EAL Provision in Holy Trinity Working to a new future of inclusion and diversity Irish Portuguese English Lithuanian Slovakian Polish Latvian Romanian

Where we are ….  At present we have 68 EAL children in our school, they are spread throughout the school, from Year 1-7  The children come from Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, East Timor, Slovakia and Romania.  The children who are here are well settled and happy in Holy Trinity.

What has been achieved so far…  The children who are here are well settled and happy in Holy Trinity.  We have put in place an Induction Procedure for New Arrivals, which will formalise admission of New Pupils.  A Welcome Booklet has been produced for all new children joining our school community.  A bank of resources is currently available on the schools public site on C2k computers. This is updated on a continual basis.  A handbook of practical resources/ activities has been produced for class use including a list of suitable websites.

What the teachers said they need….  A formalisedTimetable for Support teaching  Intensive language classes for newly arrived EAL children.  Pre teaching of relevant vocabulary prior to topics being covered in class.  A bank of resources for EAL children based on the topics being taught in class.  More regular contact with the EAL Support Team.  Guidance as to how to support the child in a whole class setting.

Support networks in school…  A revised timetable for support teaching was drawn up and has been implemented from Monday 23 rd October  Infant redeployment began from the week beginning Monday 6 th November.  Teacher release one afternoon a week for planning and resources.  In class support at least two afternoons a week.

Our action plan for the school year 06-07…  Continue to customise planners to include provision for EAL children in all year groups.  Continuing to build upon the bank of relevant resources  Sharing of resources between year bands.  Inclusion of representatives from all year groups on EAL Team.  Monitoring of provision for EAL children in school.  Tracking progress of EAL children from point of entry to now.  Home School Journals to be used as a mode of communication between home and school for all EAL children primary 1-7.

Events this year….  European Week… a celebration of cultural diversity through music, song, food and dance.  Inclusion in Comenius project…links with Europe.  Production of Welcome to Cookstown DVD in conjunction with local services and businesses.

EAL in the Early Years  Over 25% of our Ethnic Minority children are in the Early Years.  They do not receive withdrawal support.  Children are well settled into class  EAL children are reading, writing and achieving in all areas of the curriculum.

Activity Based Learning  Children in the Early years do a lot of practical learning.  We use learning centres in Literacy and Numeracy.  Children’s learning is guided by task boards

The learning environment  In the Early Years we use visual timetables.  All resources are clearly labelled with pictures and words.  Literacy and Numeracy hour is guided by task boards.  Learning objectives are made clear to all children and displayed on W.A.L.T. boards

Settling in ….  We have found that the children are very adept at communicating with each other without language.  We allow the children their silent time.  Every child who comes into the school has a buddy assigned to them.  We allow the children to learn at their own rate.  Don’t expect me to write if I can’t read and don’t expect me to read if I can’t speak.

Teaching Reading  We spend a lot of time developing language.  We ensure that our classrooms are a text rich environment.  Learning Areas and Resources are clearly labelled.  Children are exposed to books from day one in the early years.  We read everyday, be it shared or guided  Before they are ready for text based reading they have language development picture books.  Children are given a reading level using the P.M. Benchmarking kit and all our reading books are banded accordingly.  We use a variety of reading schemes, Oxford Reading Tree, Literacy Links and Storyteller.

Using ICT to enhance learning and teaching  All children respond well to the medium of I.C.T.  It provides a non threatening learning environment.  All classes have internet connections, with a wealth of teaching resources at our disposal.  By September every class will have an interactive white board.

Some useful websites       