On 11th January 2023, Better Bilingual colleague Stephen Bray delivered a training session, entitled ‘Ensuring the attainment of EAL learners’, to staff at The Hope Virtual School, Bristol at City Hall, Bristol.
The HOPE exists to improve the education of children in care (CiC), often referred to as looked after children (LaC).
The 11 Hope Advocates present in the morning’s training session support and advocate for children and young people who are in care, working closely with staff within Early Years settings, primary schools, secondary schools and in Post-16 settings so they can monitor and track how well their young people are doing. Increasingly, HOPE Advocates are supporting children and young people from refugee backgrounds, many of whom are New to English.
In the 90-minute training session The Hope Advocates learned about:
- The context of EAL provision, (including Equalities legislation);
- EAL acquisition;
- Some difficulties facing EAL learners;
- Some strategies to support EAL learners;
- Developing an inclusive learning environment;
- School Induction practices;
- EAL assessment;
- Some key resources & research.
Two hand-outs, designed collaboratively by Better Bilingual and The Hope Virtual School, were shared to inform the Advocates’ future practice:
- ‘New to English UASC Induction Pathway: Overview of the first 6 weeks in school’;
- ‘Top Ten Tips for Schools: A Focus on Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children who are New to English’.
There was good discussion and feedback was very positive. The Advocates felt that the session was very helpful and we look forward to working in partnership again soon.
Stephen Bray, Better Bilingual Senior Associate
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