MEAS Case Studies

You can view three case studies of pupils who have been educated within the authority below:

Foundation Stage Case Study 

Background

Pupil “A” has been at school for a year and a half and is now in her second term of Foundation 2. She has settled well into the new school year and coped well with the transition into full time school.

She is one of four EAL pupils in the class. Three of them (including herself) are from Bangladesh and speak Sylheti at home. The other EAL child is from Africa and speaks Siswati.

The main issues for pupil “A” are her understanding and interpretation of class discussions. She needs support in naming objects not only within the context of school but in her life experiences, which appear to be rather limited.

The strategies engaged so far have been:

  • weekly support from the Bilingual Project Officer (BPO) which includes using the home language, playing games and preparing the EAL children for what language they need in class 
  • BPO liaises with the staff to assist planning and share information pre-teaching from the regular classroom assistant 
  • advice from Specialist teacher, Minority Ethnic Achievement Service
  • using other Bilingual assistants when the BPO is not in school
  • The outcomes have been that pupil”A” is confident within the class and now can answer questions in class. At the end of Foundation 1 she was beginning to achieve green level stepping stone statements of the Foundation Stage Profile. The link with the BPO has meant that the relationship between home and school has developed well and any problems have been sorted out before they became more serious

Key Questions to Consider:

  • do all staff understand the necessity to ensure that EAL pupils understand fully what is being taught?
  • does the school provide EAL families with translated letters?

 

Key Stage 2 Case Study

Background

Pupil “B” is an able year 3 pupil whose first language is Portuguese, which she can speak, read and write. Her father contacted the service for advice on how to prepare her for her new school. Advice was given about helping her learn some common nouns and to participate in activities during the summer in which she might meet other children e.g. visits to the sports centre, library and play schemes.

Main issues

  • Pupil “B” needed to:
  • feel happy and secure in school in order to learn
  • understand basic classroom language and instructions
  • begin accessing the curriculum

Suggested Activities

class teacher to discuss with the class difficulties pupil ”B” may have and how children can help

  • value her first language by displaying and using multilingual/dual language posters, signs, texts 
  • group her with good, articulate role models and with some ‘buddies’ 
  • help her to access the curriculum by pre-teaching key vocabulary and using visuals when possible 
  • be flexible. She may become very tired, as operating in a new language can be exhausting 
  • use the materials loaned from MEAS. Search through the website list for advice and resources and use the schools library service 
  • allocate some time (little and often e.g. 20 minutes daily) with an adult for her to develop her English, focusing specifically upon speaking and listening

Outcomes

  • pupil “B” responded well to the adult led 1:1 activities and has been subject of a trial of a new scheme of work which includes a computer based ‘talking book’ and follow up activities to develop speaking, listening, reading and writing
  • she has made several good friends. She now feels confident enough to answer questions in class, take part in group activities and is more than capable of standing up for herself and making her voice heard
  • the children and staff consider her to be a valuable member of the community 
  • she is able to access the curriculum with carefully differentiated activities from her class teacher
  • she is operating within the middle groups for Math’s and Science and the lower group for literacy in which support can more easily be provided

 

Key Stage 3 Case Study

Background

Pupil “C” is a Mandarin speaking girl from Mainland China. She arrived in November as a year 9 pupil. She is fully literate and fluent in Chinese. Her English was very limited she was assessed at working towards level one. It was not possible in the initial stages to assess her overall ability, although there was no reason to think she was anything less than average.

Main Issues

  • to incorporate her satisfactory into secondary school
  • to make sure she is happy and secure in her new environment
  • to assess her needs and address them
  • to set about enabling her to access the curriculum

Suggestions

  • have a translator at the initial meeting between parents, pupil and school 
  • establish a clear line of communication between parents the school
  • invite MEAS to attend meetings 
  • ensure staff are fully prepared before pupil “C’s” arrival 
  • consider placing the pupil in Year 8 to allow her an extra year before options 
  • inform the pupils about the new arrival and encourage a sympathetic and positive attitude 
  • arrange buddies

Outcomes

  • the parents understood the workings of the school and had a phone number of a Chinese liaison officer 
  • all parties agreed that placing Charlie in year 8 would be beneficial
  • some appropriate buddies were organised to look after her throughout the whole school day
  • a Chinese pupil from YR11 was asked if she would help out in the initial stages and she was happy to do so
  • her timetable was adapted and she has two private study periods when she is working in the library on the computer 
  • a teaching assistant was allocated to support in class two sessions per week 
  • the MEAS teacher arranged one session with her and another with MEAS teaching assistant 
  • she enjoyed art and was able to join an extra YR11 Art class once a week 
  • MEAS advised subject teachers 
  • she was introduced to a Chinese school in Liverpool where she continued to study Chinese and help people who were learning Chinese and she will do GCSE Chinese at the end of her second year

Key questions to consider:

  • is the pupil being assessed at regular intervals in all curriculum areas and are appropriate targets being set and reviewed?
  • is there a member of staff who is responsible for tracking the progress of all Minority Ethnic pupils?