EAL Christmas Celebration

This afternoon we held our annual Christmas celebration for students at Sheldon who speak English as an additional language (EAL) during lunch. It was a lively event hosted by Mr Davies and Mrs Henzl who provided an impressive spread of party food! There are over 192 students at Sheldon that speak over 54 languages in addition to English. The students joining the party have all arrived to the UK in the last five years and many are active members of our EAL Club, a weekly lunch club that allows students an opportunity to socialise, play games, share their language or practice English. We also have a room available as a prayer space.

We are very proud of the progress our newest students have made in settling in to Sheldon this year. We now have a number of students using dedicated tablets for translation. They can scan text or use a mic to provide simultaneous translation while teachers are speaking during a lesson. Sheldon has recently signed up to the Language Line translation service that will allow us to communicate with parents who do not speak English. This technology, along with the support of Sheldon teachers and staff, will help to make the transition to Sheldon and the UK a little easier and will help to make all our students feel part of the Sheldon community.

Thank you to the Sheldon Student Opportunity Fund for providing the funding for the party and for supporting our EAL students.