'If they place you in a class of people who don’t speak English how are you supposed to learn English?'

Initial assessment of each newly arrived pupil’s learning helps teachers consider the pupil’s specific needs and plan opportunities that will help remove any barriers to learning they might have.

Initial assessment is an essential part of effective admission procedures. The 'Admission procedures' area of this site offers guidance on these.

At interview the school might already have gathered general information about each pupil's language, ethnicity, previous educational experience and achievements.

During the admission process, schools could identify each new pupil’s interests, expectations, aspirations, experience of work and any other background information that might influence progression, including wider needs such as a pupil’s home situation.

It is desirable to gather further information about each pupil’s prior learning and level of fluency in English. This can help identify learning group placement, support individual needs and inform how you might modify and adapt the curriculum to ensure their inclusion.

Early initial assessment:

• makes pupils feel they belong to the learning culture
• reduces pupils’ anxiety about schooling they have missed
• provides the necessary information for the careful planning of learning activities needed especially for pupils with EAL.

It is important that schools allocate new pupils to teaching groups fairly and equitably. Section B of the CRE’s Learning for all: standards for racial equality in schools details minimum standards that should inform schools’ placement of new arrivals into the classroom.

Pupils new to English should not automatically be placed in the lowest set or stream. They may already have achieved high levels of attainment across the curriculum in their previous school. Their acquisition of English will be supported by the deployment of those subject skills.

Any assessment of learning carried out during, or soon after, admission into the school is unlikely to give an accurate picture of a pupil’s language and learning skills. A reassessment after the pupil has settled in is recommended.
 
For guidance on determining each new pupil’s strengths and areas of development, preferred learning styles and learning potential, see the 'Assessment for learning' area of this site.

Background issues

New arrivals from overseas come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Newly arrived pupils’ linguistic backgrounds will also be varied. For guidance see the 'English as an additional language' area of this site. 
 
Many newly arrived pupils will be anxious about their new learning environment. Some pupils from overseas will have experienced very different teaching approaches. Pupils who are used to more formal learning environments may be uncomfortable engaging teachers in talk. Pupils who have experienced interrupted schooling may have little understanding of formal learning conventions.
 
Some pupils may also be managing difficult transitions and need extra time to adjust before being able to perform to the best of their ability.

Initial assessment: some suggestions

When assessing the learning of newly arrived pupils:

• make sure pupils and their carers understand the method and purpose of initial assessment, including assessment in informal settings
• provide comfortable environments where pupils feels secure
• assist pupils’ development of confidence and motivation. It is essential that teachers plan assessment activities that enable newly arrived pupils to engage with the task and to experience success
• draw on existing information about each pupil’s previous schooling experience, knowledge and skills. Showing a genuine interest in a pupil’s previous educational experience, linguistic heritage and prior knowledge will lead to a much more accurate assessment of a pupil’s strengths and gaps in learning
• show awareness of diverse needs and backgrounds. When planning and conducting assessment tasks, teachers should be sensitive to different individual and cultural attitudes
• assess pupils’ fluency in English
• always provide positive and constructive feedback.

Initial language assessment

Language assessment should include a broad range of activities covering the key areas of speaking, listening, reading, writing and mathematical language.

The assessment activities and materials need to be adaptable to the individual learner. If assessing pupils at the very earliest stages of learning English:

• provide opportunities for pupils to use their first language skills
• be sensitive and shorten the assessment if necessary
• provide key visuals and displays that illustrate the process of tasks and the steps to take.

It can be helpful if a staff member who speaks the pupil’s language carries out an EAL assessment. This can give you a better understanding of the level of fluency and literacy in the home language. 
 
First-language assessment can also provide information about prior academic attainment in core curriculum subjects such as mathematics, science and ICT.

Methods of assessment

The QCA publication A language in common (see related documents) provides detailed guidance on assessing language. Many schools are now using the QCA steps provided in this publication, or adaptations of them, to record the English-language competence of early stage learners of English. Other schools and LAs have developed their own assessment schemes.

Pupils with EAL who may have particular or special educational needs

It is recommended that you track and monitor carefully the early progress of all new arrivals. Classroom assistants and other support staff can play a key role in this. The 'Induction mentoring' area of the site gives guidance on this.

Information gathered by initial assessment can help you identify pupils who might benefit from extra support, for example pupils with EAL. In some cases you might be concerned that pupils have a special educational need.  

Pupils will understand and perform better when they are in familiar learning situations.    

The progress of any pupil you have particular concerns about needs to be monitored closely. Some pupils learning EAL might later be assessed as having special educational needs. In these cases, you will need to work closely with specialist language staff and the special educational needs coordinator to ensure that assessments provide opportunities for pupils to demonstrate their learning using all their language skills.

Removing barriers to achievement – the government strategy for special educational needs

Within the new special educational needs strategy on removing barriers to achievement, early intervention is paramount. Every child matters proposes schools work together to support the inclusion of all children, backed up by good quality specialist advice from local authority and health services working in multidisciplinary teams. Multi-agency involvement can contribute towards health, education and social care being organised around the needs of new arrivals and their families. Where multi-agency teams link closely with admission procedures better assessment can follow leading to early intervention.