English as an Additional Language

English as an Additional Language (EAL) students come from a background where English is not the first language and includes newly or recently arrived students from overseas, languages other than English background and students born in Australia.  A student is defined as being from a language background other than English, if either the student, mother or father speaks another language beside English. Approximately 27% of the families at Toorak Primary School are from non-English speaking backgrounds.

EAL Curriculum
In the mainstream classroom teachers follow the Australian Curriculum(AusVELS) English scope and sequence and place emphasis on speaking and listening and vocabulary. Differentiation based on student’s language proficiency levels is a feature of the work in classrooms.

Instructional Capacity
Since 2015, Toorak Primary School has employed an EAL Director to conduct additional English classes for identified EAL students.The EAL program follows the inquiry topics building on vocabulary and background knowledge. There is a particular emphasis on Inquiry, speaking and listening  and the teaching of vocabulary. EAL students in mainstream classrooms and identified as EAL on enrolment, are assessed on the EAL Continuum.   Once a student has achieved all stages on the EAL Continuum (Years P-2 AStages)(Years 3-6 Bstages) the student may then move onto the AusVELS curriculum.