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EAL BANDS

When you are assigned a Jacari pupil, you will be told their 'EAL Band'—overall and in the skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. The bands are descriptors of different levels of English proficiency, and go from Band A to Band E.

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Take note of which band your pupil falls into because it will help you determine what kinds of activity will be the most helpful to include in your lessons. For a more detailed explanation of the EAL bands, see below. 

Band B

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St Gregory the Great Secondary

Band A: New to English

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  • 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

Band C: Developing Competence

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  • 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

Band B: Early Acquisition

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  • 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

Band D: Competent

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  • 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

Band E: Fluent

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  • Can operate across the curriculum to a level of competence equivalent to that of a pupil who uses English as her/his first language

  • Operates without EAL support across the curriculum

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