Good Practice Truganina South Primary School: EAL boost

Truganina South Primary School in Melbourne’s outer west has more than 750 students, 70 per cent of whom have a language background other than English. As part of its involvement in the 2017s Refugee Education Support Program (RESP) the school significantly bolstered its EAL teaching capacity.

At the beginning of RESP, the school had no EAL specialist staff. Through dialogue with RESP team members and the DET’s EAL regional project officer, the school became aware of the benefits for its cohort if EAL supports were to be integrated across the curriculum.

Truganina South Primary School strongly embraced the importance of EAL, employing an EAL-trained leading teacher. The teacher now runs EAL training in the school and provides mentoring for younger teachers who are aiming to become EAL-informed. The school’s EAL focus has meant that it now has an ongoing, staff-driven approach to EAL, which has also led to it being better informed about its students’ needs.