Issue - items at meetings - ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF PUPILS WITH ENGLISH AS AN ADDITIONAL LANGUAGE (EAL) ANNUAL REPORT

Report of the Director of Children’s Services.

31.1         Cathy Lyth, Head of Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS), presented the report.

31.2         Members were informed that the main disadvantaged groups using the service were Bangladeshi or Arabic speaking. The Arabic group were largely made up of refugees from Sudan.

31.3         The Committee was told that the reason for the change in name from English as an Additional Language (EAL) to EMAS was because the service received an Ethnic Minority Achievement grant for black and minority ethnic groups who are at risk of underachieving. Traveller children were supported from a different funding stream.

31.4         It was explained how Arabic German speaking families were not necessarily directly from Sudan, but may have come via Germany or Holland where they could have spent several years.  It was debatable whether services should support these clients in Arabic or in German.

31.5         The Committee was told how funding was used to provide services to schools. Some schools buy into EMAS and other schools may opt out and provide these services themselves. It was noted that 100% of city primary schools bought into EMAS; in terms of secondary schools, only Dorothy Stringer and Downsview opt out.

31.6         The Committee was informed that there was a strain on resources due to cessation of short-term funding, and EMAS was looking at alternative resource streams

31.7         RESOLVED – That the Committee note the information in the report.