English as an Additional Language

Department Overview

Our department mission is to support our students on their path to achieving their personal and academic goals from their arrival at the school, through their years of study with us and as they progress to the next stage of their life and studies.

We have a ‘can do’ attitude and believe that, with the right support, all our students can achieve.

Our aim as a school is to provide high quality lessons that take into account the diverse needs of our students. However we understand that our students may have a wide range of educational experiences and may temporarily require additional content and skills input and/or language development in order to fully access our curriculum.

At Biddenham our small team of experienced and highly qualified bilingual teaching assistants (TAs) are adept at quickly establishing professionally supportive relationships with students irrespective of age, language and cultural background. 

In-class support is allocated according to level of student need within the restraints of the timetable. TAs work closely with subject teachers to ensure the best possible support is given to help students overcome their language barrier.

In addition to the curriculum support offered in lessons, bilingual TAs support our students to catch up and complete work in a variety of GCSE subjects and teach extra English lessons to small groups of students with EAL.

We have recently introduced Gateway qualifications in ESOL as a means to acknowledge and celebrate our students’ efforts and progress in their acquisition of English.

For further information please use the links below.

Who shall I contact for extra information?

Mrs Mason
eal@biddenham.beds.sch.uk

Meet the Team

For an introduction to the Learning Support Department click on the image below.