When children for whom English is an additional language enter the school we enter this information onto Arbor which creates an EAL register. If they are a New Arrival i.e. new to the country (defined as less than two months) the class teacher will carry out a new arrival assessment and work out what support they need. This involves assessing their proficiency in English. Sometimes we use the support of a Bi Lingual Assistant (BLA) from Southampton Language Service (SLS), there can also be a meeting with parents to gather information and complete a first language assessment.   

EAL is not a Special Educational Need. It may be appropriate to offer some withdrawal from class for specific interventions, but this needs to minimized as language acquisition is best promoted through a range of good, inclusive strategies and adaptation of the usual curriculum. To learn English well, child benefit most from having good language models around them.