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Three-year-old Hamza was like a ‘whirlwind’ when he started attending Elmwood Infant and Nursery School in Croydon, South London in September 2017. Assistant head teacher and inclusion leader Helen Walsh says staff soon noticed that Hamza – who is British-born to Somali-speaking Muslim parents and has Black African ethnicity – was experiencing difficulties in interacting with other children, settling down to activities and had little speech or language. He would growl when he was unhappy, and sometimes when approached.
‘We aim to identify children with SEND as early as we can in order to give them the best possible outcomes,’ says Ms Walsh. ‘Our first aim was to find out whether or not he spoke his first language at home, and whether his parents had any concerns about his development, so we were quick to speak to his mum, but this was not easy because she has limited English.’
DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Staff at Elmwood, which is a Unicef Rights Respecting School and has been awarded Gold Level (see Further information), are well used to communicating with families who do not have English as their first language.
‘Being a Unicef Rights Respecting School informs our school’s ethos and we teach the children through everything we do about the right to use the language, customs and religions of their families and the need to respect everyone’s right to do so. We also respect the right for children to join in and be included in school life if they have SEND,’ says Ms Walsh.
This year the four-form entry school has 53 different languages spoken by their families:
- 20 per cent Urdu
- 10 per cent Tamil
- 7 per cent Malayalam
- 5 per cent Polish.
There are 17 different ethnic groups within the school’s community:
- 18 per cent Asian Pakistani
- 17 per cent Asian Indian
- 14 per cent Black African
- 11 per cent Any Other White Background.
Hamza’s family is one of 12 Black African families attending Elmwood who speak Somali at home. The school actively recruits staff who speak the main languages so that they can support with translation.
‘Unfortunately, we do not have any staff who speak Somali. In these cases, we need to use a lot of gestures, pictures and writing things down – which can then be taken to someone else in the community to help translate,’ explains Ms Walsh.
RAISING CONCERNS
‘We carefully explained our concerns to Hamza’s mum and found out that he was also not speaking at home. She said that she had also been concerned because he had not met the developmental milestones that his older sister had met, that they had also been having difficulties at home and didn’t know of any services to approach for help. It is very bewildering for families who do not know how to access support or what is available,’ Ms Walsh adds.
Staff supported Hamza’s mum by writing a letter to take to her GP explaining his needs and asking for a referral to the community paediatrician. They also told her about the local pre-school speech and language Chatterbox group and wrote a letter for her to take along.
‘She gave this to the staff who then quickly assessed Hamza and devised a speech and language care plan for him that we could work on in nursery,’ says Ms Walsh. ‘It was found that he had issues around language development and severe expressive and receptive language delay.’
It can take longer for speech and language difficulties to be identified when children do not have English as their first language, so Hamza was fortunate. ‘Staff are very skilled in supporting children to learn English and communicate with language. The school is in an area of social deprivation so children with English as a first language are often from language-deprived backgrounds,’ Ms Walsh says.
Staff receive regular training and use visuals as much as possible during school time to make it a supportive environment, such as photos showing how to play in the sand pit to enable children to access provision, and using illustrative objects during teaching, including puppets, models or actual items for visual prompts.
‘We also use lots of non-verbal gestures like pointing to things and using actions, such as demonstrating putting a coat on,’ Ms Walsh says. ‘This is simple but effective and is so embedded in our practice.’
STRATEGIES AND TARGETS
A speech and language therapist drew up a plan of strategies and targets for the nursery to use with Hamza. Staff shared a range of games with Hamza’s mum which she could replicate at home to support his listening and attention, turn-taking and vocabulary-building. At school he enjoyed doing a range of interventions, including Bucket Time.
‘This is an attention autism strategy, which Hamza is not diagnosed with, but the aim was to support his listening and attention because he had a very short attention span,’ explains Ms Walsh. ‘Keeping Hamza’s attention was extra-difficult because he was listening to language that he was not as familiar with because he didn’t hear it at home.’
During five-minute Bucket Time, Hamza would be encouraged to sit in a chair and request a toy from the bucket which would be highly engaging, such as a moving dog. He would then be encouraged to watch the toy without touching it and then request more or to finish. Songs and Makaton gestures accompanied the sessions and gradually he would engage with the activity, give his attention for a few seconds longer and start to share the time with another child.
‘He responded well to this activity and loved it,’ recalls Ms Walsh. ‘Hamza often liked children around him and would play alongside them, but was not good at sharing or turn-taking so Bucket Time also helped him to learn to wait and share.’
Staff encouraged Hamza’s mum to use lots of basic commentary while he was playing, for example, ‘Hamza is running’ or ‘Hamza is drawing a picture’, in order to model language.
‘We do this a lot and will add more when children are ready, such as “Nisha is drawing a picture of a house today”,’ says Ms Walsh. ‘We also recast what children say as they are beginning to learn English, rather than correct them, so that they pick up the correct order to say things.’
Hamza also attended a 15-minute weekly language enrichment group with a maximum of two other children to enjoy simple songs and rhymes, follow simple instructions and share.
SMALL STEPS
Hamza is now in Reception and Ms Walsh says he is demonstrating small steps in progress. He has one-to-one support and a visual timetable to help him to transition between activities.
‘In nursery he was very self-directed in his play and would not join in group activities, preferring to run around in circles; now he is beginning to use words in the classroom, sit for a short time, put his hand up and go to the board to point,’ she says.
‘He will engage in independent provision for three to five minutes, which we are very proud of. His mum says he is speaking more in Somali and in English at home and is starting to play with his older sister, which is making it easier for her at home.
‘I can see us requesting an Education, Health and Care plan in the future, but a lot is around speech delay and Hamza should catch up with his peers. I see him continuing to access mainstream education and we will be continuing to work hard with his parents to maintain that.’
SETTLING-IN TIPS
Staff try to develop good relationships with families and build a welcoming and inclusive school community. They do this in various ways, including:
A large display board in the school entrance has photographs of pupils linking them to their families’ countries of origin. ‘Parents and children see this when they enter the school and we feel it’s a powerful way to celebrate and welcome our diverse families,’ explains Ms Walsh. ‘It’s important for children to have a strong personal identity and a positive view of their own cultural, religious and linguistic heritage, which helps them to grow into well-rounded citizens.’
Four members of the senior leadership team are in the playground during drop-off and collection times so that they are familiar and accessible.
Staff actively put new families in touch with others with a shared language to help them settle into the community and support them with basic messages such as use of book bags and PE days.
Isolated families and those in need of support are invited to groups at the school, such as weekly stay-and-play groups for those with pre-school children or rhyme-time sessions with their early years children. Bilingual reading groups also target parents who have a common language and model how to share books. These groups all help to build bonds, develop language skills and encourage parents to support their children’s learning at home.
MORE INFORMATION
Unicef Rights Respecting Schools, https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools
‘Value added’, Nursery World, 23 January 2017, https://bit.ly/2jlZMUX
