EAL

Confidence

• We teach in line with the curriculum subject areas ensuring pre teaching is relevant and in partnership with the class teacher
• Lessons target language development as well as building subject knowledge
• Pupils have individualised EAL targets which are reviewed termly and tracked
• Pupils are involved in the setting of their targets which encourages ownership
• We use data to inform planning and teaching to ensure that all students are challenged and able to access learning. Planning is flexible to adapt to need.
• Pupils progress is tracked using spelling, reading decoding and reading comprehension ages
• NASSEA steps, The Bell Foundation and DfE EAL Proficiency scales are used to assess and track progression of English acquisition
• We use strategies to develop metacognition to support our students in their understanding of English and being able to apply their knowledge and achieve in examinations
• Effective EAL teaching strategies such as visuals, home language, talk frames, scaffolding, modelling, the use of exemplars, writing frames, DARTS, thinking maps and grids are used to support learning and build independence
• We use the 15 minutes of silence to develop student resilience and help them develop their independence.
• Pupils are encouraged to build their confidence and skills by getting involved in The Diversity Forum
• Time is spent ensuring pupils have a deep understanding of the demands of the English language and literature curriculum at both KS3 and KS4
• Pupils have time to develop their understanding of subject areas other than English
• Reflection time is built in to revisit areas of concern. SPAG menu weeks.

Ambition

• Time is spent mentoring pupils to realise their goals and expand their horizons
• We help pupils understand different cultural and social expectations
• We ensure that pupils know the processes and options open to them pre and post 16
• We work with families to explain the Education system and enable parents to support their children with career choices
• We encourage pupils to take part in extracurricular activities and support them joining local organisations to build their CV
• We support pupils acquiring relevant work experience placements
• We make links between curriculum learning and future career paths

Communication

All lessons have a literacy focus. Guided reading and spelling are built into lessons. With reading we work to develop pupils’ phonic knowledge, comprehension and inference skills as well as developing and extending their vocabulary. DARTS activities like text marking are used regularly to support pupils accessing texts. Oracy has an important role in our lessons too as we work on building pupils’ confidence to speak in English and rehearse what they think before writing. We work with pupils on their handwriting and provide scaffolding support in the form of sentence starters, thinking maps and writing frames to enable pupils to improve their written English. SPAG weeks are built in across the year to target areas of weakness like tenses and subject verb agreement. Spelling tests are integrated into our lessons as a regular feature.