English as an additional language or dialect

English as an additional language or dialect

Ngunnawal’s school population represents over sixty different countries and over sixty different languages. We have bilingual and multilingual students and families, making up over forty-eight percent of our overall school population.

Our EALD (English as an additional language or dialect) program caters for students from Kindergarten to Year 6 to improve English language proficiency in both academic English and social language. The EALD teachers work collaboratively with families and classroom teachers to support children's development as they progress through the language proficiency stages from beginning to consolidating.

EALD and classroom programs catering for EALD students aim to incorporate students’ knowledge and understanding of their culture to see their story in the Australian curriculum. We encourage EALD students to speak in their language so they can build a new language on the structures of their first language.  We are a bilingual friendly school incorporating the skills, knowledge and experiences of all its students.