English as an Additional Language (EAL)

At Foundation Stage:

To help those pupils whose first language is not English, extra support is provided. This is secured in two ways:

• Teaching assistants support the class teachers by working with pupils in small groups and thereby help pupils with their oral skills, sounds/letters, number work and reading. 
• To increase confidence and to target specific areas of language it may be recommended that a pupil has booster lessons provided by EAL specialist staff. These are timetabled alongside German lessons and parents are notified of this step.

At Primary School (Years 2 - 6):

As at the Foundation Stage, English support is given in the classroom wherever possible. During Literacy and Numeracy lessons support is provided through specialist EAL staff. Where additional practice is recommended, EAL lessons are offered instead of German. Small groups of pupils are withdrawn from the mainstream classroom and benefit from having lessons tailor made to their requirements – this may involve spelling strategies, vocabulary skills and learning techniques, approaches to texts, or speaking skills.

At both Foundation Stage and Primary School a pupil’s progress is reviewed on a regular basis by class teachers, Teaching Assistants and EAL specialist staff so that he or she may then join the German class when it is in her/his best interests to do so. The aim of the booster classes is for the pupil to reach a level of English necessary to successfully and confidently access the mainstream curriculum.

At Secondary School (Years 7 – 9):

As academic demands increase so it becomes paramount that a student has sufficient English to cope with a broad range of subjects confidently and successfully. The Learning Support Unit offers an ideal environment for providing English support by EAL specialist staff.

EAL lessons are timetabled alongside French and Spanish lessons and work on a ‘drop in’ basis.

Support is given to individuals or in small homogenous groups, and teaching is targeted to specific needs. The four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking are promoted to a level where students can successfully access the curriculum. Parents are notified if extra EAL lessons are recommended for their child.