The EAL Department provides effective support to students who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL). Students’ knowledge of English is assessed in the first term of Year 7 and those needing extra help are provided with in-class support and the opportunity to take part in extra-English withdrawal groups that will help them access the full curriculum. Classroom teachers are also made aware of the needs of each EAL student.
As Induction Mentor, Mrs Amin meets with all pupils who start at Friern Barnet School after September i.e. mid-year entries. Pupils are tested in Maths and English during their induction to ensure that they are put into the correct groups and provided with additional support if necessary. To help pupils settle into the school routine, mid-year entry pupils are allocated 'buddies' in their tutor groups who are able to support them during lessons and around the school more generally.
EAL students are actively encouraged to continue developing their literacy in their home language as this helps to develop their English. From Year 9 onwards, students who are able to read, write and speak a different language are offered the opportunity to sit a Community Language GCSE, which has excellent pass rates and counts as an additional GCSE. Currently, the GCSE languages available are:
|Japanese||Modern Greek||Modern Hebrew||Persian (Farsi)||Polish|