English as an additional language

EAL students are involved in a number of extra-curricular activities and events.

Every year the Modern Foreign Languages department celebrates the European Day of Languages. This is championed throughout the school with class activities which serve to highlight the cultural and linguistic diversity of Loxford. The key focus of these activities is to celebrate this diversity and recognise how multiculturalism enhances the school and wider community.

One of the advantages of Loxford being a 3 to 18 school is the opportunity this presents for EAL students of all ages to get together and speak in their home language. Secondary students welcome the chance to engage with their younger counterparts in the primary and help them become part of the Loxford community.

The department works with the Loxford Wider Schools Manager and the Redbridge EMA team to create and develop links with parents, the community and international partners.

• All students will follow the Loxford curriculum model. The school will provide texts and resources that suit the students’ ages and levels of learning
• Where appropriate, EAL students will be supported in lesson by a Sixth Form student volunteering in the role of Language Ambassador, who shares the same first language and whose support enables the EAL student to complete tasks with understanding.
• Where necessary, for older children or for those who are functioning at one or more levels behind that which could be expected for their age and time in school, withdrawal support will take place for a set period of time to address specific language or learning focus.

Students engage in practical, meaningful and purposeful activities that will promote English language learning both inside and outside the classroom.
Students revise and learn new vocabulary and develop an awareness of the grammatical and phonological aspects of English.

Teachers will meet with parents at the end of the 6 week programme to talk about students’ progress and to give advice on which areas to focus and work out strategies for supporting them at home. Students will be assessed regularly throughout the course. They will take a progress test after the first three weeks and at the end of the 6 weeks.  Both tests will cover listening, speaking, reading and writing. The four auricular skills are assessed as follow:

Listening: a set of listening tasks of different challenge level to measure the student’s  ability to understand short passages in clear standard English spoken at normal pace, picking  the main points on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure etc., including short narratives.

Speaking: assessing the ability to answer simple questions, initiate and respond to simple statements in areas of immediate need or on very familiar topics studied in class. Developing the ability to adapt models successfully to give own simple opinions

Reading: assessing the ability to recognise and understand familiar words (including own name if new to reading or to Roman script) on displays and notices in the classroom and school; developing the ability to identify sound-symbol correspondence at word level; understanding the use of commas, full stops and other frequently used punctuation marks when reading.

Writing: assessing the ability to write simple phrases about themselves, as well as the ability to

follow and reproduce examples of layout for subjects across the curriculum (e.g. title, subheadings, new page).

Constructing sentences independently and subsequently starting to combine sentences to produce paragraphs in relation to their past experience or immediate environment (e.g. people, places, schools)

EAL teachers will be happy to meet with parents, as other teachers do, by arrangement through the Form Tutor, YCT and ATL. Parents are encouraged to communicate via email or telephone contact with the Form Tutor and the EAL CTL as they wish.  Soon after the pupil has been admitted at Loxford, parents are invited to an initial meeting during which they have the opportunity to discuss targets and strategies to support their child at home with the acquisition of the English language through a smooth and fast process. Parents are invited to an initial meeting during which they have the opportunity to discuss their child’s targets and strategies. A support summary document will be created containing specific information which subject teachers will use and incorporate into their planning to ensure greater success. The EAL CTL’s will monitor these students progress through the half termly impact documents.

Parents are encouraged to ensure that their child carry out daily reading activities for at least 20 – 30 minutes a day, as well as to support him/her in completing homework tasks regularly.  Parents will be instructed on which strategies work best for the progress of their child.  Ongoing contacts are kept with parents in order to make them aware of the pupil’s academic achievement, progress and need.

• Oversee initial assessment of pupils’ standard of English as necessary
• Give guidance and support to set targets and plan appropriate work. Provide an SSS where appropriate.
• Monitor standards of teaching and learning of pupils with EAL
• Monitor progress and identify learning difficulties that may be masked by EAL and liaise with the SENCO

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