New Arrivals Excellence Programme (NAEP): Case study 5

• Date: Nov 2006
• Programme: New Arrivals Excellence Programme (NAEP)
• Focus: English Language and Literacy in the Curriculum (a course for students in Key Stages 4 and 5)
• Number in series: 5
• Phase: Secondary
• Key stage: Key Stages 4 and 4+
• Ref: 00427-2007BKT-EN

Background

This school is a large, mixed, 11–18, comprehensive school in west London. Its intake is ethnically very diverse and 60% of pupils are learning English as an additional language (EAL). Mobility is high and a significant number of pupils are from refugee families.

Attainment on entry is below average but outcomes at the end of Key Stage 4 have risen dramatically over the past few years. In 2006 53% of pupils achieved 5+ A*–C GCSEs (44% including English and mathematics) and the school was named as one of the country’s top 100 most improved schools.

A particular feature of the school is the provision it makes for students who arrive in the UK at 16 plus with little or no English. Each year the school accepts 20–40 students who may have arrived late in Year 11 and are seeking a school rather than a college place.

In 2003 the 14–19 Forum in the LA recognised the dearth of provision for late arriving students new to English and requested that its Language Development Service (LDS) develop a course which would aid integration of such students into school while ensuring their progression as learners on appropriate academic or vocational courses. This school was invited to pilot the new course with teaching support from the LDS.

The EAL department in the school has developed a wide range of strategies to support developing bilingual learners. These include a buddy system for new arrivals; initial profiling; short-term induction courses (Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4/5); in class partnership working with subject specialists; support for pupils to gain accreditation in their first languages; and mentoring by sixth formers for pupils in Key Stage 3.

The new course provided the school’s EAL department with an option at Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 that not only carried accreditation but opened up pathways into academic and vocational education for late arriving students.