Approach to EAL

EAL at Plymouth Grove Primary School

Article 29 of the UNCRC: a child or young person's education should help their mind, body and talents be the best they can

Article 30 of the UNCRC: children have the right to share their culture, language and religion

Global Goal 4: Quality Education

Intent

At Plymouth Grove we have a vision for all staff being aware of EAL needs, spoken language, language demands and required focused vocabulary, both for EAL and INA pupils.

We are also committed to being able to offer a curriculum which recognises the provision needed for the teaching of pupils for whom English is an additional language.

As a school we will value the diversity, culture, language and heritage of all pupils. 

We celebrate all major events and festivals belonging to a diverse range of faiths, beliefs and cultural identities.

We aim to be inclusive and are striving for the use of key vocabulary, developing spoken language and understanding the language required to access the curriculum. The continued use of KO provides support both for pupils as well as the families. These give an insight into key areas of learning within the specific subject area.

Implementation

On arrival New INA/EAL pupils are met by CFT, shown around school, classroom and meet the class teacher as well as 2 staff members who form part of the INA team, as part of the admissions process. A separate form giving some basic details of the pupil is completed by CFT and is passed on to the class teacher as well as the INA/EMA team. INA pupils are assessed by a teacher from the team, as needed. This enables the teacher to gather information and assess their abilities, curriculum knowledge and language skills. This is also done in home language if needed and requested by the class teacher or SMT: Urdu and Punjabi are languages that the team can use internally, within the school to initially assess those pupils that speak these languages.

We have a variety of languages spoken by other members of staff but these skills are usually requested for communicating with parents or the families of EAL/INA pupils. We have had nearly 12 INA pupils since Summer 2019 - November 2019 

The languages spoken by these pupils is: 

• Urdu/Punjabi

• Spanish

• Italian

• Arabic

• Portuguese 

Other information

We have 453 pupils on roll (Nov 2019)

42% are PP pupils

69% of our pupils are EAL Learners

27 different languages are spoken in the school.

Planning will show effective use of additional support staff and their contribution to the progress of EAL learners. Resources are evaluated  to make sure they are fully inclusive, demonstrate equality of opportunity and have multicultural themes. Use of home languages both with parents and pupils will be valued and used as an effective tool for inclusion.

Welcomm is being rolled out throughout the key stages. This will enable spoken language support for many EAL/non EAL to make continued progress in developing their skills.

The team’s main focus will be the welfare, wellbeing, and inclusion of INA pupils and also the implementation of Wellcomm as part of a whole school initiative. We will as a staff, make sure that all pupils have opportunities to access the whole curriculum. All staff will encourage all pupils to take active part in all aspects of school life.

Impact

We will use a variety of ways to assess the knowledge, understanding and skills learnt by the pupils in all areas of the curriculum.

Providing advice and the use of EAL strategies used by class teachers will help to show even further, the learning and progress made by the EAL and INA pupils in our school. Training teachers and new members of support staff are also advised and supported with developing their EAL strategies  and to be confident in delivering quality first teaching.

We are determined to create an inclusive culture of learning where all children will be challenged in their thinking, to achieve to the best of their abilities and strive to become life-long learners.

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