Children learning English as an additional language (EAL) within St Clements and St John’s Infant School 

At St Clement's and St John's Infant School, we consider ourselves fortunate to have families from all over the world. There are over 35 different languages spoken within our school! 

If your child does not speak English within your home or speaks English as an additional language, they will be supported within our whole school approach to learning. We ensure no child is disadvantaged because English is not their first language. 

When a child learning EAL arrives at St Clements we support them to settle into school life by: 

- Communicating with the child’s parents/ carers to establish the child’s level of English language and understanding, and any learning needs they may have. This will also be an opportunity to learn about the child’s likes and dislikes and their prior experiences of school/ nursery settings.  

- ’Buddying’ up the new arrival with someone already in the class to help them get to know the school routines. Where possible, this will be with a pupil who speaks the same first language as your child.  

- Giving new non-English speaking pupils a communication fan to support them in navigating basic needs and wants. 

- Assessing the child for their level of spoken English (using the BELL Assessment Framework) along with their reading, writing and maths ability. 

- Using relevant assessments to ensure the child is placed within intervention groups to support their learning. 

- Using visual word banks and dictionaries and encouraging practical learning opportunities to engage and support learning. 

- Pre-teaching vocabulary for topics or stories before whole class teaching commences. 

- Using quality first teaching to ensure high quality, inclusive teaching for all pupils within class. This will include differentiating the learning to suit the needs of the learners.  

- Placing children within ‘talking trios’ to encourage speaking and language skills within the classroom. 

How you can support your child at home: 

- Speak to your child about their day and their interests in your home language. Have conversations within a variety of settings. ‘It’s better for young children to communicate with their parents in the dominant home language, especially if parents are not fluent English speakers’ themselves’ (Gov.uk, 2023) This also includes singing songs and nursery rhymes to your child to develop their communication and language through different means.  

- Read different genres of books and text to your child. Children should be encouraged to read texts both in their home language and in English. 

Children could also listen to audiobooks in English and their home language.  

International Mother Language Day 2024

International Mother Language Day is a worldwide celebration held on 21st February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. As a school who prides ourselves on our diversity and teaching tailored for EAL learners, we decided to celebrate by listening to a variety of stories read in different languages.  

We discussed how it may feel for a child learning EAL when they first begin to learn English and come to a new school. We discussed how this may feel to not understand what is being spoken. Some of our own student’s discussed their own experience and what made this easier for them. 

Some of our students got the experience to listen to traditional stories in their own mother language. They explained how this made them feel excited and proud to have their language spoken within school. 

We also encouraged our children to teach one another how to say ‘hello’ in their mother tongue. They enjoyed becoming the ‘teacher’ and greeting each other in different ways. Weinvestigated how many different languages were spoken in each class. In Kestrel class, 11 different languages were spoken!

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Useful links to support your child: