard what Estelle Morris had to say. We get good feed back from the parents and from secondary schools."

Languages were dropped in many Bolton schools when the National Curriculum was introduced in the late eighties.

Bolton's Deputy Director of Education and Culture, Brian Shaw, says that prior to the introduction of the National Curriculum pupils were given lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic and in some cases foreign languages were included.

When the heavy timetable of 10 subjects was introduced "something had to give" and in most cases that was modern languages.

He explains: "We will welcome the opportunity of giving children this chance providing it is not detrimental to the more basic subjects."

The foreign language initiative is part of a big shake-up of the country's education system which will also see the very brightest children skipping GCSE examinations and going straight on to AS Level, the first part of the A Level studies.

A telling report, published by the education department, has revealed, though, that many British people feel no real need to learn a foreign language.

It has long been assumed by many that there is little need to learn a foreign language here in Britain as English is so widely spoken throughout the world. The report revealed: "For too long in this country there has been an assumption that because English is widely spoken there is no need to learn other languages. It has led to a cycle of national under-performance."

Most children only start to learn a foreign language when, at the age of 11, they reach secondary school and many very quickly lose interest.

By the time youngsters are choosing their options for their GCSE studies they have had just three years to get to grips with foreign languages and many are not taking their language studies any further. By starting foreign languages earlier it is hoped to capture students' interest at a younger age with the hope of holding their attention for longer. The Teacher Training Authority is set to provide 200 extra language teaching places next year as the first step to putting a greater emphasis on teaching languages. The Government also hopes specialist language colleges will be able to link with primary schools to help them achieve success with the new approach.

Every year at least 36,000 children throughout the country give up languages in their pre-GCSE studies in favour of other subjects and the number of youngsters taking A Level French and German has dropped dramatically since 1991. Thanks to moves to bring languages into primary schools, there maybe a reversal in this trend.