For my coursework I was asked to produce a report of my investigation into one provider of health, social care or early year’s services in my local area. My report must show how well these services meet the different needs of two people who use them. I have chosen to base my report at a primary school where I accomplished my work experience as part of my Unit 1 coursework. When carry out this investigation it will help me realize if the placement/provider meets the needs of the clients who use them.
To ensure confidentiality I have changed the names of the two clients that I am going to be examining. The names that I have selected are Lucy and Luke. My first client is a girl called Lucy and Lucy is a six year old who is currently studying at Stanford Primary School and is presently in year one. She is Polish and she has come from Poland a couple of months ago due to family’s personal and financial reasons. As she cannot verbalize in English properly, it makes it difficult to communicate with others who don’t speak her language and makes it even harder for her follow instructions.
She joined Stanford Primary school at the start of year one. She has a Teaching Assistant who assists her with her learning as best as she can. There is an individual who speaks her language but that is it. He helps Lucy by explaining things in Polish when Lucy doesn’t understand; playing with her at break times and at lunchtimes just so that she doesn’t become left out. As Lucy has come from Poland recently English is her second language. There are many terms that are used for EAL.
Some of these are English as an additional needs, bilingualism and multilingualism. In England, 686,000 pupils are recorded as having a mother tongue other than English. More than 200 languages are spoken in the homes of children attending school. There are other Organisations that can help Lucy to overcome this difficulty of hers. One of them is an Organisation called Naldic. Naldic helps children who have English as an additional language and help them to feel comfortable in the environment which they are not used to.
They also hold conferences to help the child and also host programs and national events. It also publishes books and papers that can help the children as the parents of the children can read to them. Another service which can help Lucy is Parents centre. Learning support for pupils for whom English is an additional language is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) through the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant. The grant is administered by local authorities.
The DCSF has leaflets giving information in 11 different languages about the school curriculum, how to help Lucy to read and write special educational needs and many other subjects. They provide free downloadable leaflets from the internet to help Lucy. To make sure that Lucy doesn’t feel left out and make sure that her self concept is not affected; her difficulty has been explained to other students by the classroom teacher which play with Lucy and make sure that she doesn’t feel bad and make her comfortable in school and the classroom and also in the playground.
The teacher also shows pictures to Lucy so she can comprehend what the teacher is saying. The teacher also re-explains instructions to Lucy really slowly so Lucy can understand what the teacher is saying. The teacher also helps Lucy to understand what work has been set and the instructions given as the teacher has put the complete alphabet along with pictures on Lucy’s desk.