EAL Proficiency Scales

Primary Learning Improvement
EAL proficiency scales

Exemplification materials to support accurate
judgements for EAL pupils
Learning improvement
www.leedsforlearning.co.uk Page 1 of 67
EAL proficiency scales case studies
Please use these case studies to support your judgements when assigning an EAL proficiency scale to your
pupils.
Proficiency in EYs KS1 Lower KS2 Upper KS2

English
A Osman Rukhsana Milan Darius
New to English P4-5 P17-19 P33-34 P52-54
B Wictoria Fadil Mario Mariana
Early acquisition P6-7 P20-22 P35-38 P53-57
C Jesika Jehan Hanus Estera
Developing P8-10 P23-25 P39-41 P58-61
competence Ikram
P42-44
D Muhammad Ling Hikmet Laheem
Competent P11-13 P26-28 P45-48 P62-64
E Amira Seemha Giorgio Maya
Fluent P14-16 P29-32 P49-51 P65-67
With grateful thanks to the pupils and staff at Bankside, Harehills, Hovingham, Talbot and Wigton Moor
Primary Schools for their cooperation and collaboration in compiling these case studies.
Therese O’Sullivan and Sally Hall

School Improvement Consultants
Assessment tasks used to support these case studies can be found on the Leeds Education Hub:
https://leedseducationhub.sharepoint.com/inclusion-bme-grt-eal
EAL proficiency scales
New to English [Code ‘A’]: May use first language for learning and other purposes. May remain completely
silent in the classroom. May be copying/repeating some words or phrases. May understand some everyday
expressions in English but may have minimal or no literacy in English. Needs a considerable amount of EAL
support.
Early acquisition [Code ‘B’]: May follow day to day social communication in English and participate in
learning activities with support. Beginning to use spoken English for social purposes. May understand
simple instructions and can follow narrative/accounts with visual support. May have developed some skills
in reading and writing. May have become familiar with some subject specific vocabulary. Still needs a
significant amount of EAL support to access the curriculum.
Developing competence [Code ‘C’]: May participate in learning activities with increasing independence.
Able to express self orally in English, but structural inaccuracies are still apparent. Literacy will require
ongoing support, particularly for understanding text and writing. May be able to follow abstract concepts
and more complex written English. Requires ongoing EAL support to access the curriculum fully.
Competent [Code ‘D’]: Oral English will be developing well, enabling successful engagement in activities
across the curriculum. Can read and understand a wide variety of texts. Written English may lack
complexity and contain occasional evidence of errors in structure. Needs some support to access subtle
nuances of meaning, to refine English usage, and to develop abstract vocabulary. Needs some/occasional
EAL support to access complex curriculum material and tasks.
Fluent [Code ‘E’]: Can operate across the curriculum to a level of competence equivalent to that of a pupil
who uses English as his/her first language. Operates without EAL support across the curriculum.
EAL proficiency scales case study
Pupil: Osman Year group: Reception Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Osman started reception in September. He was on role
in Nursery but had poor attendance (55%). He settled
Ethnicity: ABAN (Bangladeshi) well in reception and his attendance has improved
(85%). He has one younger brother in his family. He
Languages: BNG (Bengali) & ENG (English) speaks Bengali at home.
Speaking and listening:
He mainly speaks in single words in English but has started putting two words together e.g. ‘mummy car’. At the
beginning of the year he didn’t contribute orally in English but responded in home language in full sentences with a
bilingual TA. He has a very basic limited range of English vocabulary linked to topics taught in school. Understands
some classroom instructions and daily routines in English e.g. ‘Put on your coat’
Reading:
He has completed phase 1 and 2 of the phonics programme but is not yet reading any sounds. He can recognise
sounds in the environment and has no hearing problems.
Writing samples:
He is keen to participate in writing activities regularly and makes an attempt to form some letters but often makes
circular patterns on paper. He can attribute meaning to his mark-making.
Wrote phonics: s a t p i n
Independent writing about his holidays
Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:
Stage A – new to English

Osman is at the early stages of acquiring English. He can understand some everyday expressions and simple
instructions in English and can speak in full sentences in his first language.
Next steps:
Osman needs to:

 develop a wider range of vocabulary in English
 speak in longer phrases – make links with first language learning
 recognise some sounds
 develop letter formation skills to produce recognisable letters
Pupil: Wictoria Year group: Reception Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Wictoria was admitted to the school in nursery. She has
an older sister in Y1 and a younger brother in nursery.
Ethnicity: WEEU (White Eastern European) Her attendance is 91%. She speaks Czech at home and
mainly speaks Czech with her friends in school.
Languages: CZE (Czech) & ENG (English)
Wictoria plays with other Czech speakers and regularly uses both languages in provision. She has only recently
started to use more English (June) and has generally been very quiet up to now. In the first term in Reception, she
was able to say one of two words in English but is now putting sentences together. She now volunteers information
and will speak to adults in English e.g. ‘Miss, W do this?’ She can understand simple instructions and can follow a
story with visual support.
Reading:
She is still on phase 2 of phonics but recognises 15 sounds. She is not yet blending sounds for reading. Wictoria
recognises her own name in print.
Writing samples:
Wictoria likes writing and colouring and

frequently chooses to write in provision. She
can write her own name and writes from left
to right. She is forming recognisable letters.
Stage B – early acquisition.

Wictoria can follow day to day social communication in English and is beginning to use English for social purposes.
Next steps:
Wictoria needs to:

 speak in full sentences
 develop a wider range of vocabulary
 recognise more sounds and begin to blend sounds to read words
 write CVC words
Pupil: Jesika Year group: Reception Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Jesika was born in the UK and is of Roma heritage. She
didn’t attend nursery and started reception in Sept 2015.
Ethnicity: WROM (Gypsy/Roma) Her attendance is 93%. She has two older brothers in Y2
& Y5. Her parents speak a little English but she usually
Languages: CZE (Czech) & ENG (English) speaks Czech with her parents and English with her
brothers at home.
Speaking and listening transcript:
T = teacher J = Jesika
Jesika was shown a basket of toys:
T Tell me what you like that’s in here? Do you like this?

J They’re for boys.
T They’re for boys?
J Yes
T How do you know?
J Because dinosaur
T Do you like the dinosaur?
J For boys
T What is this? (Showing Jesika a picture card)
J This is card
T Who can you see?
J This is Mickey and Donald. She go in the pool. She got a chicken. (describing what she
could see on a series of picture cards)
Showing teacher a paper mask she has cut out, Jesika volunteered proudly: ‘I can cut it
all by myself.’
Jesika can follow complex instructions and listens well at story time demonstrating a good understanding of the text.
She can express herself orally in English but there are still many structural inaccuracies in her speech. She has a lively
curiosity and frequently asks the meaning of words she doesn’t understand e.g. ‘soil’ in topic on plants and growing.
Reading:
Jesika has completed Phase 2 in phonics and is making good progress through Phase 3. She is blending to read
unfamiliar and tricky words
Writing samples:
September 2015
June 2016
June 2016
I like a lip block. Lip block is a good. I like red lip block.
Jesika has made good progress in writing. In September she wrote ‘a’ for her name and is now writing in complete
sentences.
Stage C - Developing competence
Jesika participates in learning activities with increasing independence and has achieved a good level of development
in Reception. She requires on-going support to develop her vocabulary in English.
Next steps:
Jesika needs to:

 develop grammatical accuracy in her speech
 develop her reading comprehension skills
 develop grammatical accuracy in writing simple sentences
Pupil: Muhammad Year group: Reception Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Muhammad was born in Leeds and attended the school
nursery. He lives with his parents and siblings. He has 1
Ethnicity: AOPK (Other Pakistani) older brother and 1 older sister. Muhammad speaks
Urdu to his parents and English to his siblings. His
Languages: URD (Urdu) and ENG (English) attendance is 84%.
A discussion was held around a trip to Pakistan and different object from a selection in a bag
T Who did you see when you went to Pakistan?

M My Grandma In the transcript:
T What did you do when you were there?
M Played T = teacher
T What did you play? Can you remember? M = Muhammad
M old stuff
T There was a minion in here? (Looking in the bag)
M I can see the minion
T Where is it?
M Here, two minions
T How many minions
M 5 minions
T I have some cards here, shall we play?
M I have a card game on my computer
T Have you? How do you play that game?
M The numbers that go after it and goes before it
T Is it like these? (Teacher modelled with the cards)
M You put one there and it has a number on
T How do you play it?
M I put them in the right place and where the next
number goes like 6 7
T Ahh, is it called solitaire?
M no reply
Muhammad was shown different pictures and was asked to describe them
T Can you find any differences in these pictures?

