Welcome to Northgate Primary School’s Young Interpreters!

The Northgate Primary School Young Interpreter scheme aims to provide additional support to pupils who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL).

The scheme recognises the huge potential that exists within the school community for pupils of all ages. It encourages them to use their skills and knowledge to support new learners of English so that they feel safe, settled and valued from the start. It does not replace the need for buddies, but adds to it and is a means of providing more extensive peer support.

There are 800+ Young Interpreter Schemes running within the UK. Currently there are only 6 schools within Crawley that actively run the Young Interpreter Scheme and we are one of them.

It’s an award-winning scheme and we feel very lucky to be part of it.

We have recently been added to the "Celebration of Inclusion" page on the Tools for Schools website from West Sussex. Our Young Interpreters scheme features on the page as an example of successful inclusion. 

https://schools.local-offer.org/inclusion/inclusion-awards/ 

At Northgate Primary we have a wide and diverse community with children speaking more than 40 different languages across the school. We love to celebrate all these languages and regularly take time to learn new words and phrases through our celebration weeks and through the curriculum topics.

However, our best teaching tool is the children themselves, who relish teaching us new words. Therefore, at Northgate we have trained children to become Young Interpreters for those who arrive at our school speaking little or no English. 

We are fully aware of the anxieties children may have when they start school and so we are on hand to support and encourage their language development.

To support our sessions, we:

• are friendly
• smile
• give eye contact
• use gestures
• use drawings
• speak in our own language
• use picture fans
• are always ready to help

As Young Interpreters, we have had training to support our role and we are equipped with resource packs that aid our job as an interpreter. During our sessions, we play games and interact with children who in turn benefit from our support. We are always on hand whenever we are needed.

We meet to have fun, sample world food, play foreign games and experience new and different things from around the world. Occasionally we meet up with the Young Interpreters from other Crawley schools and participate in a variety of fun activities from around the world. We wear our Young Interpreter IDs with pride and we are always willing and ready to help!