English as an Additional Language

We currently have 27 different languages spoken in our school. We are proud that we celebrate the diversity of our children and their families.

We aim to:

• celebrate and promote children’s home language
• enable all children succeed in accessing the curriculum, overcoming any language barriers
• enable all children to develop a rich, varied vocabulary in English
• ensure any additional support is linked to classroom learning and has a real context for children

Children who have English as an additional language (EAL) are supported in a variety of ways:

• the use of visuals to support written and spoken language
• supporting children with planning their writing
• supporting children editing and improving writing
• pre- teaching concepts e.g. grammatical structures that they then will be applying in class
• pre- reading texts with children so they can access them more easily in class
• pre- teaching mathematical concepts- especially vocabulary and reasoning skills
• pre-teaching science and wider curriculum vocabulary at the beginning of a unit of learning – we send words home to practise and discuss with families
• specific/ bespoke need or focus e.g. tenses, pronouns but in the context of class work

Those children who have a more limited use and understanding of English will have short 1:1 sessions to aid their English language acquisition.