Eal School Systems and Policies for Meeting the Needs of Children with Eal and or Black and Minority Pupils Essays

Eal School Systems and Policies for Meeting the Needs of Children with Eal and or Black and Minority Pupils Essays Eal School Systems and Policies for Meeting the Needs of Children with Eal and or Black and Minority Pupils Essay Eal School Systems and Policies for Meeting the Needs of Children with Eal and or Black and Minority Pupils Essay Essay Topic: Middle School EAL TASK 1 (Q13) School systems and policies for meeting the needs of children with EAL and/or Black and Minority Ethnic pupils What are the needs in this school regarding EAL and ethnic minority achievement? Middle Row Primary School has a population of 39% pupils who are bilingual. A total number of 21 different languages are spoken throughout the school. According to the Race Equality Policy, 57% of the pupils have English as an additional language. The school has a majority of the ethnic minority as stated below: 17% Mixed White/Caribbean Moroccan – 15% Black Caribbean – 12% Somali – 11% White British – 11% What written policies are there about the school’s approach? The school has a general EMA policy which highlights the school aims in regards to the needs of EAL children. According to the policy the school employs a full time teacher funded by the Language Development Service other than 2 teachers which are funded by the school. In reali ty there is one full time EAL teacher. There is also a section in this policy on new arrivals to the school where it states that the school ‘ runs an induction programme for pupils at the very early stages of learning English. Furthermore, in terms of learning and teaching, the EMA policy acknowledges the large number of pupils which qualify for EAL support, therefore it prioritises its support offered. The EAL teacher liaises with the class teacher in terms of the child’s assessment and development. The school also has a Race Equality Policy to ensure the school/staff fulfils its obligation under the Race Relation Act 1976 [amended 2000]. What are your school’s procedures for raising the standards of BME children and/or children with EAL – are there any particular support programme, strategies or resources used? Middle Row uses the RBKC’s assessment forms for children with EAL needs. This is practiced twice a year by the school staff. Other than this, the EMA teacher and the class teacher also assess children each term. Target levels are than set for the child to achieve by the end of next term. The assessment includes speaking and listening, reading and writing skills test for literacy. What support is available for children at the whole school and classroom level for both groups? The EMA teacher not only works alongside with the Class teacher during sessions or can arrange one to one sessions depending on the class timetable. Due to shortage of staff it becomes impossible to extend support to each and every EAL child present in the school. Support is still provided to the best of ability. How are parents involved and what systems exist for developing home-school relationship? In autumn term (Nov ’09) MRPS in coordination with the RBKC arranged a session for the parents of EAL children. Many parents attended the session, which was mainly focused on the importance of home languages. The school is working towards involving the parents and having more sessions on developing home-school relationships. In the past there have been sessions on parent child reading in the classroom which was quite a success. Find out how it uses local and national data to inform its practice. Are there any particular groups that are targeted for support? The school prioritizes in providing support to beginner levels of EAL children. So far, the school haven’t categorised any particular target group as the main focus stays with children who are new in the country or the ones with little or no English language at all. In what ways have the children’s knowledge and experiences been taken into ccount in curriculum content? The Friday assemblies are a main feature which highlights different cultures and traditions. The children can relate to these assemblies as the parents of children performing are invited to watch the assembly. Awareness is spread about issues like racism and bullying. When planning sessions, teachers do tend to keep interest of the child’s knowledge and experiences and try and make a relation from the curriculum point of view. What place do first languages and culture have in the school and classroom? Does it promote pluralingualism? First languages are not spoken as commonly probably because English is the main language spoken. Spanish is a popular language in the school because of the presence of specialist Spanish staff. Lessons are delivered every week in Spanish and children tend to enjoy these sessions. The school does promote pluralingualism as the school staffs cherish children who speak other languages. Display posters, dual language books are available in the school but not put into much use as one would imagine.