We do the present tense in Y7 French, covering regular verbs plus avoir and etre, and at the beginning of Y8 we do faire and aller in the present tense, using the topic of hobbies as a vehicle for this. Once they know aller, we then introduce the future tense because there basically isn't anything new to learn, it's just a case of knowing to put an infinitive after the part of aller in the same way we do in English.

When we introduce the perfect tense depends on the ability of the group and how well they've grasped the present and future, but it would generally be towards the end of Y8. Usually that would just be regular verbs that take avoir, and then they'd revise it and learn some irregulars and about etre verbs in Y9 when they're confident with the regular verbs. Our pupils start their GCSE options in Y9 and only the higher groups do languages, so the lower ability groups often only learn the perfect tense in terms of set phrases with common verbs rather than learning all the rules for forming it.

 I would hold off on anything but present till half way through Year 8. If you want any mastery at all, then I can assure you that regular present tense endings and some common irregular present tense verbs is plenty to chew on, even for able students.

I apologise now for this pedantic comment, However here goes, surely we all teach 'tenses' from day one.

The present tense is the most important and certainly, in the languages that I know, the most irregular. It also seems to be the first to be forgotten, as it appears to fall out of student minds as soon as another tense is introduced.