Batley school secures language diversity partnership
Upper Batley High School has been selected from over 400 entries to become a UK Education Ambassador for language diversity.
The school, part of Batley Multi Academy Trust, is one of only six settings in the UK that will partner with Pocketalk, a translation technology company which will help support EAL (English as Another Language) learners, parents, carers and teachers.
The firm invited schools from across the UK to apply for the opportunity to trial up to ten of their AI-based direct translators in over 84 languages to help EAL learners - with Upper Batley High School's application being selected by a panel of judges.
The use of Pocketalk's devices will help Upper Batley to address and overcome language barriers with learners and their families and help to strengthen those relationships.
Aman Singh Kang, Headteacher at Upper Batley High School, said: “We believe Pocketalk will be extremely beneficial to our school community, empowering parents and carers so we are able to communicate with them at the exact moments where it is most valuable.
“We're excited to see the outcomes of using the Pocketalk devices for our learners and their families and strongly believe this will positively impact their educational experiences and, more broadly, the lives of those in our school and wider community.”
The Pocketalk devices, which provide real-time translation, will allow the flow of conversation and will aid interaction at parents’ evenings, celebration evenings and other meetings or events with families, as well as in lessons for the learners.
Sam Vickers, CEO of Batley Multi Academy Trust added: “We are a diverse community here in Batley, and across every school in our Trust family we are focussed on inclusivity to ensure we provide all our learners with the best possible opportunities to suit their individual needs, interests and abilities.
“Equity for all is crucial, to ensure that every learner regardless of their background or starting point, or any additional needs they may have, receives a first-class education, coupled with high-quality care, guidance and support.
“We always set our children up to succeed, and we are highly ambitious for what they can achieve. This fantastic initiative will help to support learning, whilst further strengthening the relationships with our families and our community as a whole.
“Effective communication between school and home helps secure a young person’s success.”
Currently there are over 455 learners with EAL and almost 30 languages are spoken throughout the school.