Agenda item - ETHNIC MINORITY ACHIEVEMENT SERVICE (EMAS) UPDATE

Presentation from EMAS Team Leader.

22.1    The EMAS Team Leader and Pashto Home School Liaison Officer         introduced the presentation for the Ethnic Minority Achievement        Service (EMAS) update.

22.2    Cllr McNair was advised that the bilingual assistants were trained in        child development and school strategies and worked with the child in         the classroom for two to three hours a week, focusing on key areas      highlighted in the teacher’s plan. The EMAS Team Leader stated that    the wellbeing of the child was also assessed, rated, and shared with an

          outside agency to ensure this was monitored. Further, they advised that the English language acquisition of the children was aided through          immersion within the curriculum as they learnt alongside their social and academic interactions, whilst maintaining their home language.

22.3    Cllr Brown was informed that all nurseries and pre-schools were aware           that they can refer children and families to EMAS, and Speech and         Language Therapists referred children that were identified as having delayed development. For those not already in nursery, the Home           Liaison staff helped facilitate this and EMAS liaised with all children’s

          centres to review eligible children for funded two- and three-year     places to support families in up taking pre-school places. The EMAS Team Leader confirmed that there were cultural and other reasons why     families chose not to send children to pre-school, however, the number     of black and minority ethnic families accessing pre-school places had           increased.

22.4    Cllr Grimshaw was advised that EMAS were not involved with    unaccompanied asylum children living in hotels as they moved from the       hotels within two to three weeks. Instead, unaccompanied children who       had arrived in the city and been taken in and cared for by social      services and placed in a foster care placement were supported. The

          EMAS Team Leader also advised that while home liaison was a           universal service for primary schools, bilingual support was purchased and so, where EMAS could not provide free support, they were         required to sell it to schools. Therefore, if EMAS had the finances to          delegate bilingual support where it was most needed, it would be more

          equitable, as not every school had the resources to fund the service.

22.5    Cllr O’Quinn was notified that the early years aspect was funded by the          designated schools grant and de-delegated funding was agreed by the           schools forum, which allowed a core service to be provided to all         primary schools. Additionally, funding was received from the virtual       school for unaccompanied young people and for Afghani, Syrian and           Ukrainian children, meaning schools were not charged. The EMAS    Team Leader advised that they were unaware of any absconding from         the hotel for children living with their families and, within foster care, the         rate was also very low as it was more secure, and the children had      autonomy to voice concerns if they felt their placement was not      working.

22.6    Cllr McNair was advised that there was a professor who was the main           lead for the area of research around children’s language acquisition     and the teaching provided by EMAS offered pre-teaching of texts and scaffolded the language the children may require, to ensure they       received additional support to approach tasks. Further, training was           also provided to class teachers to ensure they could differentiate the       work, so the children could engage with it at the level they were at, and        specialist teachers covered specific aspects of language with the      children prior to them being in the classroom.