Who Are Multi-lingual Learners?

Multilingual learners are a very diverse group. It includes anyone who has been exposed to a language other than English during early childhood and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community. It can refer to a child who has been born in the UK and speaks another language at home as equally to a child who has just arrived from another country.

The term ‘multilingual’ is used to refer to those children whose daily lives operate in more than one language; the term does not suggest equal competence or fluency in these languages. It is expected that, for many, one language will be stronger than the other.

► We have over 25 different languages spoken in our school community (Integris 2024). 

These languages include: Albanian, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Farsi, Filipino, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Konkani, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili and Ukrainian.

At St. James we have a 3 strand approach to our multilingual learners, which include:

• Welcoming new arrivals and pastoral support

• Academic support

• Celebrating cultural diversity

Provision For Our New Arrivals:

School placements are offered in conjunction with the St James's and Local Authority's Admissions' teams. You will receive an email notification from the local authority and a separate email from St James's which will contain an information welcome pack and additional documentation that you will be required to complete and return to the school.  

The initial induction for new arrivals is as follows:

• On the child’s first day, they are invited to attend the school office at 8.30am, to purchase a school time and be welcomed by a member of staff.  The family will have a brief tour of the school, answer questions in relation to routines and show the child to their new classroom.

• All children who are new to the school are assigned a class buddy who supports them whilst they settle into school. A ‘buddy’ is a child who will work alongside any new arrivals, ensuring that they have a learning partner within the classroom environment and a friend to sit and play with at break and lunch time.

• The family will be provided with a ‘pupil passport’ so the teacher and their peers can get to know them better. This pupil-centred tool is used to outline the pupil's key strengths and needs.

Below is an example of a pupil passport that is presented to our new joiner to complete:

Further useful resources e.g. communication fan, notebook for vocabulary, Maths word book and dual language ‘phrases for school’ booklet can be provided once we know which language is spoken at home.

Welcoming Multi-lingual Learners:

►At St. James’s we value the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of our pupils. We believe in an inclusive approach where children make best progress by being taught in classrooms with their peers through quality first teaching.

Respecting the children’s prior learning and encouraging them to show their understanding through the use of visuals, translanguaging and the use of scaffolds among other tools is key. The linguistic and cultural diversity at St.James’s is reflected in our school environment, curriculum, learning resources and through our partnership with parents.

Multilingual learners are encouraged to maintain and further develop their home language in order to develop their higher thinking skills.

Speaking two languages fluently has positive associations with attainment. We encourage children to use bilingual dictionaries/apps when necessary and to continue reading in their home language too.

The Multi-lingual Framework:

One of the core principles in our Teaching and Learning Framework sets out how we ensure multilingual learners are supported both academically and pastorally.

Attaining Proficiency In English:

Proficiency in English has the greatest impact on attainment in EAL pupils – The Bell Foundation 2022’

Research shows that proficiency in English is a key predictor to educational outcomes at any Key Stage.

► At St. James’s we want your child to become a proficient learner in English as it has such an important impact on their attainment.

On average, social language can take up to 2 years to acquire but academic language can take between 5 to 10 years.

The rate of progress in listening, speaking, reading and writing may differ. The bands start from ‘New to English’ and work their way up to ‘Fluent’.

► Your child’s classroom teacher will assess your child informal, through the work completed in the school day so that we can identify targeted support, provide the best learning provision for them as well as showing progress over time.

Celebrating Languages:

We hold a range of events throughout the year to celebrate languages, from holding a pancake café and hosting a French picnic through to having story time in different languages and Chinese music assemblies.

We also hold a coffee morning for new arrivals and multilingual families in February.

On our Multilingual Day in February, the children celebrated the languages and culture of countries they either have links to or have simply visited on holiday.