• To give all children the opportunity to overcome any barrier to learning and assessmentTo welcome and value the cultural, linguistic and educational experiences that any children bring
• To implement strategies to ensure that EAL children are supported in accessing the full curriculum
• To help EAL children to become confident and fluent in speaking and listening, reading and writing in English, in order to be able to raise their achievement
• To identify and make maximum use of opportunities for modeling fluent English and encouraging children to practice and extend their use of English
• To encourage and enable parental support in improving children’s attainment

• To enable to assess the skills and needs of children with EAL and to give appropriate provision
• To equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and resources to be able to support and monitor children with EAL
• To monitor children’s progress systematically and use the data in decisions about curriculum planning and classroom activities
• To maintain children’s self-esteem and

• Plenty of listening time is important; allow extra thinking time
• Teachers should not worry if initially the child does not wish to participate
• Insisting on oral responses too early may hinder learning
• Children should be integrated into regular school activities from the start and are best supported by class teachers and assistants
• English must be taught within the context of other school subjects in the National Curriculum
• The motivation for learning to speak a language is the need to communicate
• Peer reinforced language development is one of the strongest motivators for language learning; children make excellent teachers and helpers
• The most appropriate language learning situation for bilingual learners is with a group of children of her/his own age
• Activities that are good for bilingual learners are good for all children
• Encouraging the maintenance of the home language will enhance the learning of English
• Concepts to be learned in the additional language may already be fully developed in the first language

• Find out the child’s culture and country of origin
• Speak the child’s name regularly and positively. Smile at the child frequently for reassurance
• Include them in the life of the class, but do not put on pressure if they do not wish to participate
• Allow the child time and space to observe what is happening and give importance to listening time
• Use other children to make the child feel secure in class and around the school
• Try reinforcing simple, consistently worded commands visually, through mime, demonstration or pictures
• Use key phrases
• Welcome parents to share activities with the child
• Try to provide opportunities to involve the child and draw on their experience. It may take a long time before the child feels confident enough to make an oral response. It may take as long as two terms
• There is no need to delay reading until the child is fluent in second language. Find out the level of the child’s literacy in the first language. Information about the writing system used at home will be invaluable. For example, Urdu is written from right to left so Urdu books open the opposite way to books written in English.
• Share books with adults and other children
• Talk about pictures and encourage the child to join in
• Continue talking even when the child does not respond
• Include the child in small groups with good models of English
• Use questions where a non-verbal response can be given
  Accept non-verbal responses
  Praise any efforts children make to talk
• Classrooms need to be socially and intellectually inclusive, valuing cultural differences and fostering a range of individual identities
• Recognise the child’s mother tongue; boost the child’s self-esteem
• Identify the child’s strengths
• Acknowledge the time it takes to become fluent in an additional language, with a good command of the range of language needed for academic success. Support may be necessary beyond the time a child appears orally fluent

We will work closely with the parents of all children requiring EAL support. Parents will be welcomed positively into school and many strategies will be used to develop pleasant, co-operative liaison and contribute towards the enrichment of the school environment. Parents can promote positive images through their direct involvement in school.

• Books and texts used in school reflect an awareness of the world around us in illustrations, script and suitability. Stories are from a range of cultural backgrounds
• The role-play corner will reflect various cultural styles; dressing up clothes, food, cooking utensils, toys, artifacts and dolls
• Musical input will reflect different cultures, stories and rhymes from different countries, possibly with parents contributing
• Cooking activities will reflect world cuisine and cultural diversity
• A variety of Festivals will be celebrated throughout the year
• Simple greetings could be in a variety of languages, children may count up to 5 in different languages
• Themes or topics will provide opportunities to involve all children and draw on a variety of their experiences

Access to the curriculum and to assessment is assisted by using a variety of strategies such as:

• Using existing texts and materials that suit their ages and learning stages
• Providing support through ICT, video and audio materials, dictionaries and translators, readers and amanuenses
• Structuring worksheets or activities in an uncluttered and meaningful way
• Developing vocabulary wordbooks
• Matching activities
• Close procedure activities
• Variety of popular books in dual languages (EYFS)
• Give children time to complete tasks
• Multi-sensory resources (EYFS)
• Give structures for writing poems, science experiments etc

We strive to meet the needs of all our children, and to ensure that we meet all statutory requirements related to inclusion. All children in our school follow the National Curriculum. We strive hard to meet the needs of all children learning English as an additional language, and we take all reasonable steps to achieve this.

We do not withdraw children from lessons to receive EAL support. Individual children or small groups of children are supported within the class.

For children whose home language is not English in the EYFS, Newbridge Preparatory School will take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning, supporting their language development at home.

Newbridge Preparatory School will also ensure that children have sufficient opportunities to learn and reach a good standard in English language during the EYFS, ensuring children are ready to benefit from the opportunities available to them when they begin Year 1.

When assessing communication, language and literacy skills, members of staff will assess children’s skills in English.

If a child does not have a strong grasp of English language, members of staff must explore the child’s skills in the home language with parents and/or carers, to establish whether there is cause for concern about language delay.

Children learning English as an additional language are helped by:

• Building on their experience of acquiring language at home so that this experience supports their developing use of English
• Providing a range of opportunities for them to engage in English speaking and listening activities, with peers and with adults
• Providing opportunities for children to hear their home languages, as well as English
• Modelling English

Teachers will help children learning English as an additional language in a variety of ways:

• Show differentiated work for EAL children in planning
• Have high expectations, expect children to contribute and give you more than one-word answers
• Monitor progress carefully and ensure that EAL children are set appropriate and challenging learning objectives
• Recognise that EAL children need more time to process answers
• Ensure that EAL children hear good models of English
• Use collaborative learning techniques
• Ensure that vocabulary work covers the technical as well as the everyday meaning of key words, metaphors and idioms
• Explain how speaking and writing in English are structured for different purposes across a range of subjects
• Provide a range of reading materials that highlight the different ways in which English is used
• Ensure that there are effective opportunities for talking, and that talking is used to support writing
• Encourage children to transfer their knowledge, skills and understanding of one language to another

Cooperative learning and Active Engagement are a focus for our teaching strategies. Many pupils at Newbridge are not declared by parents as speaking English as an additional language at home. However, experience of teachers within the school indicates that whilst these children are not EAL, there is often a vocabulary deficit within the home. This is particularly evident where the children use English as a first language but their parents and grandparents do not. The use of cooperative learning and active engagement strategies within the teaching and learning environment will put a greater emphasis on the use of language.

Cooperative Learning and Active Engagement Structures are fully appropriate for children at the Intermediate Fluency and Fluency stage indicated above; particularly when vocabulary extension is key. Timed Pair Share, Rally Robin and Round Robin all structure extended language production opportunities.

What is also important is that these language acquisition opportunities also focus on higher-level thinking and cognitive development. Through full inclusion in classroom activities that require understanding concepts and applying new knowledge, EAL vocabulary learners have full access to curriculum. Language proficiency truly can be acquired simultaneously with content mastery and achievement of challenging performance standards through Cooperative and Active Engagement structures.

Written 10/05/2013 – SAF, JK
Reviewed 10.03.2014 – SAF,JK
Reviewed 08/01/2016 – SAF
Edited 03/02/2019 – SAF
20/09/2022 – Revised SAF
13/11/2023 – Reviewed SAF
10/09/2024 – Reviewed NBB
24/07/2025 – Revised NBB