CONTENTS

• Aims

• The context of the school

• Key principles for additional language acquisition

• Key considerations for new arrivals of children with EAL

• Welcoming new arrivals

• EAL Teaching and Learning: Good Practice

• Special Educational Needs and Gifted and Talented pupils

• Assessment and record keeping

• Resource list

• Parents/ carers and the wider community

• Staff development

APPENDIX

• Interview with new EAL arrival

• Getting to know me questionnaire

Aims

At Summercroft we are committed to ensuring that all pupils feel welcome, valued, part of our school community and are given learning opportunities that are accessible, relevant and purposeful within the context of the National Curriculum.

We aim to ensure that all children with EAL are able to:

• Celebrate and share their first language, culture and identity
• Use English confidently and competently
• Use English as a means of learning across the curriculum
• Achieve their full potential

The Context of the School (April 2020)

• Languages spoken by children at this school are Japanese, Lithuanian, Urdu, Polish, Romanian, Bengali, Italian, Kurdish, Dutch, Portuguese, Hindi, Greek, Arabic, Bulgarian, Spanish, Hausa, Slovak, Chinese, Turkish, Tamil, Shona, Albanian, Russian
• Languages spoken by staff at this school include Italian (Mrs Everett), French (Mrs Everett, Ms Jameson), Spanish (Mrs Everett).
• 76 pupils currently have English as a second language (16% of our school community). These children are from a mixture of ethnic backgrounds, with the majority being Polish, Romanian, Portuguese and Spanish.
• 13 pupils are identified as being in the very early stages of EAL acquisition, (including those in Foundation Stage).
• 4 pupils with EAL qualify for Pupil Premium (5% of EAL children, 8% of our school community)

Key Principles for Additional Language Acquisition

• Children with EAL are not a homogenous group and do not necessarily have a common set of educational needs.
• When a child with EAL first joins an English school, it can be normal for them to have a ‘silent period’ of up to six months (whilst they acclimatise/ learn by watching and listening)
• It can take 1-2 years to become fluent in everyday spoken English, but 5-7 years to begin to develop proficiency in formal, written English.
• Children who are new to English will benefit from being integrated into mainstream teaching and learning most of the time as it enables them to: develop oral fluency quickly, immediately feel part of the school, develop language in context and experience their full curriculum entitlement
• Children with EAL should be placed within their chronological year group and seated with peers where cognitive demand is high and sensitivity is shown to the new arrival’s needs
• One of the most important aspects of effective teaching of EAL learners is the need to support and develop their competence in their first language alongside the learning of English. Any knowledge developed in the first language can easily be transferred to the second or third languages, this also applies to knowledge about language

Key considerations for new arrivals of children with EAL

All staff need to be aware and sensitive to the potential difficulties that new arrivals of children with EAL and their families may be facing. These could include:

• Not being familiar with the English language or English culture
• Not being familiar with the educational systems in England (eg In some countries, schools expect parents to buy all exercise and text books at the start of the school year)
• No previous schooling due to different starting age in their home country
• Little, no or fractured previous education due to lack of opportunities or instability in their home country
• Different style or emphasis of prior education
• Difficulties managing the transition to a new country
• Isolation and lack of friends and family

Welcoming new arrivals

The school ensures that newly-arrived children and their families are warmly welcomed and feel safe and secure in their environment.

Parents/ carers are encouraged to bring their child to view the school and meet their prospective peers before the date of admission. At this time the Headteacher, SENCo and EAL Learning Support Assistant aim to meet with the child, parents/carers to gain insight into the pupil’s background and experiences (See ‘Interview with New EAL Arrival’). This is the first step to ensuring the school successfully meets the diverse needs of its pupils.

Strategies used to support new arrivals to our school include:

• A ‘taster session’, when child gets to meet teacher/ class and EAL LSA assesses Level of Language Acquisition, A-E
• Children are encouraged to complete a ‘Getting to know me questionnaire’ to share with staff and peers
• A staggered start, with pupils beginning with half days (if appropriate);
• Designated Buddies
• Peers and adults providing first language support (if possible).
• Creating links between parents/ carers of pupils with EAL by informing them of other families within the school that speak the same language (coordinated by the EAL LSA) and holding coffee mornings each term to allow them opportunities to meet.
• Ensuring that our written and spoken communication with families is effective through the use of plain English and, when necessary, using interpreters or translating written information (-including information about non-uniform days, special events etc)

We aim to ensure that our written and spoken communication with families is effective through the use of plain English. However, we recognise that this can be difficult for some families with limited English language acquisition; in such cases we use translators and interpreters.

As part of our aim to achieve a cohesive community, we endeavor to work closely with members of the wider community to support our EAL pupils.

EAL Teaching and Learning

In writing schemes of work, teachers consider the following questions:

• How can I (or additional adults or other children) model the key language needed?
• What specialist vocabulary do pupils need in order to understand new concepts and how can this be presented to them in an accessible way?
• What opportunities are there to explore ideas orally and collaboratively?
• What range of texts do pupils need to read and how can their reading be scaffolded to support learners with diverse needs?
• What types of written tasks do pupils need to carry out and how can these be framed to support pupils at different levels?
• Are lessons planned to ensure that any additional adult has a clear role in developing language and literacy?

