I’ve posted a bit about the process of setting up a new EAL department. I’ve mentioned target setting, establishing teaching and learning principles, quality assurance processes, long- and medium-term planning, blah blah. You can view the posts through my Teaching EAL page if interested.

This post is about a whole load of other docs and guidance that we needed to produce. I’m summarizing it here because:

• I might have to set up a department again so it would be useful to remind myself of certain things
• I’ve been contacted but three different EALers in the past year-ish who have been like ‘I have to set up a new EAL department aaaargh what to do and where to start?!’ 

So, here are a few other documents (apart from the aforementioned) that will/might be needed. Note, I created some of this myself, but also delegated some of it to my awesome team!

EAL Policy

There was an existing EAL policy at the school. However, with EAL provision being reshaped, the policy needed amending. This one was a whole-school effort from EAL and SLT.

Chipping in with other school policy

While this hasn’t been specific to setting up the department, it’s been about giving the department a voice (and providing guidance to others). Adding sections to/reviewing things like policy on home language use around school, device use, etc. It’s been a small part of the role, but still something you might need to do.

Department Development Plan

Each department in our school has to complete the same DDP doc. It basically involves outlining areas for development, making sure they are aligned with the whole-school development plan where relevant, etc.

Job specifications

I’m involved in recruitment for the department, and was tasked with reviewing role specs, essential/desirable skills, etc. In practice, I just confirmed that what was already in place was relevant, but it’s still another job. I did, however, put together some information for shortlisted candidates (about our provision, development targets, and so on) so they could better prepare for interview.

Process checklists

There are A LOT of different processes involved in EAL provision – initial testing, record keeping, parent communication for after-school programmes, etc. If you want to delegate it clearly, you (might) need to provide written guidance. I tasked my EAL coaches with the job of creating process checklists so new team members would know how to complete important department tasks. Boring, adminny, but useful.

Round robins

Google forms sent out to teachers to gather info on learners when needed. These were for things like end-of-term video summaries of learner progress, evidence gathering for possible EAL exits, etc. 

A robust EAL exit checklist

I learnt from one of the best here (Jackie Wice, St Andrews Thailand). Our exit checklist was adapted from one we used previously and I’d say it works well.

Email templates bank

You do end up repeating the same tasks a lot:

• sending welcome emails to new parents
• informing parents of level testing processes
• Reminding parents to pay fees for after-school programmes
• Requesting feedback on learners from subject teachers
• Etc

I started an email template bank early on. It might sound obvious to do this, but it’s easy to forget and find yourself searching through your sent items to copy/paste certain correspondence. The template bank has certainly helped.

Initial assessments

Our admissions team use the CEPT for new joiners. Once they’re signed up, we need more rigorous in-house assessments for diagnostic purposes. I created a series of these, with clear guidance should they be administered by others.

Onboarding ‘stuff’

Induction presentations for parents, induction packs for new learners… The latter is a target for this year, and our existing learners (our Young Interpreters) are leading on it. 

Speaking interview guidance

Our EAL team are not involved in testing at the admissions stage. I want us to be, so I’ve created guidance ready for that moment!

Pathways documentation 

The EAL department oversee IGCSE ESL. There are various pathways for our learners once they reach Year 10, such as whether they will progress to first-language English in Year 11. We have created parent/student-facing guidance on this to share at options evenings when needed.

Learner profiles/Bell Trackers

Every new learner needs a profile which can be accessed by all staff, as well as trackers. It’s a minor admin task to set up, but a bigger one to maintain. I was hands on with creating the initial learner profile template, but delegate most evidence gathering beyond that to my team.

Budget documentation 

This is the type of duty that I didn’t really think about. I’ll be sitting in a HoDs meeting and someone will say ‘your dept budget request is due next week’ and I’m like… huh?

Really adminny on the surface, but difficult as you’re budgeting for things like future training opportunities (you don’t know what new staff might need) resources (you don’t know what new courses you’ll set up), etc.

Department markbook

We needed our own markbook to suit department purposes, which involved a bit of faffing with formulas and pivot tables and whatever. My line manager did a great job of letting me fail with that, then sorted out all my broken formulae in about 5 minutes. 

Reports guidance

The learner reports we use are bespoke to the EAL department. I chose for us to report Bell bands but kinda more… granular (e.g. Developing -, Developing, Developing +, Competent -, etc) and needed to communicate what that meant clearly to teachers and parents (as well as help get that set up through our reporting system).

Data summaries

Creating termly summaries of grades, progress, projections, student numbers, etc. Bit dull. 

CPD Portfolios

I line-manage three staff, so oversee their CPD. They have portfolios to track their progress, and now we have behavioural-ratings docs too (bit of BC nostalgia there). The portfolios are used as a talking point during appraisals.

Department time plan / Gain time plans

We had to keep clear records on how we were using department time. I can’t really show what these records look like as they have lots of confidential info on them, but mine was pretty … organized by my standards. Proof that I can actually step up.

I also have to submit docs showing how my team will use any gain time once they don’t have to teach exam classes anymore. Just general admin, but needed.

Student voice

Planning ways to get feedback from learners to inform our provision. We used a termly good form for this one and then analyse the findings. I’ll write more about it at some point as it’s quite useful tbh.

——

Hey, if you made it this far then good on you. That wasn’t the most riveting! However, if you’re new to setting up an EAL department, or if you’re stepping into a leadership role, I hope this post gives a bit of insight into the nitty gritty at least. Of course, responsibilities vary from context to context, but it’s at least worth considering some tasks you might end up doing. I didn’t prepare for that enough, but… I’ve just about survived so far.

Any questions just get in touch.

Categories: General, reflections

Tags: cpd, eal, EAL provision, elt, ESL, international school, new department, startup