At St. Peter’s Junior School we ensure that all children are valued equally, regardless of ethnic background or family heritage. We recognise and address the needs of pupils, including those who have English as an additional language. As a school we pride ourselves on providing the right support for all EAL pupils throughout our school as well as recognising and celebrating our diverse school community.

How do we support your child?
All teaching staff receive training to support children, new to English. If they need any further advice or support, they can seek this from the EAL lead. We have a buddy system in school who will help your child settle into their class as well as support with new routines and help them navigate the wider school area. Visual aids, translation of written English, adaptations to work, visual communication cards and the opportunity to write in their native language are all used to support your child access the school curriculum.

Supporting families with communication.
As a school we understand how difficult it can be for parents who are not confident in understanding English to keep up with the communication sent home. We are constantly seeking ways to improve this so everyone feels part of our school community. Below are some suggestions which may be helpful, please do ask if you need any further support from us.

Translation tool on our website
At the top right corner of our school website, there is a language tab, if you click on this you can change our website into a variety of languages. This will work on all information provided on our website, but not the uploaded documents.

Translating documents sent
There are a number of ways you can translate documents that you are sent. If you have a smartphone there are a number of apps that can use your camera to translate, for example; Deepl, Translator or Google translate. You can use the camera option to view the documents in any chosen language. If you have access to a laptop / PC, you can download a document into google translate.

EMTAS
EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service) support Hampshire schools with EAL pupils. They offer a range of services such as staff training, pupil support and they can aid us with parent communication. EMTAS run a language phoneline and anyone is welcome to call the phonelines during the hours stated on their website. If the bilingual assistant is unable to answer your query, they will contact us at school, so we can help.

Click below to visit the EMTAS website

We are very proud to be awarded Silver by EMTAS as part of their EAL Excellence Award. Our school was observed and assessed against the following 5 areas: 1. Leadership & Management, 2. Pedagogy & Practice, 3. Data, Assessment & Progress, 4. Teaching & Learning and 5. Parental & Community Engagement

This is a great achievement for the school and demonstrates the hard work and dedication
from all staff and pupils.