English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Intent

As a school, we recognise that EAL Status is dependent on which language was learned first by a child. Everyone is welcome at Beechview and we celebrate cultural backgrounds and diversity. In our school the teaching and learning, achievements, attitudes and well-being of all our children are valued. We encourage and support all our children to achieve the highest possible standards. We do this through taking account of each child’s life experiences and needs (their Cultural Capital) and this is reflected through our diverse text-led curriculum. As a school, we recognise and understand the difference between communication skills and language proficiency for all children. For example, a child’s ability to participate in the full curriculum may be in advance of their ability to communicate in English.

The aim of this policy is to help ensure that we meet the full range of needs of those children who are learning English as an additional language. This is in line with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. We also use Class Dojo (https://www.classdojo.com/en-gb/?redirect=true, also see Behaviour Policy) to communicate with families so that messages can be translated easily and allow for further family engagement with the school.