Early Years Foundation Stage
For children whose home language is not English, providers must take reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning, supporting their language development at home. However when assessing communication, language and literacy skills, ‘practitioners must assess children’s skills in English. If a child does not have a strong grasp of English language, practitioners must explore the child’s skills in the home language with parents and/or carers, to establish whether there is cause for concern about language delay’. Providers must ensure that children have sufficient opportunities to learn and ‘reach a good standard in English language during the EYFS, ensuring children are ready to benefit from the opportunities available to them when they begin Year 1’.
Phonics Screening Check
In 2012, a new assessment was introduced for pupils at the end of Year 1. Six year old pupils were asked to read (or rather decode phonetically) 40 words, some of which were real words and others which were nonsense words. A pupil needed to read 32 out of the 40 words correctly to be considered to have met the required standard. There are no adaptations for bilingual pupils and all pupils are expected to take the screeing check.
Key Stage 1
The English tasks and tests are designed to test children’s ability to read and write in English and must be conducted in English and the children must respond in English. When necessary the procedures of the tests may be given in the child’s preferred language.Some pupils will be working below the level of the tests in English because they are new to English. P scales are not to be used to assess these children, nor any other child learning EAL at any age, unless they have additional special educational needs.
In mathematics, the tasks and tests are designed to test children’s mathematical knowledge, skills and understanding. Schools can translate whole mathematics test papers for pupils learning EAL who regularly have their work translated. Teachers and/or language support staff may translate the assessment materials and children’s responses. However, teachers administering the tests are reminded that children learning EAL or who use British sign language or other sign-supported communication may not be familiar with some subject vocabulary and technical terms in their preferred language.
Key Stage 2
Pupils learning EAL should be registered for the Level 3-5 National Curriculum tests. They should not be entered for the tests if they:
- are not working at the level of the tests; or
- have just arrived in the country so that the school has not been able to establish their level.
The 2013 guidance notes that:
English tests - If EAL learners cannot communicate in English then they will be working below the level of the English tests and should not take them.
Mathematics tests - To establish the EAL learner’s level for mathematics, teachers and language-support staff shouldwork together to translate National Curriculum work into the child’s preferred language.Children working below the level of the mathematics tests should not take them. If a child is working at the level of the mathematics tests, the school should administer thetests using the access arrangements.
Children working towards level 1 of the National Curriculum who do not have a special educational need should be reported to STA as ‘NOTSEN’. This includes children who are working towards level 1 solely because they have English as an additional language. ‘NOTSEN’ is not a P scale, but a code to explain why a child working towards level 1 does not have P scales reported. ‘NOTSEN’ replaces the code ‘EAL’ that was used in previous years.
After the tests have been taken some EAL learners may be discounted from calculation of a school’s performance measures before publication of the performance tables. These will be pupils who have recently arrived from overseas with little or no English. To be eligible for discounting in 2012/2013, a child must meet all three of the following criteria:
- they were admitted to an English school for the first time during the 2011/12 or 2012/13 school year;
- they arrived from overseas before their admission; and
- their first language is not English. Dialects of English such as Patois or Krio will not be accepted as a language other than English.
During the annual performance tables checking exercise in early September 2013, schools can apply to remove children who meet these conditions from the ‘number of eligible pupils’ figure that is used for the calculation of performance measures. If a request is accepted, the child will be excluded from calculation of all measures. Omissions will not be granted for an individual subject.
Key Stage 4
Some EAL learners will be able to benefit from the use of a bilingual translation dictionary and some will also be able to apply for up to a maximum of 25% extra time.
Candidates who are permitted to use bilingual translation dictionaries may also be allowed up to a maximum of 25% extra time if they have been resident in the UK for less than two years at the time of the examination.
Bilingual pupils who have recently arrived from overseas can be discounted from the relevant performance tables. When schools are provided with their results for checking, students whose first language is not English and who arrived from overseas and entered school for the first time after the start of the academic year preceding the year of the examinations can be discounted from the results.
Pupils recently arrived from overseas with English as a second language, can be removed from the number of pupils at the end of KS4 provided they meet all of the following criteria:
- they were admitted to an English school for the first time on or after the start of the school year preceding the year of the tests (considerations can be made where a pupil has been placed at another school for an interim period while awaiting immigration status);
- they arrived from overseas prior to their admission; and
- their first language is not English.
Dialects of English such as Patois or Krio will not be accepted as a language other than English. Similarly, requests in respect of pupils from countries with an English language-based education system, such as Jamaica, will not be accepted.
