New OfSTED good practice case study published
OfSTED has recently published the fourth in its series of EAL good practice case studies. The most recent study investigates provision at Belle Vue Girls School in Bradford. A particular focus of the case study is the provision for languages.
The school is an 11-18 specialist school for languages, applied learning and science, situated in the North West of Bradford. Almost all students are from Asian heritage families (predominantly Pakistani Mirpuri). Over twenty different languages are spoken at home. Four fifths of the students use English as an additional language. Every student in Year 11 was entered for at least one language at GCSE in 2011. In Urdu 59% gained at least a grade C and in Arabic 57%.
Inspectors found that:
All students are assessed at the beginning of Year 7 to establish their starting points in literacy in each of the languages offered. For many it is a very low starting point indeed. This assessment enables students to be placed on the most suitable language course for them at the appropriate level. Some with previous knowledge can be fast tracked and thus take up a second language in Year 10, whilst others will need the full four years up to Year 10 to ensure they get the best possible grade. There are a range of different curriculum pathways students can follow from beginner up to A level. Crucially the languages of Urdu and Arabic are offered from Year 7 in the mainstream curriculum alongside European languages and with the same time allocation as French or Spanish. This ensures that there is sufficient time available for students to achieve a good grade. The students can see that all languages are accorded equal status and theirs is not pushed to the margins of a quick after school or lunch time session.
Teaching is of the highest quality. The school recruits well qualified and highly committed teachers of Urdu and Arabic who are well versed in modern language teaching methodology and up to date technology to bring language learning to life.
The case study can be found at http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/good-practice-resource-raising-achievement-of-students-for-whom-english-additional-language-belle-vu
