This page brings together useful resources for schools welcoming newly arrived learners who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL).
The Bell Foundation provides evidence-informed guidance and resources to school staff about developing provision for learners who use English as an Additional Language (EAL). Below is a selection of the most relevant documents to support schools in understanding and meeting the needs of refugee and asylum seeking children.
Relevant resources are each listed under a different theme in the table below for your convenience and speed of navigation.
Learners using EAL are a heterogeneous group. The guidance here will support schools in preparing for the arrival of new learners. Finding out as much as possible about who the learners are will ensure that a school recognises their learning needs and targets.
Academic, social and linguistic inclusion are central to an inclusive pedagogy. These guidance documents provide practical strategies to support schools in providing an inclusive education for newly arrived refugee and asylum seeking learners.
New arrivals may have had some experience of learning English. Once children are settled, informal, task-based assessment provides a useful guide to the levels and types of support the learner will need to be able to develop their English language skills. A best-fit judgement of a pupil’s English proficiency level can be arrived at by using an evidence-informed assessment framework, such as The Bell Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework for Schools.
The Bell Foundation’s EAL Assessment Framework is free to download - see below. EYFS, Primary and Secondary frameworks, together with a digital tracker are available on this website. Assessing a learner’s proficiency in their home language will provide an insight into any learning needs.
| Name | Theme | ||
| What is EAL in Education?
Who are learners using EAL in England? |
Diversity of learners | ||
| New arrivals
Who are new EAL arrivals and what are the principles of working with them? |
Diversity of learners | ||
| EAL and SEND: Guidance for Integrated Provision in Schools
A framework for school for effective support of learners using EAL with SEND. |
Diversity of learners | ||
| Guidance by language background
How do the learners’ prior experiences and language impact on their settling in English schools? |
Diversity of learners | ||
| Refugees and Asylum Seekers
Refugee-related definitions, their entitlements, and ways to support them in schools. |
Diversity of learners | ||
| Welcoming Refugee Children
A blog post about how to offer effective support to refugee learners in schools. |
Integration and support | ||
| How to Provide Multilingual Support in the Classroom
An article investigating the rationale and ways of offering first language(s) support in the classroom. |
Integration and support | ||
| School Provision for Refugee Children and New Arrivals
Framework and guidance for schools with recommendations how to welcome refugee children and new arrivals. |
Integration and support | ||
| Working with learners using EAL who arrive into secondary schools in Year 9 and later
Guidance to support schools in welcoming learners using EAL who join during late Key Stage 3 or Key Stage 4. |
Integration and support | ||
| How to Create an EAL Learner Profile
A guide to writing an EAL learner profile, including the learner profile form itself |
Integration and support | ||
| Creating Inclusive Mainstream Classrooms for EAL Learners
An overview of the social, academic, and linguistic benefits of integrating learners using EAL into mainstream lessons. |
Integration and support | ||
| The Three Admission Phases for New Arrivals using English as an Additional Language
Practical advice on meeting the needs of EAL learners who are newly arrived from abroad. |
Integration and support | ||
| EAL Assessment Framework
The Bell Foundation’s tool for assessing English language provision of multilingual learners. |
EAL assessment | ||
| How Do I Assess an EAL Learner?
Advice on what to consider when assessing learners using EAL and how to go about it. |
EAL assessment | ||
| Home Language Assessment
Exploring the benefits of assessing learners’ home language, with practical advice. |
EAL assessment | ||
The ‘Great Ideas’ pages are a collection of different strategies that teachers can use in their classrooms to support learners who use EAL. Each Great Idea gives examples of how to use the strategies in class and links to example resources. Many of the pages also include short video overviews. Below, we have selected the most useful Great Ideas pages to help teachers support recently arrived children who are new to English.
Collaborative Activities are a great way to help learners to feel included and to help them settle into the new class dynamics.
The Drama and Role Play page includes ideas of ice-breaker activities to introduce the new learners to the class.
A number of practical ideas for how schools can work to include multilingual learners in the life of the school, integrate them socially and encourage forming friendships between them and their peers.
Translanguaging is an invaluable tool to help your learners develop their English language proficiency and is particularly good for newly arrived refugee children who are new to English.
Graphic Organisers, Flashcards and Visuals are great ways to immediately include newly arrived children who are new to English as they are inclusive resources that require little prior English language knowledge.
The Scaffolding page provides an overview of different strategies you might want to use to help your learners access curriculum content at a level that is suitable for their proficiency in English.
These resources showcase the Great Ideas strategies above: they support the acquisition of listening, speaking, reading and viewing and writing skills for learners who are new to English or at the early acquisition stage of English language proficiency. Each of the resources below promotes English language acquisition while being tightly linked to the English school curriculum. Each resource set includes teaching notes with ideas for using the resources in a lesson. To access and download the 150+ free resources and tools please register for a free account.
The Bell Foundation offers a comprehensive range of teaching resources which can be used in classrooms. Each of the resources below promotes English language acquisition while being tightly linked to the English school curriculum. Each resource set includes teaching notes with ideas for using the resources in a lesson. To access and download the 150+ free resources and tools please register for a free account.
The filters allow users to select resources by phase, and also by proficiency level. Please find direct links here to resources for different subjects. You can filter the resources further once on the page.
The Bell Foundation offers a comprehensive programme of online courses and free expert panel webinars. To stay up to date with training opportunities, visit the events page and/or register for our newsletter.
Providing impactful evidence-informed CPD for all levels of school staff, from trainees to senior leaders, will help schools meet the linguistic and academic needs of their diverse, multilingual classrooms. Information on our upcoming courses can be found at the bottom of this page.