English as an Additional Language

Miss Johnson is the champion of EAL

Article 30: Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family, regardless of whether these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live. 

Minority groups include:

• ethnic minorities
• religious minorities
• linguistic minorities— people who use a language that’s not the one most people use. That includes signed languages as well as spoken ones: British Sign Language users are members of a linguistic minority.

The Department for Education records a pupil as using EAL if ‘they are exposed to a language at home that is known or believed to be other than English’. The Dfe expect that effective teaching and learning for learners using EAL happens through the National Curriculum.

At Cavendish Community Primary School, our vision is to enable every child to experience success during their time at Primary School and heading forward into their future. This vision is at the forefront of all our teaching and learning, providing support and guidance for children who English is an Additional Language.

Intent

At Cavendish Community Primary School, we are committed to providing quality first teaching to all children and providing a curriculum which recognises the provision needed for teaching those pupils for whom English is an additional language. We recognise that learners will be at different stages of English acquisition but even those at the same level of English Acquisition will have different backgrounds and needs. As a school we value the language, heritage, diversity and culture of all our pupils and provide opportunities to celebrate the diverse range of faiths, beliefs and cultural identities. At Cavendish we aim to be inclusive and promote the use of pupil’s first language while supporting these children to develop spoken language and understand the language required to access all areas of the National Curriculum. During their time at Cavendish, these pupils will grow in confidence – academically and personally - due to the support provided by the EMA team, class teachers and support staff.  Further to supporting the children, we also strive to support parents and families of these pupils, providing them with opportunities to develop their own English and play an active role within the school community.

Recently, some of our EAL children were asked what they liked about Cavendish, how they were made to feel welcome when they started and how they think Cavendish could help welcome new children who don't speak much or any English.