M The garage
T Where? Show me?
T Ahh, yes, what is in the garage?
M A car
T What about this one?
M That’s red and that’s green
T Where is the teddy bear?
M On the light
T Where is the bowl?
M Under the table
T Can you tell me what this little boy is doing?
M Sleeping
T Can you tell me what is happening in every picture?
M Sleeping, tired, eating, brushing teeth, going to
school, playing at school
Muhammad can answer questions in short, appropriate sentences. His oral English is developing well, enabling him
to express himself clearly. He has a wide range of vocabulary although gaps are still evident particularly in terms of
more complex sentence structures.
Reading transcript:
In group activities Muhammad is working at phase 5 phonics and consistently blends words.
“Go Fish” phase 3 set 9

Neela and Craig are at the pond Instant recognition to read the word
Shall we go fishing? Sounded out the word
Neela has a fishing rod. Told by the teacher
“I will hook the fish.”
Muhammad didn’t know what a fishing rod was, demonstrating that he has gaps in his vocabulary knowledge. He
could read the text appropriate to his age and understood what he had read.
Writing samples:
Muhammad independently wrote a letter to the school caretaker

to ask if he could come and fix the class computer.
Muhammad started his letter with “Dear Mr …” demonstrating he understands the conventions of letter writing. He
has spelt many words accurately e.g. ‘the, and, it, is, you, can, as’. He has also made phonetically plausible attempts
at other words e.g. ‘cwiclee’ for quickly and ‘mows’ for mouse. There is evidence of full stops but no other
punctuation marks.
Stage D – Competent
Muhammad needs some EAL support to access complex curriculum tasks. His oral English is developing well and he
can successfully engage in activities across the curriculum. He has a wide range of vocabulary but some gaps are still
evident. He can write for a range of purposes but his writing occasionally contains grammatical errors.
Next steps:
Muhammad needs to:

 further develop his range of vocabulary to enhance both his speech and written work
 to use a variety of punctuation marks in his writing e.g. question marks and exclamation marks
 develop a consistent use of capital letters in his writing
Pupil: Amira Year group: Reception Background information:
Assessment date: July 2016 Amira lives with her Mum, Dad, older brother and older
sister. She speaks both English and Kashmiri at home but
Ethnicity: AKPA (Kashmiri Pakistani) mainly English. Amira started school in Reception class
and also attended the school nursery. Her attendance is
Languages: KAS (Kashmiri) & ENG (English) currently 99.2%
T = teacher A = Amira
Amira was asked questions about her life, family and school.
T Can you tell me about your class at school?

A It has 3 areas. One is a doctors, ones a reading area and one’s an art area.
T Which is your favourite area and why?
A The art one because I like doing art. I like painting, drawing and sticking.
T What else do you like doing at school?
A Reading, writing and grapheme spotting.
T What do you like doing at home?
A Reading, writing, painting and playing outside.
T What do you do on a weekend?
A Its normally gymnastics on a Sunday and I go swimming.
T Tell me about your gymnastics?
A At gymnastics once there was a climbing frame with a bar. I held the handles to
jump down.
Amira was then asked to sequence a set of pictures and tell a story from them.
T Can you tell me the story?

A First he has breakfast and then he goes to school. Then he plays with his friends.
Then he comes home and he washes his face and gets ready for bed.
Amira respond appropriately to the questions and can confidently hold and initiate a conversation with her teacher.
She has a wide range of vocabulary which is subject specific. Her sentences are complex and grammatically correct.
Reading transcript:
Amira was asked to read her reading book “Camping” Oxford Reading Tree, Floppy’s Phonics, Stage 5
Instant recognition to read the word

Sounded out the word
Word given by the teacher
Camping is fun. You can enjoy being outside. You can see trees and animals all around you.
At night time you can get into a sleeping bag inside your tent.
If you are going camping you will need a tent.
There are different sorts of tents in all shapes and sizes.
Where would you like to camp?
If you want to see animals you could camp in a field. This campsite is by a farm.
If you want to meet lots of people you could camp in a holiday campsite. This campsite is by the seaside.
A good campsite has lots of space for your tent.
Some campsites have a place to play.
Reading comprehension:
T: What can you see when you are camping?

A: You can see animals and trees.
T: Which tent did you like best?
A: A dome tent.
T: Why?
A: It is the biggest tent.
T: What other equipment do you need when you go camping?
A: You might need a stove, sleeping bag, chair and a torch.
T: Where could you camp to see animals?
A: Near a farm.
Amira read a familiar book and understood what she had read. She was able to extract meaning from the text and
answer questions appropriately.
Writing samples:
Amira was asked to sequence a set of pictures and write the story independently.
Amira retold a familiar story “The Tiger who came to tea”.
She has written many high frequency words accurately e.g. like, was, said, went, with, then and made a phonetically
plausible attempt at others e.g. playd (played), bcos (because). Amira is using basic punctuation in her writing and
her writing is grammatically accurate.
Stage E – Fluent
Amira is a fluent speaker of English and speaks confidently in a range of situations. She reads fluently and can access
the meaning of the texts read. She writes using a range of vocabulary.
Next steps:
Amira needs to:

 use a range of punctuation marks in her writing
 extend the range of her sentences by using a wider range of conjunctions
 participate in a wide range of speaking activities e.g. role play, performances to further develop her
confidence in speaking in a range of contexts.
Pupil: Rukhsana Year group: 2 Background information:
Assessment date: September 2016 Rukhsana lives with her Mum, Dad, Grandma, brother
and sister who are both younger than her. At home
Ethnicity: ABAN (Bangladeshi) Rukhsana speaks both English and Bengali.
Rukhsana started school in Reception class and her
Languages: BNG (Bengali) & ENG (English) attendance is currently 77.8% for this academic year due
to celebrating Eid. Last year her attendance was 97.8%
T = teacher R = Rukhsana
Rukhsana was asked questions about her life, family and school.
T How old are you?

R 6
T Who lives with you?
R My Mum
T Anyone else?
R Grandma
T Have you any brothers or sisters?
R A brother and sister. They are babies.
T Are you the oldest in the family?
R Yes
R Watching my IPad
T Did you family celebrate something special last week?
R Eid
T What did you do?
R Friend came
T Did you do anything special?
R played
T What do you like doing at school?
R Play
T What do you play?
R Pass the parcel
Rukhsana was very quiet and needed encouragement to use single words or short phrases to answer the questions.
She is developing a basic command of English and can understand simple instructions.
Reading transcript:
Rukhsana was asked to read her reading book “Where is the wind?” Collins Big Cat Red B, Band 2B.

Omitted by Rukhsana
Extra words added by Rukhsana
Mole said “I’m going to see the wind.”

The Mole said says, “Hello, Bee. Did you see the wind?” The Bee said says, “No.”
The Mole said says, “Hello, Mouse. Did you see the wind?” and the Mouse said says, “No.”
And the Mole said says , “Hello, Deer. Did you see the wind?” and the Deer said says, “No.”
The Mole said says , “Hello, Toad Frog . Did you see the wind?” and the Toad Frog said says , “No.”
The Mum said says , “Did you see the wind?”
And the Mole said says , “No. It wasn’t there!”
Mole looks for the wind
T: Who was looking for the wind?

R: Mole and Bee
T: Did the mole find the wind?
R: No
T: Did anyone find the wind?
R: No
T: Can we see the wind?
R: No response
Rukhsana read a familiar book and relied heavily on the visual clues to identify the animals on each page. She read
mainly from memory and made the same mistakes repeatedly on each page. She knows most of her letter sounds
and is starting to answer questions based on the book read.
Writing samples:
Rukhsana retold a familiar story through

pictures with some labelling.
She spelt “Fox” correctly.
Rukhsana was asked to sequence a set of pictures and write the story.
She wrote one line for each picture and writes from left to right.
She is forming recognisable letters but no words can be identified in her
writing.

Rukhsana is at the early stages of acquiring English. She can understand and follow simple instructions in English. She
speaks mainly in single words or short phrases and has a limited range of vocabulary. Rukhsana can read some high
frequency words and read from memory. She is attempting to write but this needs a considerable amount of
support. A best fit for her proficiency in English would be Stage A.
Next steps:
Rukhsana needs to:

 speak in longer phrases
 read the high frequency words for Year 2.
 write CVC words and simple sentences using correct punctuation.

Pupil: Fadil Year group: 2 Background information:
Assessment date: September 2016 Fadil lives with his Mum, Dad, 2 older sisters and a
younger brother. He speaks both English and Bengali.
Ethnicity: ABAN (Bangladeshi) Fadil started school in Reception class and his
attendance is currently 77.8% for this academic year due
Languages: BNG (Bengali) & ENG (English) to celebrating Eid. Last year his attendance was 94%.
T = teacher F = Fadil
Fadil was asked questions about his life, family and school.
T How old are you?

F 6
F Playing with my brother
T What do you play?
F Watch TV
T What is your favourite programme?
F Minions
T Who is your favourite Minion?
F Kevin he big
F Errrm drawing
T What do you draw?
F No response
T Do you draw Minions?
F Yes
Fadil was then asked to sequence a set of pictures and tell a story from them.

F They wake up. They wash his face. They eat breakfast. They walk to school. They
play football. Errrm
T What is he doing in the last picture?
F Go home
Fadil was able to respond appropriately to the questions with single word and short phrase answers. He is
developing his range of vocabulary but there are many grammatical inaccuracies in his speech e.g. They wash his
face.
Reading transcript:
Fadil was asked to read his reading book “Bug Alert” Success For All, Shared Story 17.

Tanya gets on the bus. She has a backpack.

The backpack unsnaps. Books and a ball fall out! A big, big bug falls out!
“Yuck! A big, bad bug!” gasps Abid.
“The bug is on the book bag!” Abid smacks at the bag.
The bus stops. Mr Cob stands up.
He says, “Kids, stop and sit!”
Tanya sobs, “But my bug! I cannot see it!”
T: In the story where are the children?

