Gold for William Stockton Primary School

41% of the pupils at William Stockton Primary School in Ellesmere Port have English as an additional language, but only 20% of those pupils join the school in Reception. 90% of the mid-phase admissions are multilingual learners who have moved from somewhere else in the UK where they may have may have had a very short introduction to UK schooling. They are a very diverse group, with Romanian being the most widely spoken language, and Polish, Arabic and Dari the most common languages thereafter. Some do not stay very long. They make up more than a third of pupils in both Nursery and Year 6, but only half of Year 2. 

An effective buddy system pairs new arrivals with a well-prepared pupil who shares their language. Everywhere you go in the school there are displays celebrating its multilingual nature. You also find videos with EAL pupils talking about how pleased they are to be at the school.

I spoke to a group of EAL learners from across the age range. They talked about the school’s patience and support. Especially striking was a pupil who spoke about acquiring the confidence to be open about his difficult past. These were all pupils prepared to take responsibility for helping each other and grateful for the support given by adults. They also appreciated the visibility of their languages in the school, especially the books available in their languages.

The school has strong links in the diverse local community and its community champions actively promote it.

The most surprising and innovative thing for me, however, was the school’s decision not to employ specialist lunch supervisors. The staff in the dining room all have other roles in the school and know the pupils very well. From the pupils’ perspective, it is much easier to have lunch with adults who know them and know which languages they speak.