English as a Foreign Language (EAL)

Welcome to our EAL department

At St Gregory’s, we welcome a number of students on an annual basis who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) and this brings a wonderful diversity to our student population. Within our school community, we are delighted to have students who speak many languages, including some of the following:

 *The list of languages above is subject to change 

On admission, students are assessed for their proficiency in English, and this information gives us a clear understanding their needs to help us determine the level of support required. New students may be offered some initial small group sessions with our EAL Coordinator, Ms Portesi, but our ultimate aim is to support students with their learning, so they are able to attend mainstream lessons with their peers. 

Once in school, our EAL Department offers the following:

• One-to-one and small group tuition
• Support in class, including scaffolding of learning
• EAL training for teaching staff
• EAL assessment for new arrivals
• Support with home-school community links
• Promotion of first languages and GCSEs
• Pocketalk Translators - a multi-sensory two-way translation device which provides a consistently accurate translation experience, including audio and visual translation.

For further information about joining St Gregory’s with English as an Additional Language (EAL) please contact our EAL Coordinator, Ms M Portesi, on mportesi@sgschool.org.uk or call 01892 527444 (Extension 2163).