F: On bus
T: Where might they have been going?
F: On a trip
T: What happened to Tanya’s bag?
F: It ripped
T: What fell out?
F: A bug
T: Why was Tanya crying?
F: She lost the bug
Fadil read a familiar book and understood what he had read. He used the visual support to help him both read and
answer questions. He was able to extract basic meaning from the text and answer questions with short phrase
answers.
Writing samples:
Fadil retold a familiar story through pictures and

labelling.
He spelt “Fox, frog, butcher” accurately.
Fadil was asked to sequence a set of pictures and write the story independently.
When asked to read back his writing Fadil read “The boy woke up the boy washing his face his eat he walk from
school his play football.”
He has written many CVC words accurately and made a phonetically plausible attempt at others. There is no
evidence of using basic punctuation in his writing. He has limited awareness of English grammar and needs to
develop finger spacing.
Stage B – Early Acquisition

Fadil still needs a significant amount of support to access the curriculum. He can answer questions in short phrases
and his vocabulary is widening. He can read familiar texts and extract basic meaning from them. His writing conveys
meaning but displays a limited grammatical awareness.
Next steps:
Fadil needs to:

 develop his speech through acquiring a wider range of vocabulary
 speak and write in grammatically correct simple sentences
 speak in increasingly more complex sentences
 use basic punctuation and finger spaces in his writing

Pupil: Jehan Year group: 2 Background information:
Assessment date: September 2016 Jehan lives with her Mum, Dad, 2 older sisters and 2
younger brothers. 1 sister attends high school and her
Ethnicity: ABAN (Bangladeshi) other siblings attend the same school as Jehan. She
speaks both English and Bengali.
Languages: BNG (Bengali) & ENG (English) Jehan started school in Reception class and her
attendance is currently 88.9% for this academic year due
Country of birth: GBR (United Kingdom) to celebrating Eid. Her attendance for last year was
98.2%
Nationality: GBR (United Kingdom)
T = teacher J = Jehan
Jehan was asked questions about her life, family and school.
T How old are you?

J 6
T Tell me in a sentence
J I am 6
J Playing with my toys
T Which toys are your favourite?
J A doll called Rapunzel with long hair
T What is your favourite lesson at school?
J Maths
T What do you like doing in maths?
J I like adding numbers and taking away numbers. I count with my fingers.
T What do you do at playtime?
J I played hide and seek.
T Where is a good place to hide?
J Inside but we are not allowed inside so I go behind a tree
Jehan was able to respond appropriately to the questions with full sentence answers. There are occasional
grammatical inaccuracies in her speech.
Reading transcript:
Jehan was asked to read her reading book “The Gingerbread Man.”

Omitted word
One day, Colin the baker was feeling lonely, so he mixed up very special gingerbread dough. He took a handful of the
mixture and rolled it into a sausage to make the body, and put it on the tray. He rolled another handful into a ball
and popped it above the body to make the head. He took one last handful and rolled it into a long thin sausage to
make the arms and the legs. He put these in place and squashed it flat. Popping the tray into the oven, he went
upstairs and had a cup of tea. When he came down again, he could hear a tap-tap-tapping coming from inside the
oven. He opened the oven door and standing on the edge of the tray was a little gingerbread man, who jumped out
and ran round the room saying, “run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.”
T:What did the baker do?

J: He made a gingerbread man.
T: How did he make it?
J: By dough
T: What did he do with the dough?
J: He made it into sausage body and a head.
T: What did he do then?
J: He put it in the oven.
T: What happened next?
J: He heard a banging from the oven and opened the oven and the gingerbread man came out.
Jehan read accurately and only sounded out one word from the passage. She omitted 2 words during reading. Jehan
understood what she had read and was able to answer questions about the text, giving sentences in her answers.
Writing samples:
Jehan retold a familiar

story through pictures
and labelling. She
accurately spelt “greedy,
fox, the, little, story, was,
and.” Jehan has also
made phonetically
plausible attempts and
words e.g. hous (house)
wen (when) and amasing
(amazing). She is also
aware of speech bubbles
and has used these twice
in her work.
Jehan was asked to sequence a set of pictures and write the story independently.
Jehan has started her writing with “Once upon a time” demonstrating an understanding of the conventions of story
writing. She overuses the conjunction ‘and’, therefore her writing contains only one full stop. Her handwriting is
joined and she has used some capital letters within the writing. Jehan’s writing is mainly grammatically accurate but
some mistakes are evident in past tense verbs.
Stage C – Developing Competence

Jehan is able to undertake independent activities but will still require some support to fully access the curriculum.
She is speaking in full sentences but occasional grammatical inaccuracies are still apparent. She reads fluently and
understands what she has read.
Next steps:
Jehan needs to:

 speak in longer more complex sentences
 develop her grammatical awareness in order to further develop both her speech and writing, with a
focus on tenses
 to use a wider range of punctuation and vocabulary in her writing
Pupil: Ling Year group: 2 Background information:
Assessment date: October 2016 Ling lives with his Mum, Dad and younger sister. He
speaks both Mandarin and English at home. Ling attends
Ethnicity: CHNE (Chinese) a Chinese Supplementary School on a Sunday afternoon
every week. Ling started school in Reception class and
Languages: CHIM (Mandarin) & ENG (English) also attended a nursery setting. His attendance is
currently 99.1%
T = teacher L = Ling
Ling was asked questions about his life, family and school.

L Playing football is my favourite thing
T Who do you play football with?
L All my friends
T What is your favourite lesson at school
L Maths
T Which part of maths do you like best?
L Hard subtraction and take aways. When I get more years it gets harder and harder.
L Playing games
T What games do you play?
L Like robots killing bad guys
T Do you got out anywhere on a weekend?
L I go to the park.
T What do you do at the park?
L I play with my sister and play football. I feed the ducks too.
T Do you do anything else on a weekend?
L On Friday nights I go to badminton. Then on Saturday morning I go to football. Then on Saturday
afternoon I go to stage coach and on Sunday I go swimming and to Chinese school. Then that’s done.
Ling was then asked to sequence a set of pictures and tell a story from them.

L When I wake up I stand up and wash my face. Then I eat my breakfast. Then I go to school. Then its
playtime.
Ling respond appropriately to the questions and can confidently hold a conversation with his teacher. He is
developing his range of vocabulary. His sentences are grammatically accurate although he over relies on starting
sentences with “then I.”
Reading transcript:
Ling was asked to read his reading book “Messy Ella” Oxford University Press, Tree Tops, Stage 9

Messy Ella lived with her mum and two sisters, Primrose and Daisy. Primrose and Daisy were twins.
They were always neat, tidy and as sweet smelling as flowers.
Messy Ella wasn’t neat or tidy. She was a mucky, muddy kind of hippo.
One day a letter arrived at Messy Ella’s house. It was an invitation.
Please come to my garden party.
Messy Ella showed the invitation to her sisters.
They grabbed it at once.
“A garden party! What fun!” Primrose said. “There’ll be lots of yummy food”
“And ballroom dancing” Daisy said
T: What kind of hippo was Ella?

L: A messy hippo
T: What did she always look like?
L: Very dirty
T: What do her sisters look like?
L: Clean and tidy
T: Do you think the sisters get on with each other?
L: No, Ella is messy and the others are clean. They are opposites.
Ling read a familiar book and understood what he had read. He was able to extract meaning from the text and
answer questions appropriately, mainly in short phrases.
Writing samples:
Ling was asked to sequence a set of

pictures and write the story
independently.
Ling sequenced pictures from a familiar story and added a caption for each one.
Ling has used various sentence openers in his writing e.g. Then and Next but has an over reliance on ‘then’. He has
written many high frequency words accurately e.g. with, play, time, stand, morning and made a phonetically
plausible attempt at others e.g. worcted (walked), wocke (woke). There are some grammatical inaccuracies evident
in his writing, particularly in his use of tenses.
Stage D – Competent
Ling demonstrates that he can work independently but still needs some support to complete his tasks. He speaks
confidently in a range of situations. He reads fluently and can access the meaning of the texts read. He writes using a
range of vocabulary although his tenses are sometimes mixed up.
Next steps:
Ling needs to:

 use a variety of sentence openers in both his speech and writing
 develop his grammatical awareness with a particular focus on tenses
 use a wider range of punctuation and vocabulary in his writing
 extend the range of his sentences by using a wider range of conjunctions
Pupil: Seemha Year group: 2 Background information:
Assessment date: October 2016 Seemha lives with her Mum, Dad and younger brother.
She speaks both English and Hindi at home but mainly
Ethnicity: AIND (Indian) English. Seemha started school in Reception class and
also attended nursery. Her attendance is currently 98.5%
Languages: HIN (Hindi) & ENG (English)
T = teacher S = Seemha
Seemha was asked questions about her life, family and school.

S Painting
T Tell me in a full sentence
S I like doing painting when we did the great fire of London picture.
T Tell me about the great fire of London
S We learnt that London was burning. It started burning at the bakery on Pudding Lane Street.
T Did just the bakers burnt down?
S No, all of the houses burnt down and Sir William came to talk about it to us at school. He told us
that one of his houses burnt down.
T What is your favourite part of school?
S I like reading
S I like jumping on my bed with my brother
T Do you go out anywhere on a weekend?
S We go to Roundhay Park
T What do you like at Roundhay Park?
S Walking round the lake and going on the playground.
T If you go this weekend what will the leaves be like?
S Crunchy and brown
Seemha was then asked to sequence a set of pictures and tell a story from them.

