As an international school, we are used to welcoming children for whom English is not their first language. Some children start with no English at all and for most of our new starters, the level of English will vary.

We have a specialist EAL teacher, who will assess your child during their first week at the school to identify their individual needs. From there, your child will receive an individual EAL programme, which may involve in-class support, dedicated 1-to-1 or small group lessons outside the classroom. Where necessary, the EAL teacher will provide additional home activities to help support your child’s learning.

The aim of the programme is to enable your child to settle in, make friends and quickly gain confidence in English so they can make themselves understood and be able to access the curriculum.

Parents are often concerned about how a child will cope when they have little understanding of English, but are always surprised at how resilient they are and how quickly they adapt to their new language. Wherever possible, we try to buddy a new child with another child in the school who speaks their native language.