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St Saviour's & St Olave's School

EAL

❝To have another language is to possess a second soul.❞
‒ Charlemagne


EAL at Saint Saviour’s and Saint Olave’s School
Saint Saviour’s and Saint Olave’s is a very diverse and inclusive school and a huge amount of our students have English as an additional language. This means many of our students frequently hear or speak another language at home - currently, more than 60% of our school community. We are very proud of this aspect of our school and we look to celebrate all the languages and cultures that are represented.


Home languages
If students speak another language at home and if they are interested in getting an extra qualification for it at GCSE or A level, the Modern Foreign Languages team will be happy to support them with this process. We strongly advise students to get their home language qualification in Y9 or Y10. The languages on offer are: Italian, Polish, Bengali, Urdu, Modern Hebrew, Chinese (Spoken Mandarin or Spoken Cantonese), Panjabi, Russian, Arabic, Greek, Japanese Portuguese, Persian and Turkish.


Interventions and support
We see having English as an additional language as a gift and a precious skill. The vast majority of our EAL students perform very well academically. That said, we also understand the potential barriers that exist for our EAL students. This is why we have a variety of interventions in place, including one-to-one support as well as small support classes. Progress is carefully monitored and assessed by EAL teachers and meaningful actions are put in place to close any apparent gap between our EAL and non-EAL students.


How parents and carers can support
We understand parents might appreciate some advice on how to best support their child at home with EAL. Here are a few suggestions that are worth a try: 

  • Get your child to read to you in English in every day.
  • Remind your child to borrow and read books from our school library.
  • Encourage your child to read books in their home language.
  • Get in touch with EAL coordinator Jacques Coeur (jcoeur@ssso.southwark.sch.uk) if you have any concerns.

Student quotes
“Because I am of Ivorian descent, I grew up speaking both English and French. Because of this, I was then able to complete it at GCSE and A-levels, knowing it gave me an advantage at school. I am ecstatic to be able to communicate in French. Everyone at SSSO has their own culture, and I'm happy that some of mine is represented in the school.”
Divine, Y12