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November 2023

Bringing you the latest information from the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS)

Accessing support quick links

The dedicated EMTAS team comprises of advisory teachers, bilingual support worker and Ukraine support teachers.  We deliver support for ethnically diverse children through EAL, Traveller support and training.

• EMTAS One-minute guide
• EMTAS Devon Education Service shop page - including our Inset day webinars
• EAL Clinics - free for maintained schools and EYS attached to maintained schools

Fully funded Maths intervention programme for Ukrainian children

Along with the bilingual and interpreter support we are providing this year, we will also be delivering maths online intervention programmes for our Devon Ukrainian children. The aim of this intervention is to support Ukrainian children to understand key maths terminology and practice numerical skills to improve their academic outcomes.  This is suitable for year 5 to year 11.

Cultural Exchange

Diwali - 12 November

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — and for Hindus in particular.

It is celebrated across faiths by more than a billion people in the world’s most populous nation and the diaspora. Over five days, people take part in festive gatherings, fireworks displays, feasts and prayer.

Diwali is derived from the word “Deepavali,” which means “a row of lights.” Celebrants light rows of traditional clay oil lamps outside their homes to symbolize the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

Islamophobia month

Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) was founded in 2012 by a variety of organisations. IAM launched with an event that was held in the London Muslim Centre on the 2nd November 2012.

Now an annual mark in the calendar, IAM aims to raise awareness of Islamophobia in the UK and showcase the positive contributions of Muslims in society.

The theme this year is Muslim stories.  The goal of this year’s campaign is to facilitate connections among individuals from diverse backgrounds, including both Muslims and non-Muslims, using the transformative power of storytelling.

Israel - Hamas Conflict

It is important that we have discussions with children regarding the escalation of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

We should be conscious that children will be exposed to potential propaganda and false news via social media, leading to confusion and emotional unease.

Having open discussions and providing education around this conflict will combat misinformation and protect children and staff, who may experience racism and prejudice.

We have created a One-minute guide that contains guidance and resources to support you and your children.

Equality and diversity, and Equality duty review exemplar and guidance

Over the recent months we have been developing a new policy exemplar and guidance.  This follows feedback from settings and our aim to support establishments in understanding how they can meet their equality duty.

This is free and has been designed so that you can edit it in order to make it bespoke to your setting.  We are also in the process of creating a dedicated EYS policy and exemplar.

Home Language GCSE Success

This year, we held home language preparation sessions and ran the speaking exam for Polish, Russian, Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin, Cantonese, Turkish, German, Greek, Japanese and Italian speakers. Thank you to all exam officers and EAL coordinators from Devon schools who worked closely with our team and our students with English as an additional language to achieve the very best Home Language GCSE grades possible! The students got to know the structure of the exam and felt much more prepared and confident at the end of our preparation sessions. In 2023, our team managed to support 57 students from 14 different schools. The top languages in 2023 were Polish, Arabic and Russian. So far, we have received 40 HL GCSE results. 31 candidates were entered for the higher tier: 20 students achieved grade 9, 9 students achieved grade 8 and 2 students grade 7! Well done to all of them! This academic year we have introduced some changes. Please check our HL GCSE website for more details! The deadline for submitting the registration form is 31 January 2024.

Key Stage 2 SATs 2023

The latest DfE’s Key Stage 2 attainment data suggests that the attainment of EAL children at the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined) is greater than that of children with a first language of English for the second year in a row!

In 2023, 60% of children with a first language other than English met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (combined).

Please note that for the academic year 24-25, the deadline to request an interpreter for the Maths Reasoning SATS papers will be the 14th February 2025.

New EAL resources

We are currently creating a selection of bilingual resources to support your EAL children and their families. Please check our bilingual resources website for further information.

’Younger and more likely to be looking after relatives' - Government Census reveals

The government have released a report delving into the characteristics of the 71,440 people who identified as “Gypsy or Irish Traveller” in the England and Wales Census, which took place in March, 2021.

The census analysis looked at highest level of qualification for people aged 16 years and over.  People who identified as Gypsy or Irish Traveller were three times more likely to have no qualifications.

The diagram below shows the highest level qualification percentages for Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic groups and England and Wales population, England and Wales, Census 2021

Future focus workshops (fully funded in-school workshops for children)

Do you have children from a GRTS background who would benefit from discussing their future aspirations and be inspired to stay in education?

Gypsy, Roma, Traveller and Showman children are more likely to be not accessing education, in employment, or training at 16 years of age. One in five Traveller children felt they had to leave school due to bullying and two thirds of those surveyed felt they experience bullying from their teachers (Traveller Movement, 2020). Forty-one percent of Traveller children wanted to stay in school for longer but were taken out because of bullying, family reasons, or because of a lack of support from their school (SEN) (Traveller Movement ,2020). Gypsies and Travellers are ten times less likely to go to university than their peers (Kings College, 2017)

Aimed at KS2 and KS3, this fully funded 1 hour workshop will help children think about how they can use their skills in the future and encourage them to continue with their education:

• What are our future opportunities?
• How can we overcome barriers to our future opportunities?
• Inspirational people and the barriers they overcame.
• What skills we might need for our future.
• How to prepare for the future.
• Routes into careers.

For more information please email Ellen.Tout@devon.gov.uk

Subject to availability and the workshop must include at least one child from the Traveller communities.

Further information on Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement

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