Grappenhall Heys Community Primary School - English as an Additional Language - Supporting our Pupils and Families at GHCPS

On Arrival: A Warm and Structured Welcome

When a new EAL pupil joins our school, we prioritise a carefully planned induction that supports both the child and their family. This includes:

A welcome meeting with the class teacher and inclusion lead to gather information about the child's home languages, educational background and prior learning

A home language profile to understand all languages spoken within the family

Visual timetables, labelled environments and picture resources to support early orientation

Translated key documents and communication wherever possible, with access to interpreter support

A designated adult providing consistent support during the settling-in period

We recognise, in line with DfE early years guidance, that children with EAL may need more time to settle and that this can be a cause of anxiety. We work closely with families to share routines and to ensure the child feels safe, valued and understood from their very first day.

Classroom Provision: Quality First Teaching for EAL Learners

All teachers at GHCPS are trained to deliver high-quality, EAL-aware teaching that removes barriers and builds on prior knowledge. Our classroom strategies include:

Using clear, concise language: face-to-face communication, shortened sentences, stress on key vocabulary and explicit modelling

'Say less and stress, go slow and show' — a research-backed approach recommended by DfE guidance for early years and applied across all key stages

Visual supports: picture cards, dual-language labels, story props and sequenced photographs of routines

Layered participation — children are supported to access activities through observation, non-verbal response and gradually increasing spoken contribution

Commenting and labelling rather than questioning as the primary approach, particularly in early stages

Regular revisiting and re-proposing of prior learning to consolidate vocabulary and build confidence

Rich, real-life experiences and purposeful play that provide meaningful language in context

Incorporation of home languages and cultures into lessons, texts, songs, stories and displays

Support for Families

We know that parents and carers play a vital role in their child's language development. Research from The Bell Foundation (2024) highlights that parents new to English can face significant barriers in understanding the school system, in being represented within school structures, and in aligning their expectations with those of school staff. We actively work to overcome these barriers by:

Providing regular communication in accessible, plain English and, where possible, in home languages

Holding welcome meetings with translation support

Encouraging parents to speak to their child in their home language at home — this strengthens cognitive development and supports English learning

Sharing resources from the Warrington Local Authority EAL service and The Bell Foundation's parent guidance (available in 22+ languages)

Inviting families to share their cultures, languages and stories with the school community

Signposting to ESOL classes and community language support available locally through Warrington Borough Council

EAL Support in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

In our Nursery and Reception classes, we follow a particularly attentive and nurturing approach to welcoming children with EAL, informed by DfE guidance for early years providers and the EYFS framework.

Communication and Language

Developing spoken language is at the heart of our EYFS provision. For EAL learners, we:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We know that feeling secure is the precondition for learning. We create conditions where EAL children feel emotionally safe through key person relationships, visual communication tools such as emotions cards and photograph collections, and the celebration of every child's identity and background.

Cultural Capital and Diversity

Our EYFS environment reflects the diversity of our children. Books, resources, images, music and role play materials represent a range of cultures and languages. We make books with photographs of children and their families, invite community visitors and celebrate festivals and stories from different traditions — ensuring every child sees themselves valued in our school.

Assessment: Knowing Every EAL Learner

The Bell Foundation EAL Assessment Framework

We use The Bell Foundation's award-winning EAL Assessment Framework for Schools to assess and track the progress of our EAL pupils. This nationally recognised framework has been developed with leading experts in EAL assessment at King's College London and the University of Cambridge.

The Bell Foundation's Assessment Tracker is used alongside the framework, providing a clear picture of each child's journey and enabling us to demonstrate progress to families. Crucially, the framework covers all EAL learners — not just those who are new to English — recognising that some pupils who appear fluent in conversational English may still require support with academic language and formal writing.

In our EYFS setting, we apply the primary descriptors from the Bell Foundation framework, using professional judgement to select the most relevant descriptors for our youngest learners.

WellComm

In our Early Years, we also use WellComm as a communication and language screening tool. WellComm can be administered in home languages with the support of a translator (including Cantonese), enabling us to build an accurate language profile for each child that distinguishes EAL from any underlying speech, language or communication need.

The Warrington Local Offer for EAL

Grappenhall Heys works in close partnership with the Warrington Borough Council EAL Advisory Service, which provides specialist support, training and resources to schools across the borough. The EAL team includes specialist advisory teachers who offer consultations, in-school support and professional development to help us continuously strengthen our provision.

Warrington's local offer also provides guidance and signposting for EAL families, including:

E​nglish as an Additional Language - Supporting our Pupils and Families at GHCPS

W​hat is EAL?

Our Commitment: Inclusion and Ambition for All

How We Support EAL Pupils and Families