Devon County Council

The English as an Additional Language Service recommends that an initial meeting, with parents of a newly arrived pupils, is essential to welcome them to the school and explain any school procedures. It is very important to have as much information about the E.A.L. pupils as possible and this initial meeting would help provide this and help relieve any anxiety in answering questions about background experiences. It is very important that appropriate information from these meetings is disseminated to all staff e.g. M.T.A.s/T.A.s etc.

Welcome Pack

This is a copy of the welcome pack which was sent to Primary Schools in Devon. It contains information you will find useful when admitting a bilingual pupil and gives activities for the first few days whilst you are getting to know one another.

Sample pages from Devon EAL Welcome Pack (266KB - pdf help)

Letters for Schools

The Dingle Granby Toxteth Education Action Zone website www.dgteaz.org.uk/resources/letters.htm has several standard letters translated into over 25 different languages for schools to use. These include a welcome letter, school attendance information letter and letters for school trips and visits, accident, head lice etc. You may want to use these letters as they are or as a basis for your own. There may be people in your neighbourhood who could translate them for you.

Information for Parents

This is an information leaflet for parents of children for whom English is an Additional Language.
Information Leaflet for Parents (71KB - pdf help)