Eastbury Primary receives gold

Eastbury Primary School is in Barking and Dagenham, which serves families from many cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The number of children for whom English is an additional language has increased year on year and is currently 86%. One of the most striking things about Eastbury is the pride of everyone I met there in its multilingualism. Relatively recently arrived EAL learners told me they feel comfortable and know what they can do and what is expected of them.  One of them told me her confidence had come from what her EAL teacher (Ms Markova) does.

I got exactly the same message from the staff I spoke to.  Support staff praised the training they had received on using images, physical activities and using language consistently. They are also very aware of the needs of advanced EAL learners. Teachers said they know what works for the full range of EAL pupils because the EAL teacher has shown them what to do and supported them to do it. Indeed, one of them described his previous school’s provision as “night” compared to Eastbury’s “day.”  Teachers also found the staff languages list particularly useful.

Parents of EAL learners are also very happy and delighted that they are invited to the school to read to pupils in their languages. They emphasized to me that they feel it is a school that delights in its diversity. The school also runs special workshops for the parents of new arrivals.

None of this, of course, happens without a leadership team that understands and celebrates the nature of its school’s diversity and also believes in and feels responsible for their EAL leader, supporting her professional development and valuing and encouraging her leadership.