For our Persian community this is a special week where we celebrate ‘Nowruz’. Mrs Zand gathered the children together for a quick sweet treat with a friend and our Haftsin table returns to the main entrance where all of our children can look at the many objects upon it. Haftsin in the Persian culture is the celebration of Spring, renewal and the new year!

The 8th March saw our ACE Holi celebrations. The day started with Bollywood dance for any early birds and then Indian drumming at the Reception Assembly. Years 3 &4 were lucky enough to participate in drumming workshops later in the day. Several parents came into their children’s classes to share information and answer questions on Holi. Children celebrating joined parents in the cafe to enjoy some lovely daal made by Mrs Reehal. The afternoon finished with a huge Colour Run organised by Mrs Cosgrove and Miss Patchett. This fantastic event had 140 children participating along with a few parents!

Year One's Farsi story time. 

27.01.2023

This week Mrs Zand adapted a classic English story of Paddington Bear to Farsi. Children were introduced to Paddington's many adventures which led to excited discussions of their own upcoming school trip.

This week Mrs Zand has been working with Farsi speakers in Year 1 on their topic of the 3 Little Pigs. The children’s first language is used to enhance understanding of their work in English!

English as an Additional Language

EAL (English as an Additional Language) is a big part of our life at Allerton Church of England Primary. Our children - and indeed many of our staff - speak a rich diversity of languages. We have a designated EAL team throughout school who work with children from Nursery - Year 6 to support them with their English Language acquisition. We are proud of the incredible cultural diversity at ACE and seek to recognise many diverse festivals within school - bringing communities together; bringing families into school to share their celebrations and adding to all children's understanding of, and appreciation for, other cultures.

We are always keen to hear your feedback and ideas for our events and celebrations. Please get in touch via the school office. 

Refugee Week 2022 - Healing

Last week we celebrated Refugee Week across school. This kicked off on Friday 17th June when Years 3-4 attended a poetry workshop run by Miriam Halahmy on Kindertransport and Years 5-6 attended a workshop run by Michael Rosen about his book 'On the Move'. 
Children took part in a variety of activities within their PSHE lessons including designing petals to welcome 'Little Amal' to Leeds City Centre and posters welcoming those seeking sanctuary to our community. A group of Year 6 went to Leeds Civic Hall to join the 'Lord Mayor's Event' run by the Schools of Sanctuary team. 
 

Leeds School of Sanctuary celebrations June 2022

Miss Hall and Mrs Stott took 9 Year 6 children who all speak English as an additional language along to Leeds Civic Hall for the 'School of Sanctuary' celebration with the Lord Mayor of Leeds. Along with 4 other schools, we presented our school's work towards the 'School of Sanctuary' award indicating that we are a diverse, inclusive place for all children including those seeking sanctuary. The children spoke confidently on the stage in front of lots of others and represented the school fantastically. What an ACE day!

Nowruz at ACE 2022

During the week starting 14 March, there was a slight change in the entrance corridor as a spectacular Haft-sin table appeared - curated by Mrs Zand. This table is laid out in many houses before Persian New Year (on Sunday). Consisting of seven items celebrating Spring and Renewal, the children have been very interested to visit this and to explore the different items. On Friday 18 March, we welcomed many parents visiting their children's classes to share their own Nowruz celebrations before joining together for a cup of tea in the school hall.

Lunar New Year

On Tuesday 1st February 2022 we celebrated Lunar New Year in school. It was absolutely amazing to have many of our families with us in the morning and the children enjoyed food, activities and blessings together. Classes celebrated the event with activities during the day. A HUGE thank you to Mrs Bentley and the EAL Team for facilitating this event and also to our amazing community for coming in such numbers - what a day!

Newsround March 2020

In March 2020, Newsround interviewed some of our EAL pupils to discuss their experience of joining the English education system with little or no English. Sadly, due to the daily announcements of Coronavirus, it did not get aired. However, we did capture a few moments of the experience where children had the opportunity to be ‘miked up’, interviewed and blinded by the dazzling studio lighting!

Story telling in other languages

Story Time in different languages

Mrs Zand has been leading story time for our Farsi speakers in school this week. We celebrate reading and stories in all languages at ACE!