Multilingual Learners

Our Multilingual learners co-ordinator is Miss Booth.

What is our aim and vision? (Intent)

Colegrave Primary School welcomes children at different entry points during their primary journey. Many of our children are multilingual learners; all at differing stages of acquiring English. We strive to ensure that multilingual learners arriving as a mid-phase admission are assessed quickly, in order to make sure that their transition is smooth and their needs are met. 

Many of our multilingual learners are able to speak English proficiently alongside home languages and are able to fully access our curriculum in class through differentiation, whereas other children may require additional support. It is our intent to ensure that a child receiving basic English  intervention is still participating in the daily routines and curriculum of their class. Our emphasis is on moving a child through the programme as quickly as possible in order for them to access their learning in class.

How are we teaching and assessing? (Implementation)

In order to support our multilingual learners with acquiring basic English, our lessons are delivered using a range of different strategies and wherever possible are immersive and hands-on, allowing children to make real life connections. All of the sessions have a heavy focus on speaking and listening and are delivered in a welcoming and supportive environment, thus making children feel safe and confident at practising speaking English with fellow pupils, phrases and knowledge that they can then use with the rest of their peers

The programme is taught in a clear and progressive way, starting with basic survival words and progressing onto talking in more complex sentences, through the use of graphic organisers and sentence starters. In order for the emphasis to be on moving children through the programme as quickly as possible, children are grouped according to ability as well as age, those developing their vocabulary at a faster rate are placed on fast track programme.

Children are given ample opportunity to work and talk together in a safe close knit environment and cultural links and comparison of words in home languages are encouraged for pupils to make meaningful connections.

• Children in KS2 progress onto colourful semantics, to help them become more fluent writers, as well as speakers. 
• Children in KS2 also receive a tailored English lesson, using RWI ( our phonics scheme) if children are unable to access their year group’s English lessons, thus enabling them to understand and access their work and achieve their maximum potential.

What are the outcomes and achievements? (Impact)

Initially, children are able to make their basic needs understood in English to both peers and staff. Children become more confident with their use of English, initially, by joining in group discussions and eventually volunteering answers in home classes.  On completion of the programme, children graduate from their English language classes and are able to access age appropriate lessons, through the use of class teacher differentiation. Those who attend colourful semantics also begin to produce grammatically correct simple sentences, produced independently. Multilingual children are able to enrich our school through their different experiences and cultures.