Skip to content ↓

EAL

Welcome to the EAL (English as an Additional Language) department at Weavers Academy.

Around 25% of the students at Weavers Academy speak English as an Additional Language. There are approximately 42 different languages spoken by our students, so we have a bustling and exciting cohort of young people who are bilingual, or multilingual, and who are at different levels of fluency in English ranging from fluent to the early stages of acquisition.

Students who are identified as being EAL student come from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences. They could be:

  • Bilingual, or multilingual, and fluent in both English and their home language/additional languages
  • Bilingual with some years of learning English as a foreign language
  • Fluent and literate in their home language with little previous experience of English as an additional language
  • A student with no previous experience of English and/or basic literacy skills in their home language.

EAL support at Weavers Academy includes:

  • Provide educational and pastoral support to ensure EAL students thrive and achieve
  • Conduct language assessments of new EAL students to identify any personalised support they require and to support them with their acquisition of English where required
  • Supporting mid-term admissions with their transition to life at Weavers Academy
  • Identifying EAL learners and supporting and monitoring their progress in regard to language acquisition (where required) and academic progress in their subjects, including in-class support and one to one or small group support in the EAL intervention space.
  • Lead on provision for students to take GCSEs in their First Language where available and appropriate
  • Liaise with families and support with parental engagement, including advising on suitable learning materials to support home learning, providing links to materials and resources, and supplying advice for parents new to the school (which is available in a variety of languages)

EAL support at Weavers Academy for families:

Online translations instructions:

Most web browsers have a translation functionality built into them, this means that when using the Arbor Parent Portal you are able to set a preferred language in your browser and Arbor will be automatically translated. Both Chrome and Safari have guidance on how to do set up this translation functionality:

  • Change the language on Chrome:

You can choose the default language of your Chrome app’s menus and settings.

  1. On your Android device, open Chrome .
  2. To the right of the address bar, tap More   Settings  Languages.
  3. Under ‘Chrome’s language’, tap the current language.
  4. From the language list, select the language that you want.
  5. After the language downloads, in the toolbar, tap Restart.
    • The download is complete when you find ‘Language ready’ under your new language.
  • Translate a web page on Safari on a Mac:
  1. In the Safari app  on your Mac, go to the web page you want to translate.

If the web page can be translated, the Smart Search field displays the Translate button .

  1. Click the Translate button , then choose a language.

If you think the translation might need improvement, click the Translate button , then choose Report Translation Issue. The translation is sent to Apple for review.

Enabling message translation ensures you can access important information in your primary home language. This allows us to continue to improve our parent and family engagement and ensures communication is accessible.

Cookie Policy