English as an Additional Language

What is EAL?

The Department for Education defines English as an Additional Language (EAL) as the situation where a pupil is exposed to a language at home that is different from the language used for teaching at school. Pupils who use EAL may range from complete beginners in English to fully fluent bilinguals. A pupil being defined as a user of EAL is not based on proficiency in English but rather on exposure to another language in addition to English.

EAL support at Dame Allan's Senior School

Pupils and parents are asked to self-disclose if they use English as an additional language when they apply to study at Dame Allan's. Then, Mrs. Lopes-Mulhearn, EAL Coordinator, liaises with these pupils' teachers and meets with new starting pupils to offer them support. Not all pupils who use English as an additional language will require support, but those who do are offered EAL intervention cycles or in-class support.

Access Arrangements for EAL pupils

Pupils who are not native speakers of English, Irish or Welsh and use a bilingual translation dictionary as their normal way of working in school can utilise a bilingual translation dictionary in their exams, with the exception of:

• English/English Language examinations

• Modern Foreign Language examinations testing one of the languages of the dictionary or a similar language, for example, a Portuguese dictionary in a Spanish examination

• GCSE English Literature examinations

• GCSE Geography examinations

• GCSE History examinations

• GCSE Religious Studies examinations (excluding paper 3) 

• GCSE Welsh Literature examinations  

In addition to a bilingual dictionary, in rare circumstances, pupils may be eligible for extra time when they meet all of these criteria:

• Must have been in the UK for less than 3 years

• Their first language must not be English, Irish or Welsh

• Must be new to learning English and not have sufficient prior knowledge and current knowledge of academic English

• English must not be one of the languages spoken in the family home

• Must not have been educated in an international school where some or the entire curriculum was delivered in English

• Must not have been prepared or entered for IGCSE qualifications where the questions were set in English 

• Must not have been prepared in English for other qualifications (IELTS qualifications, for example)

• Must refer to the bilingual translation dictionary so often that the examination time is used for this purpose, delaying the answering of questions