We are proud to announce that we have successfully been re-accredited by the The Bell Foundation ALFRI, for exceptional English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision.
In an international and diverse community such as ours, it is natural that the majority of our students and families are plurilingual. However, with the school following the British National Curriculum and all lessons (outside of Modern Foreign Languages and Hungarian) being taught in English, the standard of the schools' English as an Additional Language (EAL) provision is crucial to our students capacity to access the curriculum successfully and make rapid and sustained progress in all subjects.
The Bell Foundation are the UK's leading provider of guidance and support to schools' regarding how they support EAL students within school's, so this re-accreditation represents a significant milestone for Britannica.
However, not only were we re-accredited but we achieved Exemplary/Leading status in all seven of the dimensions. This is the highest possible outcome and extremely rare.
Britannica was judged as Exemplary/Leading in the following areas:
- Inclusive vision and values – How well the school’s culture and values welcome and celebrate plurilingual learners.
- Leadership for EAL – How leaders prioritise, support, and monitor high‑quality EAL provision.
- Whole‑school language policy – Whether a clear, evidence‑based policy guides consistent EAL practice across the school.
- Professional development – The quality and impact of staff training on effective EAL strategies.
- Assessment and placement – How the school assesses language proficiency and uses data to place and support learners appropriately.
- Curriculum and teaching – How teaching is adapted to ensure EAL learners access the curriculum through scaffolding and support.
- Learning outcomes – How well EAL learners progress academically, develop language, and build a strong plurilingual identity
Neil McGarryPrincipalHuge congratulations to all the teachers at Britannica, as developing a students English language skills are an important part of all of our teacher's roles.
Particular thanks go to Ms Castro and Mr Osmundsen, who joined myself and the Heads' of School in preparing and presenting a significant folder of evidence, accompanied by narratives in each of the seven dimensions, to demonstrate to the Bell team how we go about EAL at our school.
As a result of the excellent certification, The Bell Foundation has event invited Britannica to participate as expert contributors in a future Webinar, supporting other schools in their development. An amazing achievement for our school.
The EAL provision at Britannica strives to guide students through their English language learning journey, by providing the opportunity for excellence, challenging our students, and tailoring the teaching and learning processes to meet the needs of each individual.
