Education and Welfare Provision for EFL pupils and for pupils with a Statement (of Special Educational Needs)

Via initial assessment prior to, and on, their arrival at the School, we establish as quickly as possible the levels of English of all students whose first language is not English.  We then support each student in accordance with his or her needs, with a personal programme of study.  This may range from an initial spell of intensive EFL to full integration with the main curriculum plus a reduced EFL component.  Such programmes, regularly monitored and including ongoing assessment, flex according to the emerging development of the learner. 
In the timetabled EFL lessons, students work towards EFL exams (IELTS and IGCSE) as well as learning how to use English as the gateway to other studies and to engaging with life generally in the UK. 
Care is taken in the first instance to glean from subject areas and from other areas of school life key items of vocabulary and to ensure the students are familiar with these.  The main emphasis in the long run, through the development of writing, reading, listening and oral performance, is on teaching the students the skills which empower them to continue their learning of English in all other curricular subjects and to ensuring the students have maximal access through English to the wider curriculum.   
For any pupil with a Statement, care will have already been taken, prior to that pupil’s admission into the School, to assess fully that pupil’s needs and to ensure that steps are taken to meet them.  At this stage, as at every appropriate subsequent stage, consultation with specialists and parents, as needed, will take place and all terms of the Statement, including the reviewing and reporting modes and periods, will be met.  Staff will remain fully aware of the pupil’s needs as recorded in the Special Circumstances File, through ongoing review and, as appropriate, through discussion and through the sharing of any updated information, so will be well placed to respond to emerging developments.  Such monitoring of the pupil’s progress and welfare will be both in general terms and with specific regard to the exigencies of the Statement.   The programme of study, adapted as needed to the pupil’s particular needs, may include individual (or paired) specialist lessons by our in-house Co-ordinator of Learning Support, who also visits main curriculum classes to ensure that what special support is afforded outside these lessons is effective within them.
The provision for the welfare of students who have English as Foreign Language and for any student who has a Statement is integrated fully into the School’s pastoral support system and is further documented by the School’s Safeguarding and Promoting Pupil Welfare documentation (Child Protection Policy and Appendices), as for all students, and by the Particular Learning Needs documentation .  In addition, for new Boarders, there is a comprehensive and highly structured Induction Programme which starts during the end of the Summer Holidays and lasts a number of days prior to the arrival of the other students. 

Note: where the term ‘statement’ is used, this refers to pupils aged 5 to 16 who have a statement of special educational needs.  Not all pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities will have a statement.