S First Sam woke up in bed and he started to creep to wash his face and hands. Next he walked to
put his clothes on. After that he went downstairs to eat his breakfast. Then he went skipping to
school. Then he played football with his friends.
Seemha responds appropriately to the questions asked. She speaks confidently in a range of situations. Her
sentences are complex and grammatically correct, using a wide range of vocabulary which is subject specific.
Reading transcript:
Seemha was asked to read her reading book “The big little dinosaur” Oxford University Press, Tree Tops, Stage 9

Sam lived next door to Emma. They were best friends, so they always did things together.
One day, Emma went down to Pirate Cove, and she started to dig in the sand.
“What are you digging for, Emma?” asked Sam.
“I’m digging for treasure,” said Emma.
“This is Pirate Cove, so there should be treasure buried somewhere.”
Sam climbed down into the hole to help Emma dig, and then… CLANG!
Emma’s spade hit something hard under the sand.
They dug up the thing that had clanged and pulled it out of the hole with a rope.
They stood and looked at the thing. It was bright green with brown shiny bits.
“It’s a huge cannonball!” Emma decided.
“Someone fired it at a pirate and missed!”
The sun shone on the huge cannonball for the first time in years.
The huge cannonball twitched, as though something inside had wakened and stretched, and started to grow.
T: Where were the two children?

S: They were in Pirate Cove?
T: What is Pirate Cove?
S: It’s like a beach except it’s got a little circle round it.
T: Why do you think it’s called Pirate Cove?
S: Because in the past a Pirate lived there.
T: How did they get the cannonball out of the hole?
S: Emma was digging for treasure and her spade hit it. They used a rope to pull it out.
T: How does Emma know the cannonball missed a pirate when it was fired?
S: It might have missed because the pirate hid near a tree.
T: What shape is the cannonball?
S: It’s a circle.
T: Do you think it would still be a circle if it had hit anything?
S: No, it would be a cracked circle.
Seemha read a familiar book and understood what she had read. She was able to answer questions appropriately,
extract meaning from the text. Seemha can make inferences from the text. She read with intonation and was aware
of the punctuation marks.
Writing samples:
Seemha was asked to sequence a set of pictures and write the story independently.
Seemha sequenced pictures from a familiar story and added a caption for each one.
Seemha has used a variety of sentence openers e.g. First, Next, After that and Finally. She has written many high
frequency words accurately e.g. then, school, his, played and made a phonetically plausible attempt at others e.g.
rusht (rushed) and futbol (football). Seemha is using basic punctuation in her writing and her writing is
grammatically accurate.
Stage E – Fluent
Seemha is a fluent speaker of English and speaks confidently in a range of situations including whole class, group and
1 to 1 sessions. She reads fluently and can extract the meaning from the texts read. She writes using a range of
vocabulary.
Next steps:
Seemha needs to:

 extend the range of her writing to include more than one clause by adding conjunctions.
 use a range of punctuation marks in her writing
 participate in a wide range of speaking activities e.g. role play, performances to further develop her
confidence in speaking in a range of context.
Pupil: Milan Year group: 3 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Milan came to the UK in Y2. He has 2 older brothers and
1 sister. He speaks Czech at home. He likes coming to
Ethnicity: WROM (Gypsy/Roma) school and his attendance is 91%. He hadn’t been to
school in the Czech republic so his first experience of
Languages: CZE (Czech) & ENG (English) school was Y2 in the UK.
T = teacher M = Milan
T Task 1: response to a series of pictures:

Can you describe this picture? What can you see?
M Toilet
T What else can you see?
M Long pause
T What is this?
M ermm, ermmm, window
T Very good it’s a window. Look at this.
M ermmm
T gr
M grass
T yes, very good, well done Milan!
T What is the boy doing Milan?
M crying
T Yes he is - can you say a full sentence?
M The boy is crying
T Very good, and this one?
M The girl is painting
M The boy is clapping
Response to a series of pictures which tell a simple story
T Milan, can you tell me what is happening to the boy? Tell me a story about the pictures?
No response - another boy then translated the instruction in Czech
T Where is the boy?
M bed
T Can you say a sentence
M The boy is in the bed. The boy is up. The boy is eating. The boy is go. The girl jumping. The boy
play football.
Milan tends to respond in one word answers but can speak in complete sentences when prompted.
Reading:
Milan recognises some initial sounds but not all. Struggles with d, b, u , n, p, e, g .
Can read some CVC words but still needs help with sounding out and blending many of them e.g.
bed - bread
Writing samples:
Milan can copy simple sentences and fill in the gaps with highly structured support. He sometimes remembers to use
capital letters and full stops but needs to develop finger spacing. He has limited awareness of English grammar and
uses a basic range of vocabulary. He is not yet ready to write a short story independently in English.
Milan is at the early stages of acquiring English. He can understand some everyday expressions and simple
instructions in English but still needs first language support for many interactions. He mainly speaks in single words
or short phrases and has a very basic limited range of vocabulary. He can recognise many initial sounds and read
some simple CVC words. Milan can produce a small amount of independent writing (Stage B) but an overall best fit
for his proficiency in English would be Stage A.
Next steps:
Milan needs to:
- develop a wider range of vocabulary in English
- speak in longer phrases – make links with first language learning
- recognise all 44 phonemes
- read simple CVC words
- write simple sentences independently using capital letters and full stops accurately

Pupil: Mario Year group: 3 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Mario came to the UK when he was in Year 1. He hadn’t
attended school in the Czech Republic. He lives with his
Ethnicity: WROM (Gypsy/Roma) Mum and Dad, brother and sister. He speaks Czech at
home with his family.
Languages: CZE (Czech) and ENG (English) His attendance is 93.4%
Mario was shown a picture of a house and asked to describe and answer pictures about the house. He was then
shown pictures of children undertaking different activities and asked what the children were doing.
T General discussion: Tell me about your brothers and sisters?

M He is in year 1 and he’s 5 and my sister year 4 and she’s 10 In the transcript:
T Can you describe the pictures?
M Car T = teacher
T Tell me what you can see in a full sentence. M = Mario
M In this house I can see a car
T Keep going….
M In this house I can see a car and books and door. I can see sofa.
T What is on the sofa?
M On the sofa, ermm the thingies, I don’t know what you call it.
T Can you show me one? It’s a cushion
M Ahhh a cushion.
T Can you describe the car?
M The car is blue
T Keep going…..
M The car is blue and black and it’s driving and white.
T Anything else? What has it got?
M Wheels.
T How many wheels?
M Two, four
T How do you know? I can only see 2 wheels
M On the other side there 2 more.
T How many doors has a car?
M Four.
T I can’t see any doors
M One, two and the back one two.
T Ahh, very good! What is the boy doing?
M The boy is having food because he hungry. The boy is climbing
because he loves climbing. The boy is clapping because someone
worked hard.
Mario understood the questions asked and could answer them in single word answers. When prompted he could
express himself in a sentence but these contain grammatical inaccuracies e.g. “On the other side there 2 more”.
When speaking Mario often omits the verbs from his sentence e.g. “The boy is having food because he hungry”. He is
acquiring some subject specific vocabulary but gaps are still evident e.g. cushions.
Reading transcript:
Mario read an extract from his current reading book “The Carnival” Oxford Reading Tree Stage 3.
The Mums and Dads were busy. Instant recognition to read the word
They made a giant shoe. Sounded out the word
They put it on a trailer. Told by the teacher
The children dressed up.
Dad was the old lady.
The giant sock looked good.
They took it to the carnival.
The car broke down.
“Oh no” everyone said.
“Come on” said Wilma
Biff, Chip and Wilma pushed.
“Come on” said everyone.
There was an old lady who lived in a shoe.
She has so many children it was a good job too.
T: Why was it a good job she had so many children?

M: no response
T: What did the children do?
M: Helped
T: How did they help?
M: They painted the shoe
T: How else did they help?
M: Pushed the car.
T: Why did the car need pushing?
M: It was stucked
T: Was it stuck?
M: It has broken down
Mario read many of the words accurately. He followed the narrative and used the visual support to help him answer
the questions. Mario was able to extract basic meaning from the text but struggled to respond to inferential and
deductive questioning.
Writing samples:
Mario wrote a newspaper article based on the class text “The 3 little pigs”
Mario independently wrote a story based on a sequence of pictures given to him.
Mario has produced a small amount of independent writing. There is no evidence of punctuation in his writing and
he has used capital letters randomly throughout the passage e.g. Boy, He and FouBall. The text reads more like a list
than a story with an overuse of the conjunction “then” (spelt thene). Mario can spell some high frequency words
accurately e.g. the, boy, was, went.
Stage B - Early Acquisition
Mario demonstrates that he still needs a significant amount of support to access the curriculum. He can use English
for social purposes but still needs support for subject specific vocabulary. He can follow day to day routines and
simple instructions. He relies on visual support to follow narrative accounts. He has developed some skills in writing
when he is provided with specific support.
Next steps:
Mario needs to:

 develop his speech through acquiring a wider range of subject specific words. Investigating words through
word studies will support him with this
 use basic punctuation marks consistently
 use a wider range of conjunctions to make links in his writing
 use appropriate vocabulary and write in accurate sentences
Pupil: Hanus Year group: 3 8 years old Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Hanus moved from the Czech Republic to live in Leeds
when he was 6 years old. He is the second youngest in
Ethnicity: WROM (Gypsy/Roma) his family. Hanus has 1 brother and 3 sisters. He speaks
Czech at home with his family.
Languages: CZE (Czech) and ENG (English) His attendance is 94.6%
Hanus was shown a sequence of pictures and asked to describe them.
T Can you tell me a story about these pictures? What is the little boy
doing and what is happening? In the transcript:
H He is in bed tired. Now he is standing and putting his trousers on and
washing his face. Then eating some food and going to park and T = teacher
playing.
H = Hanus
T What is he playing?
H Football and skipping rope
T Where do you think he is?
H In park, in school
T Why do you think he is in school?
H Cos he needs to go there every day
T Do you go to school every day?
H Yes
T Are the boy and girl wearing anything special that gives us a clue
they are at school?
H Yes, the uniform
T Who do you think he walked to school with?
H His Mum
T Why do you think he needed to walk to school with his Mum?
H Because some of cars go very fast and they might not see him
Hanus was able to describe the pictures and responded appropriately to the questions. He uses spoken English
confidently but there are still grammatical structural inaccuracies in his speak e.g. “because some of cars go very fast
and they might not see him.
Reading transcript:
Hanus was asked to read an extract from his individual class reading book:

