EAL

At the Halley Academy we have over 50 first languages spoken by staff and students and they make up half of our academy population. This ranges from students that are new to learning English, to those who are fully bilingual and speak English fluently.

The EAL Department is a team of four specialist practitioners who are here to support all these students settle into the academy, learn English as quickly as possible and to achieve their full potential.

We have bespoke classes where students can learn English in small groups, as well as clubs during break times to help students with homework and meet other students from their country. We also support EAL students in mainstream lessons and during exams, with peer language mentors, pre-teaching of vocabulary, glossaries in their first language, and visuals to support understanding.

The more advanced EAL students study for an exam certificate from Cambridge, which is recognised in the UK and many other countries. In the most recent exams, our students achieved a 100% pass rate and 40% of them attained ‘Distinction’ or ‘Pass with Merit’, the two highest grades.