WINCHESTER University has been given a six-figure grant to develop a modern foreign language project with local primary schools.

It has been awarded £202,000 from the Department of Education for use on a training project for teachers at 216 primary schools across Hampshire.

The project will link with the county council and Hiltingbury Junior School in Chandler’s Ford, which has a good record in teaching languages at primary school level.

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

Ms Pagden said: “We’re really excited to be part of this important initiative. 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.”