Your body is like a car. You have to pump the right fuel inside to make it work properly. The fuel you put in your car
is petrol. The fuel you put in your body is food and drink. Petrol can’t make a car bigger and stronger, but the right
food and drink can help you grow!
What should you drink?
Did you know that more than half of your weight is made up of water? When you are hot some of this water comes
out as sweat. The sweat dries and helps to cool your body down. Then you need a drink to top up your body’s fuel
level. Athletes can lose more than a litre of water an hour when they are exercising!
So what should you drink?
 Water? Yes!
 Milk? Yes!
 Low-sugar fruit juice? No problem
 Fizzy drinks? Not so good if you drink too many of them. The acid and sugar they contain can harm your
teeth and make you put on too much weight.
T: What things are good for you to drink?

H: Bread, vegetables, water, bread
T: Why do we need to drink and eat?
H: To keep healthy
T: What did the book tell us?
H: About the food we need
T: What did it tell us about athletes?
H: What we need and what makes us grow
Hanus read accurately with no mistakes. He only needed to sound out one word from the passage. He understood
what he read and was able to answer questions about the text although his answers were quite brief. While reading
Hanus used a monotone voice and didn’t vary his expression.
Writing sample:
Hanus was asked to independently write a story based on the sequence of pictures shown in the speaking and
listening activity.
He starts his story with “One day” a good sentence opener. Hanus uses the conjunctions ‘and’, ‘when’ and ‘then’
repeatedly for joining sentences together. He demonstrates a limited use of punctuation and the story reads like a
list of events. There are many grammatical inaccuracies evident in his writing, particularly in his use of the past
tense e.g. when he waked up he …”
Stage C - Developing Competence (Just achieving)

Hanus demonstrated that he can participate in activities independently. He can express himself orally but still has
grammatical inaccuracies in his speech. He will require ongoing support to access the curriculum fully.
Next steps:
Hanus needs to:

 develop his grammatical awareness in order to develop both his speech and writing
 to produce more sophisticated writing for a range of purposes
 to use a wider range of punctuation and a wider range of vocabulary
Pupil: Ikram Year group: 4 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Ikram was born in Leeds, England and attended the same
school in Leeds since nursery. He lives at home with his
Ethnicity: APKN (Pakistani) Mum, Dad, Granddad and 4 sisters (1 older and 2
younger). At home he speaks Urdu to his Mum and
Languages: URD (Urdu) and ENG (English) Granddad and English with his Dad and brothers and
feels that English is his strongest language.
His attendance is 99%.
Ikram participated confidently in a conversation with other adults. He understood the questions asked and
could answer them in full sentences when encouraged to do so. He demonstrates an awareness of the
rules of grammar and word order in his speech and has a wide range of vocabulary.
T How old are you Ikram?

I 9
T Who lives with you at home?
I My Mum, my Dad, my Grandad and my elder brother and my younger brother.
T At home what languages can you speak?
I I can speak English and Urdu.
T Where were you born?
I 2002
T Where were you born?
I In Leeds
T Tell me about your trip to Italy?
I We met all our friends and we slept their house.
T What did you think of Italy
I It was fun because we was playing and everything.
T What was your favourite part of your trip to Italy?
I When we was playing football with our friends.
Reading:
He read a range of books reasonably fluently and was able to answer some questions relating to the text.
Book: Oxford Reading Tree, Treetops Stage 14
T What’s the title of your book Ikram?

I Ok, Spanner, you win!
T Who is the author?
I David Clayton.
T What’s the weather like?
I Raining.
T How do you know?
I It says it here.
T Any other reason?
I It’s dark.
T Read the last sentence on the page.
I ‘We could never play outside in this.’
T What is ‘this’ referring to?
I The playground.
T How do you think Senna is feeling?
I Excited.
T How do you know?
I Because he was bouncing up and down.
T What does that mean, that ‘we’re gonna walk it’?
I That we are going to walk and play football
T What does the word ‘reserve’ mean?
I I don’t know
Ikram also read a non-fiction book about nocturnal animals. He read the book reasonably fluently but struggled with
understanding some of the abstract and subject-specific vocabulary e.g. he didn’t know the meaning of the word
‘spade’ and couldn’t explain why the joke was funny in this photo from the text:
Ikram struggled with the subtle nuances in meaning in the text and also with his understanding of abstract
vocabulary. This impacted on his ability to answer comprehension questions related to the text.
Writing samples:
Ikram is keen to participate in writing activities regularly and uses many of the writing strategies modelled by the
teacher in his independent writing. In story linked to the Tudors topic, Ikram uses complex sentences, adverbials
phrases and clauses, similes, subject-specific vocabulary and a growing awareness of audience and purpose. He
tends to overuse new strategies modelled by the teacher e.g. adverbial phrase openers and relative clauses. He also
overuses the main character’s name instead of using a pronoun.
Stage C – developing competence (higher end of the scale)
Ikram demonstrated that he can participate in activities independently. He can express himself orally but still has
grammatical inaccuracies in his speech and writing. He will require ongoing support to access the curriculum fully.
Ikram still needs support to understand the subtle nuances of meaning in texts as well as abstract and subject
specific vocabulary.
Next steps:
- Developing his knowledge of abstract and subject specific vocabulary in English

- Speak in longer more complex sentences
- Develop a greater awareness of audience and purpose in his writing
- Use pronouns as referents in his writing
Pupil: Hikmet Year group: 3 Background information:
Hikmet is a 7-year-old pupil in Year 3. He was born in

Assessment date: June 2016 Turkey but moved to England with his family during the
second term of his Reception year. His mother is English
Ethnicity: WTUK (Turkish) (but speaks Turkish fluently) and his father is Turkish.
Annual visits to Turkey and the availability of Turkish
Languages: TUR (Turkish) & ENG (English) medium television provide regular access to Hikmet’s
first language. At the end of Key Stage 1, Hikmet was
assessed as being at age-related expectations for
speaking, listening, reading and writing.
TRANSCRIPT 1:
T Why do you think that makes a good story start? In the following transcript
H That Wishing Chair book makes me want to find out what will of this task:
happen when you sit on it. It makes me want to get into the book. T = teacher
I’m reading the Wishing Chair at the moment. H = Hikmet
T How about this book Hikmet. Why do you like that story start? A and B = two other
H Well they all try to have, they all try to climb the highest stalk for the children present
tree, but they still can’t get it and they all start arguing – ‘I’m gonna
get the cheese’ and then some other big animals like foxes and
turtles come.
B No no no… not turtles.
H Oh I mean foxes. Foxes they come and they run ...
B There’s one more mouse and then……..
H Well I like this start because they’re all going ‘please, please can I get
that cheese?’
T Ah! So they’re all begging. Are you wondering what’s going to
happen next in the story?
H Yeah because they might not, they might not get the cheese.
A You don’t really know what’s gonna come up afterwards.
H Yeah because I wondered how they get that, all that cheese. Oh now
I see. They’re in a picnic place (long pause) and it’s really good
because some stories might be sad, and some might be good, and
this one’s a bit in between because, it’s like they’re all trying to climb
the highest thing.
SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION

Following on from the activity above, a small group of three pupils was asked to select stories from the bookshelf,
read different examples of story starts and discuss whether they felt they were effective or not, giving reasons.
Commentary
In this informal, small group setting, Hikmet was a more confident and frequent contributor, and also listened
carefully to others. He understood the instructions for the task and selected a book in which he identified and read
the beginning. He found it more difficult, however, to pinpoint why he felt that it was effective.
T How about this story Hikmet? Why do you like this story start?
H Well they all try to have, they all try to climb the highest stalk for the tree,
but they still can’t get it and they all start all arguing.
Hikmet paraphrases the start of the story rather than expressing his opinion
and giving a reason. However, in the context of a familiar and well-known
story, he says:
H That Wishing Chair book makes me want to find out more – it makes me
want to get into the book.
PLENARY (WHOLE CLASS)

During the final plenary of the lesson, groups of children were asked to feed back to the whole class.
Commentary:
In this context, Hikmet was more inhibited and needed prompting.
T Which one (story start) would you choose?