Staff use support strategies to ensure curriculum access: (Please refer to ‘EAL guide for Staff’ on staff server to see explanations)

• Using peer ‘Buddies’ (see Buddies)
• Making the verbal curriculum more visual (see Visuals)
• Making the abstract curriculum more concrete (see Graphic Organisers)
• Developing interactive and collaborative teaching (see Collaborative Activities)
• Identifying the language demands of the curriculum (oral and written) and provide models (see Modelling)
• Using drama and role play to demonstrate how language is used in real life with a focus on communication (see Drama and Role Play)
• Providing opportunities for exploratory talk (see Collaborative Activities)
• Ensuring home languages are valued and used in school and at home (see Using Learners' First Language Ability)
• Providing opportunities to talk before writing (see Language Drills)
• Supporting through key phrases and structures rather than key words (see Scaffolding)

Assessment and Record Keeping

English Language Proficiency. Our EAL LSA will:

• Assess the child’s level of English Language Acquisition (on arrival) and band accordingly, A-E.
• Set appropriate targets and share with staff and parents/ carers.
• Liaise regularly with the class teacher and re-assess/ set new targets for the children each term.
• Be responsible for keeping records updated and sharing them with staff

National Curriculum

• During the first few weeks, class teacher will use the HfL assessment grid (or, if younger, the EYFS) to record the child’s level of curriculum attainment. This will be done through testing/ observation and outcomes
•  If the pupil is in KS1 or KS2 but is working well below Age Related Expectations (ARE), the teacher may choose to record their attainment using the Pre-Key Stages (PKS)
• The teacher will set appropriate curriculum targets and share with child and parents/ carers
• The teacher will take responsibility for updating records and curriculum targets each term. These will be discussed with SLT (Senior Leadership Team) during regular PPM’s (Pupil Progress Meetings).

Resources list

• Dual language dictionaries (Stored in Rainbow room. Please see SENCO if additional    languages needed)
• Bilingual stories and books (Stored in Rainbow room. Please see SENCO if additional    languages needed)
• Pictures and simple phrases which indicate if the child is thirsty, feeling sad, sick, needs a pencil, needs to go to the toilet etc (saved on server)
• Twinkl noun/ verb/ adjective flashcards, word mats and matching activities (saved on server)
• Colorful Semantics
• Basic literacy and numeracy games (Please see SENCO)
• Barrier games (Please see SENCO)
• Peer support, including Buddy System
• Interventions by our in-school EAL LSA and, where appropriate, our in-school Pupil Premium support teacher

Useful IT programs:

• Google Translate
• Website: EAL Nexus (EAL theory used to help draft this document and search engine for resources linked to topic and age range)
• You Tube (Lots of useful videos – including learning basic phonics)
• Communicate in print (A program that turns words into simple visuals)
• BBC Bitesize – grammar exercises for EAL learners
• British Council’s Learn English Kids
• Twinkl

Useful IT programs for understanding teaching of basic literacy

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=IwJx1NSineE&feature=emb_logo 
• https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/oxford-owl-videos/phonics-videos/

Useful IT games for basic literacy

• https://www.education.com/games/alphabet/.
• http://www.letters-and-sound.com/phase-2-games.html
• http://www.letters-and-sound.com/phase-3-games.html
• http://www.letters-and-sound.com/phase-4-games.html

Useful APPS

• Hairy letters
• Funimal phonics
• Forest phonics
• Phonics Tic Toc, Toe
• Pre-school 1st words (colours, shapes, food, transport, wild animals, pet animals, weather, at home, clothes)

Translators:

Parents/Carers and the Wider Community

• Parents should be made to feel welcome and valued in the school and the community – they could be invited in to share knowledge about their culture or religious festivals, help out on school visits etc
• Parents/ carers should be encouraged to continue reading with/ talking to their children/ discussing the school day and learning in their home language
• Parents/ carers should be kept informed of child’s targets so they can support from home
• Parents/ carers may want to support their children by translating school resources in advance of lessons
• When appropriate and possible, translators should be accessible for meetings
• When appropriate and possible, written information should be translated (eg letters/ information regarding school events)

Staff Development

The school enables all staff to undertake professional development to ensure that provision for EAL pupils is appropriately delivered and co-ordinated.

The School Development Plan incorporates action plans and reviews relating to raising the achievement of ethnic minority/EAL pupils.

Review and Evaluation of Policy

School data includes relevant information on ethnic minority/EAL pupils. This includes needs, levels of English, support, achievement and progress. This enables the school to monitor targets.

The evaluation process serves the basis for planning programs of action and targeting time, support and resources.

Written April 2020

Mrs Cate Phillips (SENCO/ EAL coordinator)

Interpretation

Any reference to a statute, statutory guidance and any other document shall be construed as a reference to that statute as amended or re-enacted and to the current edition or replacement of that statutory guidance or other document