Policy for Children Who Have English As an Additional Language

Policy for Children who have English as an Additional Language

Reviewed and revised: September 2017

Review Date: September2019

Policy for Children who have

English as an Additional Language

This policy details our arrangements to recognise and meet the needs of pupils who are learners of English as an additional language (EAL). That is, pupils who have a home language other than English and who are in the process of learning to use English as an additional language through immersion in the curriculum and the broader life of our school.

Throughout this policy, and in other related policies and documents, these pupils are referred to as ‘pupils with EAL’ and ‘EAL learners/pupils’.

Aims

To actively remove barriers to achievement for our EAL learners.
To meet our responsibilities to our EAL learners by ensuring their equal access to the curriculum and other educational opportunities.
To provide our EAL pupils with a safe, welcoming and nurturing environment where they are accepted, valued and encouraged to participate.
To celebrate diversity and benefit from the opportunity to learn about each other’s’ language, cultures and customs.
To prepare pupils positively for life in modern Britain and promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs and for those without faith

Definition and Rationale.

1.The term EAL (English as an Additional Language) is used to refer to pupils whose main language at home is other than English.

2.EAL pupils, from complete beginners to those with considerable fluency, will have varying degrees of difficulty in accessing the full curriculum and in achieving their full potential. Research has shown that those new to English will acquire conversational fluency in two years, but will need a minimum of five years to achieve competence in academic English. Such pupils will need language support if they are to reach their full potential.

3.Therefore our main aim is for all EAL pupils to become confident in speaking, listening, reading and writing to enable them to access the curriculum and communicate effectively with their peers and other adults.

4.The provision of this support fulfils the requirements of the Equalities Act 2010 which seeks to promote Equality of Opportunity and to eliminate discrimination in the provision of education.

5.There is a collective responsibility, held by all staff, to identify and remove barriers that stand in the way of our EAL pupils’ learning and success.

Identification and Assessment

The inclusion leadervisits all new starters to the nursery with the nursery teacher and is able to discuss home language and proficiency in English of the child.
All other new admissions to school are met and interviewed by the inclusion leader or co-ordinator and any barriers to learning are discussed.
Class teachers will be informed if a new pupil has English as an additional language. The pupil will also be entered onto the EAL register.

Pupils with EAL are identified upon starting the school and they will be assessed using the EAL assessment framework provided by NASSEA if fluency levels are deemed to lower than needed to have full access to the curriculum
This assessment is then undertaken termly to record progress against the next step targets as identified through the proficiency assessments.
The pupil planning meetings which take place every half term will look at the progress and barriers to learning of pupils with EAL children in every class.
Children with EAL will be assessed termly according to the requirements of the DFE through the census. The categories are detailed in Annex 1.

Provision for EAL pupils

Children identified as being in the early stages of learning EAL are allowed a settling in period and it is recognised that it can take six months of immersion before some children start to speak English.
Some children will receive assessment and support from the LA’s Schools’ Multicultural and Development Service (SMDS)from a teacher/assistant who speaks their home language.
Children will receive interventions based on their assessed levels of competency and the next steps as identified from the assessment framework. This will be incorporated into their class teaching and individual support.
EAL pupils on lower stages of English acquisition will be buddied with a more confident pupil who speaks the same language or with an English speaking pupil as appropriate to help their integration into school life
Classrooms are highly visual environments so staff will try to providedual-language texts, labels and visual support within lessons.
Speaking frames can be used within lessons to help English acquisition.
Parents will be encouraged to participate in their child’s learning
Staff are aware that our school culture and environment (e.g. teaching styles, learning, procedures, routines and practices) may differ from the school culture that our EAL pupils and their families are familiar with and further advice will taken to help with integration when needed.

EAL coordinators

The current EAL co-ordinators are Fiona Balderson and Fiona Hensley.

They are responsible for:

Monitoring EAL data and reviewing progress across the EAL Stages and other academic performance.
Supporting staff who are leading EAL interventions.
Ensuring good EAL practices throughout the school.
Ensuring appropriate resources are available for staff and EAL pupils including dual language books and cultural artefacts provided by SMDS.
Liaising and sharing monitoring information with the senior leadership team (SLT)
Attending SMDS network meetings and other CPD to keep up with relevant national and local initiatives, cultural information and best/new practice.
Liaising with SMDS to provide appropriate support for newly arrived pupils and others with specific language needs
Liaising with parents when needed

EAL Monitoring and Evaluation

Lesson observations will take account of how the EAL learners are performing and progressing.
Progress data will be monitored regularly by class teachers as part of the Pupil Progress meetings and any concerns will be passed to the EAL coordinator/s.
The British Council evaluation templates will be considered as a new way to audit the management of EAL provision, the school environment and classroom practice within school.

Annex 1

Proficiency in English

An assessment of a child’s Proficiency in English is required for children who are in reception or above and who also have a first language which isn’t English.

Extract from School census 2016 to 2017 Guide

It is expected that schools will assess the position of their EAL pupils against a five-point scale of reading, writing and spoken language proficiency outlined below and make a ‘best fit’ judgement as to the proficiency stage that a pupil corresponds most closely to:

• New to English [Code ‘A’]: May use first language for learning and other purposes. May remain completely silent in the classroom. May be copying/repeating some words or phrases. May understand some everyday expressions in English but may have minimal or no literacy in English. Needs a considerable amount of EAL support.

• Early acquisition [Code ‘B’]: May follow day to day social communication in English and participate in learning activities with support. Beginning to use spoken English for social purposes. May understand simple instructions and can follow narrative/accounts with visual support. May have developed some skills in reading and writing. May have become familiar with some subject specific vocabulary. Still needs a significant amount of EAL support to access the curriculum.

• Developing competence [Code ‘C’]: May participate in learning activities with increasing independence. Able to express self orally in English, but structural inaccuracies are still apparent. Literacy will require ongoing support, particularly for understanding text and writing. May be able to follow abstract concepts and more complex written English. Requires ongoing EAL support to access the curriculum fully.

• Competent [Code ‘D’]: Oral English will be developing well, enabling successful engagement in activities across the curriculum. Can read and understand a wide variety of texts. Written English may lack complexity and contain occasional evidence of errors in structure. Needs some support to access subtle nuances of meaning, to refine English usage, and to develop abstract vocabulary. Needs some/occasional EAL support to access complex curriculum material and tasks.

• Fluent [Code ‘E’]: Can operate across the curriculum to a level of competence equivalent to that of a pupil who uses English as his/her first language. Operates without EAL support across the curriculum.

Alongside the scale outlined above, Not Yet Assessed [Code N] is available for use when the school has not yet had time to assess proficiency, for example when a child has recently joined the school.