H (Hikmet reads out a few sentences). I liked this one because it was bit funny and it made me laugh.
Hikmet gave careful thought to his answer, which is in a complete sentence and more formal than when talking in
the small group.
Reading transcript:
Context (Texts 1, 2 and 3)
Hikmet selected two non-fiction books about India (a country studied by the class that term). He used the front
covers as a basis for his choice, relating this to what he already knew about India. The text he chose was The Ganges:
Great Rivers Series by Michael Polland. This was largely unfamiliar to Hikmet. He selected a very challenging text, but
did not seem at all phased by these challenges.
TEXT 1 – THE GANGES: GREAT RIVER SERIES BY MICHAEL POLLAND (EVANS)

Commentary
Hikmet can read with confidence and enthusiasm despite the fact that he needs to decode unfamiliar words quite
frequently. He reads many high-frequency words from clues in context. He is able to add new words from the class
work on India, (such as ‘climate’) to his sight vocabulary. In some cases Hikmet substitutes, but usually the words
share initial sound, and are the same part of speech. For example he substitutes ‘follows’ for ‘flows’ in the sentence:
‘The plain is between 300 and 400 kilometres wide and across it flows not only ... ’. Hikmet sometimes splits words
into syllables in order to read them, or recognise words within words e.g. him in ‘Himalayas’. He is therefore using a
range of strategies when approaching a text.
Talk is an important aspect of reading and Hikmet frequently draws on personal experience to try and make sense of
the text, referring to news reports he has seen on TV, what he has learnt in class and similarities or differences with
life in Turkey.
TEXT 2 – A FLAVOUR OF INDIA, FOOD AND FESTIVALS SERIES (WAYLAND)

In this slightly easier text there is still unfamiliar vocabulary such as names of spices used in Indian food. Hikmet once
again uses talk and his own experience (for example recognising saffron as a spice that is also used to flavour rice in
Turkey) to make the text meaningful to him. He asks questions and builds upon the answers. Hikmet makes use of
similar strategies when reading unfamiliar words – including his visual memory, for example, he substitutes a more
familiar word which looks the same: ‘spaces’ for ‘spices’.
TEXT 3 – THE ANGEL OF NITSHILL ROAD BY ANNE FINE

Hikmet’s reading of this text was more fluent and accurate. The vocabulary, despite containing some challenging
words such as ‘ostentatious’, is more predictable. Hikmet recognised speech within the text and read with greater
expression, taking the punctuation more into account. He used many of the same strategies and at one point, when
reading a word containing a silent ‘k’, Hikmet was able to identify that silent letters are also a feature of Turkish
names, using the examples of his own surname, which contains a silent ‘g’.
Writing samples:
Context (Sample 1)
Hikmet was asked to write a story based on the Tudor topic following much discussion and development of suitable
vocabulary as a whole class.
Opening Ending
He can:
 develop ideas through a series of sentences
 start sentences in different ways to maintain interest for the reader
 Use adverbials and noun phrases to engage the reader
Stage D - Competent
Hikmet demonstrates that he is ‘just into’ the competent scale D. He successfully engages in activities across the
curriculum in English and can read and understand a wide variety of texts. His written English is developing but lacks
grammatical accuracy and complexity at times. The small sample provided suggests he is at proficiency scale C in
writing but overall a best fit for Hikmet is scale D. It is anticipated that Hikmet will remain at stage D for some time
before developing fluency in English.
Next steps:
He needs to develop:
 confidence in speaking and listening in a wider range of contexts
 more sophisticated ways of expressing an opinion and generalising about texts he has chosen.
 the ability to understand subtle nuances of meaning
 complexity in writing and in the use of abstract vocabulary
 the use of pronouns as referents in his writing
Pupil: Giorgio Year group: 4 Background information:
Assessment date: July 2016 Giorgio was born in America and moved to England
when he was 2 years old. He attended a nursery setting
Ethnicity: WITA (Italian) in England. He spends half his time living with his Mum,
Step Dad, brother and sister where he speaks Italian and
Languages: ITA (Italian) and ENG (English) English. The other time is spent living with his Dad, Step
Mum and half-sister where he speaks English.
His attendance is 98.6%

General discussion about school and plans for the summer holidays.
In the transcript: T = teacher G = Giorgio
T What is your favourite subject at school?

G My favourite subject is either maths or ICT, I can’t really decide between the two.
T Why is ICT one of your favourites?
G I like technology. I have always been handy with technology. When I go to my Dad’s house and
they have a break down or there is a Wi-Fi problem I know lots of the passwords to help fix it.
T Why is Maths your favourite?
G I am good at maths and like solving the problems.
T Do you have any plans for the summer holidays?
G With my Mum we are going to Southern Italy then with my Dad we are going to lots of islands. I
will be speaking a lot of Italian on holiday.
Giorgio confidently held a conversation with his teacher. He was able to answer all the questions and
expand on the answers through adding detail. He uses spoken English confidently and has a wide range of
vocabulary.
Reading transcript:
“Mr Skip” by Michael Morpurgo.
Giorgio gave an accurate summary of what had happened so far in the story.
He then read pages 6 to 10.
Giorgio read the passage accurately and with intonation. His reading reflected the punctuation within the
passage. He read fluently, including e.g. hilarious, rummaging, seriously, favourite, mooch.
T The author described the area where the boy and his Mum lived as a grey place. What does this
mean?
G It means the area has a sad feeling. The mood of the place is grey. The people who live there feel
sad.
T When the story said “Mum was over the moon” what did that mean?
G It meant she was really happy, thrilled about it.
T The author said that “Mum likes to keep up appearances with the neighbours” Can you explain
this to me?
G Mum likes the neighbours to think good things about her.
Giorgio was able to answer questions about the story and understood the subtle nuances of meaning and
abstract vocabulary used by the author. He recognised humour in the story and responded appropriately.
Writing sample:
Giorgio was asked to independently write a story opener to engage the reader so they want to read the
whole story to find out what happens next.
He has achieved the objective, the story opener is engaging. He uses full stops, commas, exclamation
marks and capital letters accurately. The words are spelt accurately and a range of conjunctions has been
used e.g. and, but, then. Giorgio uses a variety of sentence openers e.g. some days, apparently.
Giorgio wrote a diary entry to describe a

class trip he went on to a local farm. The
writing uses a range of punctuation and a
wide range of vocabulary has been used.
The writing is engaging to the reader and
includes humour.
Stage E – Fluent
Giorgio is a fluent speaker of English and can speak confidently in a range of situations. He can read
fluently and access abstract vocabulary and subtle nuances of meaning within text. He writes fluently,
engages the reader and uses a wide range of vocabulary.
Next steps:
Giorgio needs to:
 participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates to
develop his confidence when speaking in a wide range of contexts
 extend the range of sentences with more than one clause by using a wider range of conjunctions,
including when, if, because, although
 use a wider range of tenses to identify precise time shifts in his writing.

Pupil: Darius Year group: 5 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Darius came to the UK in March 2016 and had spent 5
months living in Spain before that. He started school at
Ethnicity: WROM (Gypsy/Roma) the age of 5 in Romania. He has an older sister and a
younger brother. He speaks Romanian at home. He likes
Languages: RMN (Romanian) & ENG (English) coming to school and his attendance is 95%.

T = teacher D = Darius
Darius was joined by Mariana who interpreted some of the questions for Darius
into Romanian.
T T: Hello Darius, How old are you?
D 9
T What year group are you in?
D No response
T Which class are you in?
D 5
T Where are you from?
D No response
T Which country do you come from?
D 6
Mariana translated ‘Which country do you come from?’
D Romania
T Have you got any brothers and sisters?
D yes
T How many?
D 1 sister 1 brother
Darius was shown a series of classroom objects which he had been learning about
in school.
T What is this?
D Pencil
T Can you say it in a sentence? This is …..
D This is pencil
T Well done, This is a pencil. What is this?
D This is a rubber. This is a book. This is a phone. Darius correctly identified all 3
objects.
T Have you got a phone?
D Yes
T What phone have you got?
D Galaxy S
Darius mainly responds in one word answers but can speak in complete sentences when prompted and when the
sentence structure is modelled for him. He struggles to understand some of the conversation in English and relies on
translation into home language to support understanding.
Reading:
Darius can read and write in Romanian. He could identify the following phonemes and graphemes in English: a, s, g,
k, p, d, t, c, b, n, o, i, u. He could also sound out the following CVC words: CAT, BUS, BED, DOG, SUN, CUP, MOP, PIG,
TAP
“Pop!” Oxford Reading Tree, pink book band, Floppy’s phonics Stage 1+
Kipper tips it in. “Tip it in” Instant recognition to read the word
Biff puts it in the pan. “Put it in” Sounded out the word
“Put it in the pan” Told by the teacher
Chip puts on the lid. “Put on the lid” Omitted word
“Put it on”
Mum puts the pan on the gas. “Put it on the gas”
Pop! Pop! Pop!
T: What does tip mean?
D: Darius modelled tipping something in.
T: Can you show me the pan?
D: Darius pointed correctly to the pan in the picture
T: Can you show me the lid?
D: Darius pointed correctly to the lid in the picture
T: Can you show me the gas?
D: Darius pointed correctly to the gas in the picture
T: Well done, the gas cooker
T: What are they making?
D: Popsicles
T: What is this called? (pointing to the picture of the popcorn)
D: Exploding
T: It is called popcorn
Writing samples:
Darius can write in Romanian. As a result his letter formation is good and he is beginning to record some words,
phrases and simple sentences in taught sessions.
Darius is at the early stages of acquiring English. He can understand some everyday expressions and simple
instructions in English but still needs first language support for many interactions. He mainly speaks in single words
or short phrases and has a very basic limited range of vocabulary. He can recognise many initial sounds and read a
simple text. He has developed some skills in reading and writing (Stage B) linked to previous experience of reading
and writing in Romanian but an overall best fit for his proficiency in English would be Stage A.
Next steps:
Darius needs to:

 develop his vocabulary in English
 speak in longer phrases – make links with first language learning
 recognise all 44 phonemes
 read and respond to simple texts with increasing fluency
 write simple sentences independently using capital letters and full stops accurately

Pupil: Mariana Year group: 6 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Mariana started school in the UK in January 2016. She
had attended school regularly in Romania and can read
Ethnicity: WEEU (White Eastern European) and write in Romanian. She is the eldest of 6 children.
She speaks Romanian with all family members at home.
Languages: RMN (Romanian) & ENG (English) She likes coming to school and her attendance is 92%.

