Valuing Multilingualism at Gardners Lane Primary School (GLPS), Cheltenham At Gardners Lane there are 275 children on roll. 88 pupils (or 32%) are learning through EAL (English as an Additional Language). 24 languages, including English, are spoken by the children and families of the GLPS community; Bengali, Polish, Romanian and Portuguese are the minority languages Read more about ‘Language of the Term’ – one school’s experience[…]
As I write this, it is Mental Health Awareness Week 2020 (18-24 May) in the UK, hosted by the Mental Health Foundation, with World Wellbeing Week fast approaching on 22-26 June 2020. During these strange COVID-19 times, my thoughts are turning to the power of nature to lift spirits, lighten moods and provide a positive focus Read more about Home learning during school closures: A minibeasts project for primary pupils[…]
New-to-English secondary pupils – from learning in class to learning at home Kindly contributed by our guest author: Caroline Scott – Director, Across Cultures – June 2020 This upsetting case is highlighted by Kamil Trzebiatowski, former EAL Co-ordinator in a large secondary school in the UK. It’s a common story in many schools, where it’s Read more about GUEST BLOG – Caroline Scott – Director, Across Cultures[…]
Over in Cheltenham, Stephen has been busy in his school role as EAL Lead – setting up the fantastic Young Interpreters Scheme at Gardners Lane Primary School, Cheltenham This continues the school’s excellent work in valuing and promoting languages other than English in a school in which 33% of the pupils are from BAME Read more about Young Interpreters Scheme[…]
Funding for pupils with English as an additional language Ref: ‘Schools revenue funding 2019 to 2020’ Delegated funding Local authority funding formula factors for 2019 to 2020 (page 11) English as an additional language (EAL) An optional factor ‘Pupils identified in the October census with a first language other than English may attract funding for Read more about Funding for pupils with English as an additional language – latest update[…]
Better Bilingual was delighted to be invited to deliver workshops at the Firm Foundation Conference Joining the Dots on Saturday 16th March 2019. The workshops were really well received with a great group of practitioners attending the workshops. It was clear that that there was a wide range of experiences reflected in the room for Read more about Firm Foundations Joining the Dots Conference – EYFS & EAL Workshop[…]
Better Bilingual EAL Network meeting (BANES) was held on 5th March at St Philip’s C of E Primary School Alice Herve from ‘Bath Welcomes Refugees’ spoke about her work with refugee families including organising tuition for the children. Yasmin Malik highlighted the ‘Young interpreters Scheme’ providing peer to peer support. Jo Childs-Evans shared EAL good Read more about EAL Network meeting BANES, March 2019[…]
Better Bilingual EAL Network meeting (BRISTOL) was held on 12th March at Henbury School Outline of the meeting focused primarily on enhancing provision for learners new to English and included the following: Judith Prosser EAL Co-ordinator at Henbury School spoke about developing her role since joining the school in September 2018 and the positive impact Read more about EAL Network meeting Bristol, March 2019[…]
CPD BBNQT04: Preparing for SATs – “Most useful elements of the course were a chance to discuss and share strategies – I’d heard before but good to consider implications. I will now use the strategies from today’s course.” The Language of Instruction in Maths was delivered on 28th February 2019 by Yasmin in collaboration with Read more about Latest BPTSA CPD session[…]
This NALDIC South West Regional Interest Group (RIG) Meeting was facilitated by Catherine Brennan and Yasmin Malik of Better Bilingual on Tuesday 20th November 2018 at Two Mile Hill Primary School, Bristol. Catherine shared personal highlights from this year’s NALDIC26 Conference, held in Leeds on 17th November 2018, before Yasmin introduced our first guest speaker, Read more about NALDIC South West RIG Meeting 20.11.18 – Summary by Catherine Brennan[…]