New Arri vals, New Opport unities Na no P roj ect

1. NewArrivals, NewOpportunitiesNano Project પધારો أهلاً و سهلاً

2. The overall aim of the project • To achieve better outcomes for children and young people newly arrived from abroad by improving the effectiveness of their integration into the learning community. It is a 2 year project. Colleagues from Sweden will be visiting Croydon in February 2014. There will be an opportunity for more Croydon staff to visit Sweden next year.

3. Key objectives • Establish a framework or set of common approaches for effective integration into learning that can be applied in the context of each of the participating regions • Create a toolkit or handbook that provides a step-by-step approach and pedagogical resources for teachers and other practitioners • Develop case study material to support professional development activity • Create a web-based forum to facilitate further dialogue between practitioners • Run an end of programme conference event to present findings and evaluate impact

4. Broadmead Primary School • Broadmead has 648 pupils ranging from 3-11 years old. • 52% of our pupils speak English as an additional language. • There are a total of 42 different languages spoken in our school with the most common being Tamil, Portuguese, Polish, Twi and Somali • When children arrive who are new to English we use our own programme to support their English language development. • We would like to develop our practice to improve support for a wider range of EAL Learners and their families.

5. How Swedish school life is different from ours - for children • All staff are addressed by first name (even Head!) • Relationships are warm and quite tactile • No school uniform • Children have indoor and outdoor shoes • Children go home on their own, even the youngest • Compulsory education starts at 7, with a pre-school year from 6. • Primary school is 7-13 then high school from, 13-18 although some stay until they are 20. Some schools are all-through. • Children can be kept back with parental agreement if they don’t reach required levels. • School day starts at 8-8.15 and finishes between 1 and 2 • Smaller classes - up to 25

6. Environment • No fences, security gate/doors, locks • Classrooms are cleaned at lunch time • Curtains, low lighting, sound proofing, flowers, plants, full-sized chairs

8. Lunches • Lunches are free for all children • Children serve themselves • Seated in family groups • Calm environment, low lighting, serviettes • No pack lunches, • Main course and salad, crackers, milk • No puddings!

10. PE • PE is an important part of the curriculum • Schools have changing rooms with showers • Showering after PE is part of the curriculum!

11. How Swedish school life is different from ours - for adults • Smaller classes – often with 2 teachers (if more than 20-25 children) • No PPA • There is a national curriculum but not much written planning • They do have local inspections (with a lot of notice) but they are less formal than ours • Less pressure from Government and less focus on test results • Staff rooms are wonderful! • Coffee machine

13. New Arrivals • Children under 8 settle in their in classes to develop language through play (like our Foundation Stage) • 8-13 year olds attend the preparation class where they learn the Swedish language • Mother tongue is also taught (statutory responsibility) and the schools employ other adults to support this • In NyhamreSkola they have developed their own programme, similar to our new arrivals programme but in more depth • Children are based in the preparation class all day but join their peers for Art, PE, Music etc

15. Our initial ideas for discussion • Improve the use of adults in school who speak other languages. Where possible identify an adult who has the same first language as the child and introduce the adult to the child on the first day. Provide the child with a photo of the adult to show the teacher/other adults when they need to speak to them. Spend a few minutes everyday with the child. • Increase initial immersion in English time. Ask parents to bring their child in earlier and trial a longer session - 8.30am –9.10 – initially for Year 1 and Year 2 children. • Picture of lunch displayed for the children as seen at NyhamreSkola. • Introduce a longer induction meeting for parents possibly to involve class teacher and Sandra • Coffee Machine!