T = teacher M = Mariana
T What is your name?

M Mariana
T How old are you Mariana?
M 11 years old
T How many brothers and sisters do you have?
M 5
T How old are they?
M My brother has 10 years, my sister has 6, my sister has 4, my sister A has 2 and my brother D has 2
T Let’s have a look at this picture. (Picture of the inside of a house) Tell me what you can see?
M I see one car. I see picture. I see toilet. I see bedroom living room. Bedroom for children.
T What do you do in this room?
M We sleep.
T And in this room?
M We cook.
T What do you like to eat?
M Pizza
T Where is the television?
M Mariana points to the television.
T Can you describe where it is?
M On the bed (sofa)
T Well done, the television is on the sofa. Where is the clock?
M Here (pointing)
T Give me a sentence. The clock….
M The clock is on the small bed. (armchair)
Mariana was shown a sequence of pictures and was asked to tell the story:
T Can you tell me a story using these pictures.
M The boy is sleeping. The boy is… The boy is …
T Teacher acted out getting dressed
M He is doing trousers and ermm
T Teacher pointed to her jumper and gave Marta the word, jumper
M Jumper on him. The boy washing him face. The boy eating cereal. The boy going to school with Mum.
The girl is skipping
Mariana follows most day to day social communication in English and responds appropriately. Her responses are
often in short phrases but she can respond in simple sentences when prompted. There are many grammatical
inaccuracies in her speech and her vocabulary is still quite limited.
Reading transcript:
Mariana can read and write in Romanian.
“Quiz” Oxford Reading Tree, Red book band, Floppy’s phonics fiction stage 2
Biff had a quiz. “This is me” Instant recognition to read the word
I am big… with a long neck… with long legs…… Sounded out the word
and thick lips Read the words accurately but in the wrong order
“Is this it? “Yes” Told by the teacher
Kipper had a go at the quiz Omitted word
“I am long and thin with no legs”
I can hiss…hisssssssss!
Is this it?” “Yes”
Chip had a go at the quiz. “It hops on long, back legs.
“It can box and kick”
“Is this it?” “Yes”
Mum had a go “It has long thin legs”
“Is this it?” “Yes”
Dad had a go “quack, quack, quack”
“Dad is a duck” But Dad was not a duck. “Peck, peck”
Dad was a chicken! “Dad!”
T: Do you know what a quiz is?
M: Shakes head
T: A quiz is where you ask questions and have a competition
T: Can you show me what is long?
M: Marta showed with her hands.
T: Can you show me what is thin?
M: Marta modelled tall
T: Demonstrated thin and thick with her hands
T: What is kick?
M: Demonstrated with her feet
T: What does ‘to box’ mean?
M: Pointed to a storage box on the floor
T: Modelled “to box”
T: What goes “quack, quack, quack?”
M: A frog
Writing samples:
Mariana can produce small amounts of independent writing in English with structured support from others. She has
a limited awareness of grammar and a limited vocabulary.
Stage B – Early acquisition
Mariana is at the early stages of acquiring English. She can understand some everyday expressions and most simple
instructions in English but struggles to find the correct vocabulary in some of her responses. She speaks in short
phrases or simple sentences with many grammatical inaccuracies. She can read a simple text and extract basic
meanings. She can produce small amounts of independent writing and uses capital letters and full stops with
support.
Next steps:
Mariana needs to:
 speak in longer grammatically accurate sentences – make links with first language learning
 read and respond to simple texts with increasing fluency
 write simple sentences independently using capital letters and full stops accurately

Pupil: Estera Year group: 6 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Estera was born in Romanian and lived there until she was 8
years old. She attended school in Romania. Her family then
Ethnicity: WEEU (White Eastern European) moved briefly to France before moving to Blackpool, England
where she attended school for 5 months. When she was 9
Languages: RMN (Romanian) and ENG (English) years old she moved to Leeds. Estera lives with her Mum, Dad
and 6 siblings. The family speak Romanian at home.
Her attendance is 98.2%
Estera was asked questions about her life, family and school.
T How old are you?

E 11 In the transcript:
T Can you say that in a sentence for me?
T = teacher
E I am 11 years old
T Which year group are you in at school? E = Estera
E errr
T Which class are you in?
E Sandhurst 1
E My dad, my mum, my brothers, all my family
T How many brothers and sisters have you got?
E 6
T How many brothers?
E 3 brothers and 3 sisters
T Are they older or younger than you?
E My two sisters are older than me. One is 13 and one is 14.
T And your brothers?
E Younger than me
Estera was shown a picture of a house and asked to describe and answer questions about the house. She was then
shown pictures of children undertaking different activities and asked what the children were doing. She was also
asked to sequence a set of pictures and tell a story about the pictures.
T What can you see in this house?

E A car In the transcript:
T Tell me in full sentences
T = teacher
E It was a car and it is blue with windows and wheels.
T What else can you see? E = Estera
E Computer, books, pillows, pink pillows.
T Can you find anything the same or different about these two houses?
E This house is different.
T How is it different?
E Because this one has a lot of things. This one has a bathroom.
T Can you tell me what is happening in these pictures?
E He was crying
T Why is he crying?
E Maybe someone make him cry?
T What about this boy?
E The boy was looking at the TV.
T What is your favourite programme?
E Answered in Romanian
E A boy was eating apple. She is clapping her hands.
T Why is she clapping her hands?
E Because she is happy. She is jumping up. She is drinking water. She is
washing her hands. She is reading a book, playing football, riding a
bike, cutting the papers.
T Can you order these pictures to tell me a story?
E Elisha ordered the pictures accurately.
E A boy was waking up. Then he went to wash his face. He put his
clothes on himself. He was eating his breakfast. He went to school. He
played with his friends.
Estera understood the questions asked and could answer them in short sentences. Grammatical
inaccuracies are evident e.g. A boy was eating apple. When speaking Estera often mixes up the tenses
within sentences e.g. It was a car and it is blue with windows and wheels. She is acquiring subject specific
vocabulary but still has gaps e.g. year group
Reading transcript:
Estera read an extract from her current reading book “A rare pair of bears” Oxford Reading Tree, Stage 6
Told by the teacher
Read as a different word (the word in brackets states the word she said)
Gran had (has) an old photo of a little girl with long, fair hair.
“Who is she Gran?” asked Biff
She was my great grandmother” said Gran. She was called Mary
Biff stared (started) at the photo. On a little chair next to Mary was a toy bear.
“I’ve still got that bear” said Gran “Where?”
Gran went (was) upstairs to her spare room and found a box. Inside the box was the bear in the photo.
“He’s had a lot of wear” said Biff.
“There’s a bare patch on (of) his back and a tear in his (the) tummy”
“That’s not all” said Gran. She took another (others) bear out of the box.
“This bear is called Ernest”
“These old bears are quite rare” said Dad
“They could be worth a lot of money”.
“A pair of bears. Wow!”
T: What is a tear?
E: Estera could point to the tear but not explain it.
T: What does “He’s had a lot of wear” mean?
E: Estera didn’t know
T: Why did she say a pair of bears?
E: We have 2 of them
T: Where did they find the bears?
E: In the spare room?
T: Why is it called a spare room?
E: No response.
Estera read many of the words accurately although she did read 6 words in the passage as different words.
These 6 words didn’t distract from the overall meaning of the text. For several of them she read them in
the wrong tense. She understood the overall story but when asked questions about the text, her answers
were quite brief. She didn’t understand some subject specific vocabulary e.g. wear, spare room. While
reading Estera used a monotone voice and didn’t vary her expression.
Writing samples:
Estera wrote a diary entry as a child in the 1950s with support.
Estera independently wrote a story based on a sequence of pictures given to her.
She has written her story with an over reliance on the conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘then’ for joining sentences
together. The text reads more like a list rather than a story. She demonstrates a limited use of punctuation
throughout the story. There are many grammatical inaccuracies evident in her writing, particularly in her
use of tenses e.g. “My friend Tabita help me”.
Stage C - Developing competence (Just achieving)
Estera demonstrated that she can participate in activities independently. She can express herself orally but
still has grammatical inaccuracies in her speech and writing. She will require ongoing support to access the
curriculum fully. Estera still needs support for subject specific vocabulary.
Next steps:
Estera needs to:

 develop her grammatical awareness in order to improve both her speech and writing with a
particular focus on tenses.
 use a wider range of punctuation and a wider range of vocabulary. A range of strategies including
word studies and clines will support the development of appropriate vocabulary.

