English as an Additional Language (EAL)

English as an Additional Language at Barnfield Primary School

Barnfield Primary School is proud of its diverse and multicultural community. We celebrate and encourage the many different languages spoken of our pupils and families. Presently, Barnfield’s community is 78% EAL and speaks 45 different languages. As a result, we support children with the development of their English skills to become multilingual ambassadors of their community and school.

Admissions

Barnfield welcomes children from all around the world. Within the admission process, we obtain information about each student’s language skills so that we can provide the most appropriate support and an effective transition to the school.

EAL Leader

It is the role of the EAL Leader – Mr Stevenson– to ensure that children with EAL are supported and make progress while at Barnfield. It is the leader’s responsibility to:

• work with EAL support staff (Josie Molloy) to assess students’ language levels on arrival, using the Language in Common Assessment
• monitor ‘Language in Common’ tracking to ensure child’s progress is regularly updated and areas of need highlighted.
• use the EAL systems to monitor the academic, social and emotional progress of students on the EAL register;
• maintain the EAL register and timetable EAL support staff to scaffold lessons in areas of need with target children.
• liaise with class teachers to identify reasons for underachievement and use the school’s internal referral system to broker additional support/intervention/assessment
• maintain resources e.g. bilingual dictionaries, EAL assessment tools.

Support

To support all children, all teachers are aware of their classes EAL needs and provide appropriate provisions as needed. This may include, but is not limited to, modelling key vocabulary, providing purposeful visuals, creating additional resources, utilising support staff and differentiation. The school also carefully considers the cultural capital to recognise the community and what is appropriate to their needs. Additionally, children might be included within interventions that target specific needs.

For children who are new to English, the EAL team may also provide personalised support to the individual child. This might include one-to-one support in class, individualised resources, pre-teaching and specific interventions. Additional targets are also created by the teacher alongside the EAL team to ensure learning is progressive.

Additional Information

If you have any questions or comments about the needs of a child with EAL, please talk to the class teacher or Mrs Moller, who will be able to provide additional information.