EAL in secondary schools
Looking for guidance on how to best support the EAL learners in your secondary school?
You’ve come to the right place! In this section we offer examples of EAL best practice, video case studies, courses and resources which are specific to the secondary and 16+ phases. We also share some frequently asked questions and insights relating to a range of EAL learners.
If you would like to discuss anything you read about here please get in touch.
Best practice examples
Our EAL Quality Mark award is popular among schools who want to:
– gain a clearer picture of the scope and success of their EAL provision
– identify gaps in their EAL provision and consider how to address them
Over 50 schools have achieved the EAL Quality Mark to date. Each term we invite some of our award winning schools to talk about their EAL provision on our free webinar.
Each webinar is recorded and, following the session, everyone who registers for the event is sent a link to the webinar recording and any resources presented.
We also share the details of the excellent practices demonstrated by the award winners on our News page. Click on the links below to read about some of our award winners for EAL in secondary.
Read about and hear from some of our award winning secondary schools:
Short clips
Promoting multilingualism in school
Smithills School
Putting EAL at the heart of monitoring teaching and learning
Featherstone High School
The wide ranging work of an EAL team
Prendergast Ladywell School
A school new to EAL beginners
Norham High School
Longer presentations
Consistent EAL leadership in a challenging context (19m 47s)
Maria Graziani – Westbourne Academy, Suffolk
Welcoming international new arrivals in a secondary school (13m 48s)
Susannah Haygarth – Chorlton High School, Manchester
Setting up an EAL assessment system in a high school (11m)
Nikki Heron – Norham High School, North Shields
Pastoral support of EAL pupils / why all teachers are EAL teachers (16m 59s)
Alka Patel – Featherstone High School, Ealing
Extracurricular activities for EAL pupils (20m 31s)
Tuba Bauhofer – Prendergast Ladywell School, Lewisham
Being a new EAL co-ordinator and making a difference quickly (12m 51s)
Leander Moore & Sal Riley – Smithills School, Bolton
Courses
Most of our courses are relevant across phases but we have some excellent courses specifically tailored for EAL in secondary.
Leading EAL in secondary schools
Online course
This 12-hour course aims to develop the leadership of EAL in secondary schools where there are increasing numbers of English as an additional language students. Focusing on a whole school and subject-based approach, the course provides guidance on how to plan and prioritise provision for a range of EAL learners.
Extended online EAL course
New cohorts launched every term
Requiring approximately 90 hours to complete over a six month period, our extended EAL online course provides the opportunity to examine a range of EAL issues in detail, studying at times that suit your schedule. With 4 core units and 2 electives, you can tailor the cross-phase course to suit your interests and the needs of your school.
Delivering high quality EAL provision in your secondary school
Virtual training, 10 May 2023
We are delighted to announce our next collaboration with Inside Government. Join us on 10 May 2023 for a day of virtual EAL training that will provide you with practical guidance on working with pupils with EAL.
Looking for a comprehensive EAL course?
We offer a six month, part time course covering a range of EAL topics.
Resources
We share a range of useful tools, articles and data in our free downloads library.
Our collection of EAL data, templates, articles and resources are largely relevant across all phases.
EAL Handbook
Our popular EAL Handbook (available in hard copy or in pdf format) is relevant across all phases and has a specific section on new arrivals at different phases of education:
– The early years
– Key stages 1 and 2
– Non-literate new arrivals
– Speaking and listening with Year Two pupils
– Key stages 3 and 4
Free downloads for EAL in secondary:
- 2022 GCSE results of EAL pupils by local authority
- How do you start a sentence about the causes of the second world war?
- Writing about line graphs
- What percentage of pupils taking a language GCSE are native speakers of the language?
- How to write History the way that historians do
- 2020 GCSE results by ethnicity and local authority
- 2019 and 2020 GCSE by EAL and ethnicity
- 2019 and 2020 GCSE results for EAL pupils by LA
- Useful verbs for historical analysis
- Writing about data language
- Example History and Geography resources
What our clients say
Frequently asked questions
What do I do with a new arrival in my classroom who doesn’t understand anything I say in English?
My EAL pupils speak English well and with a good local accent, but as soon as they start writing it’s obvious English is not their first language. What do I do?
How do I ensure my school has systems that help new arrivals fit in and make a flying start?
My pupils write reasonably in English, but it is obvious they don’t understand how academic English works. What do I do?
Do you have any questions?