Pupil: Laheem Year group: 6 Background information:
Assessment date: June 2016 Laheem was born in Leeds, England and attended school
nursery in Leeds. He lives at home with his Mum, Dad,
Ethnicity: APKN (Pakistani) Grandma and 2 brothers (1 older and 1 younger). At home he
speaks Urdu to his Mum and Grandma and English with his Dad
Languages: URD (Urdu) and ENG (English) and brothers.
His attendance is 99.4%.
Laheem was asked questions about his life, family and school.
T = teacher L = Laheem
T How long have you been at school?

L I started in Nursery, so 6, 7 years.
L My Mum, my Dad, my Grandmother and my elder brother and my younger brother.
T At home what languages can you speak?
L I can speak English, Urdu, a bit of Arabic and a bit of French
T What have you been doing in topic in school?
L The last topic I remember doing is a story called ‘Balaclava Boy’
T What happened in the story?
L A boy who always wanted a balaclava so he could join a group at school called Balaclava Boys
but he couldn’t join because he didn’t have a balaclava. So he really wants a balaclava. In an
art lesson he got covered in paint and had to go and wash it off. In the room he saw a
balaclava so he put it down the sleeve of his coat. On the way home he was really jumpy as he
wanted to get rid of it as he felt guilty. Once home he couldn’t find it. It wasn’t in either
sleeve. His Mum had a surprise as she had bought him one that day. He felt sad as he couldn’t
wear it as it was the same as the one he had stolen and everyone would know it was him so
he saw the boy who he had pinched it from and he was already wearing a balaclava so after
talking to him the boy said his balaclava was in his coat pocket. The boy carried on and wore
his new balaclava.
T What was your opinion on the book?
L It was really good and gave me a good message about stealing things that don’t belong to
you.
Laheem understood the questions asked and could answer them in complex sentences. His speech is
complex and he demonstrates an awareness of the rules of grammar and word order. He has a wide range
of vocabulary.
Reading transcript:
“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”

Laheem gave a brief but accurate summary of what had happened so far in the story.
He then read pages 336 to 338
Laheem read the passage accurately and with intonation.
He self-corrected reading “frightened” for “fighting”
T = Teacher L=Laheem
T: Why was Ginny fighting back a smile?

L: Because she thought it was funny what happened to her brother but she didn’t want him to see so she
was trying not to smile
T: Why was she being sympathetic to him?
L: Because he was really upset.
T: What does it mean that Ron is seeing her in a whole new light?
L: He is starting to like her now.
T: Why was her head bowed?
L: Because the portrait hole was too small and she had to bow down to fit through.
Laheem read and understood the text and was able to answer questions. He struggled with the subtle
nuances of meaning. He thought that Ginny’s head was bowed because she was too tall for the doorway,
not because she had just had a fight with her brother and felt defeated by it.
Writing samples:
Laheem wrote the beginning of a quest story

about when Bilbo met Smaug from “The Hobbit”.
Laheem independently wrote a description of ‘quidditch’ from the Harry Potter stories.
Laheem can write for a range of purposes. He has used a variety of sentence openers in his writing e.g.
although. He uses a variety of punctuation accurately and spells words correctly. Laheem has carefully
chosen his words for effect e.g. ‘full of anxiety’ and ‘painful, unimaginable injury.
Code D – Competent
Laheem demonstrates a best fit for code D. While he is a fluent writer in a variety of situations, he
struggles with subtle nuances of meaning and will need some occasional support to access complex
curriculum texts and tasks.
Next steps:
Laheem needs to:

 enhance his vocabulary knowledge to enable him to identify and respond to subtle meanings in
texts
 develop his knowledge and use of abstract vocabulary
Pupil: Maya Year group: 6 Background information:
Assessment date: July 2016 Maya was born in England and has attended school since
nursery. She lives with her Mum and older sister. Maya speaks
Ethnicity: APKN (Pakistani) Urdu to her Mum and English to her sister. She attends a
supplementary school on a Saturday where she learns about
Languages: URD (Urdu) and ENG (English) her religion, Islam.
Her attendance is 91.8%
Maya was asked questions about her life, family and school.
In the transcript: T = teacher M = Maya
T What have you been learning about in school?

M The last piece of writing we did was “Dangle” a short, silent movie we watched, then we wrote
about it.
T Have you any hobbies or interests?
M I have 2 guinea pigs at home and I like to pet them and try to train them like a dog or cat. I go to
school on Saturday, Islamic school. I learn about my religion and our prophets.
T In school are you doing anything special for finishing year 6?
M We are doing our year 6 leavers play. We might do a special assembly too but I am not quite
sure.
T Tell me about the play?
M It is called “Shakespeare Rocks” and Shakespeare is played by a girl. I am the music maestro as I
don’t really like performing on stage. I get really nervous.
T What does your role involve?
M I am in charge of the sound effects in the songs and during the acting. We still need to choose
people to make the sound effects. The teachers are picking people to do this.
T Are you looking forward to going to high school?
M I am nervous but I am also looking forward to it. I am nervous because new things frighten me a
lot as I am a worrier but excited too.
T Why are you excited?
M It’s a new school and a new beginning. I can be better at a new school. Take from this school and
be even better.
Maya understood the questions asked and could answer them in complex sentences. She included detail in
her answers and has a wide range of vocabulary. She demonstrates an awareness of the rules of grammar
and word order in her speech.
Reading transcript:
“Constable and Toop” by Gareth P Jones
Maya gave an accurate summary of what had happened so far in the story.
She then read pages 18 to 22 with intonation and taking note of the punctuation. She read fluently and
confidently, including e.g. approaching, disciplinarian, remonstrating, syllable, rematerializes,
consequence.
T = Teacher M=Maya
T When the man sees the documents and discovers his old teacher’s middle name was Hilary why
did he smile?
M He was smiling because he had been so sacred of a man with such a silly name that now he
realised that he shouldn’t have been scared.
T Alice was described as having “perfect porcelain skin”, what does this mean?
M It means her face is pale and smooth and has no spots like a doll’s face.
T Why could the man “barely utter a word in her presence?”
M Because the man thought she was so beautiful and it made him feel shy so he didn’t know what
to say to her.
Maya read and understood the text and was confidently able to answer questions about the story. She
demonstrated that she understood the subtle nuances of meaning and abstract vocabulary used by the
author. She recognised humour in the story and responded appropriately.
Writing samples:
Maya wrote the first paragraph of a story, designed to engage the reader.
Maya independently wrote a piece of writing designed to

create suspense.
Maya can write for a range of purposes. She uses a

variety of punctuation marks accurately and spells
words correctly. She uses a variety of sentence
openers in her writing. Maya has carefully chosen
her words and sentences for effect e.g. “shivers
made their way up my spine as tears found their way
down my cheeks”.
Stage E – Fluent
Maya writes fluently and uses a wide range of vocabulary within her work. Her writing engages the reader
and includes carefully choses words and sentences for effect. Maya reads fluently and can access abstract
vocabulary and subtle nuances of meaning within text. She is a fluent speaker of English and can speak
confidently in a range of situations to both her peers and adults.
Next steps:
Maya needs to:
 participate in discussions, presentations, performances, role play, improvisations and debates to
develop her confidence when speaking in a wide range of contexts
 maintain legibility, fluency and speed in handwriting through choosing whether or not to join
specific letters
 manage shifts between levels of formality through selecting vocabulary precisely and by
manipulating grammatical structures

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Primary Learning Improvement

EAL proficiency scales case studies

Proficiency in EYs KS1 Lower KS2 Upper KS2

Therese O’Sullivan and Sally Hall

EAL proficiency scales

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Osman Year group: Reception Background information:

Speaking and listening:

Independent writing about his holidays

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Stage A – new to English

Osman needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Wictoria Year group: Reception Background information:

Speaking and listening:

Wictoria likes writing and colouring and

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Stage B – early acquisition.

Wictoria needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Jesika Year group: Reception Background information:

Speaking and listening transcript:

Jesika was shown a basket of toys:

T Tell me what you like that’s in here? Do you like this?

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Stage C - Developing competence

Jesika needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Muhammad Year group: Reception Background information:

Speaking and listening transcript:

T Who did you see when you went to Pakistan?

T Can you find any differences in these pictures?

“Go Fish” phase 3 set 9

Muhammad independently wrote a letter to the school caretaker

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Muhammad needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Amira Year group: Reception Background information:

Speaking and listening transcript:

T Can you tell me about your class at school?

T Can you tell me the story?

Instant recognition to read the word

T: What can you see when you are camping?

Amira retold a familiar story “The Tiger who came to tea”.

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Amira needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Pupil: Rukhsana Year group: 2 Background information:

Speaking and listening transcript:

T How old are you?

Instant recognition to read the word

Mole said “I’m going to see the wind.”

T: Who was looking for the wind?

Rukhsana retold a familiar story through

Commentary and EAL proficiency scale:

Stage A – new to English

Rukhsana needs to:

EAL proficiency scales case study

Speaking and listening transcript:

T How old are you?

T Can you tell me the story?