AN education charity is working to better support primary-school children who have limited English through live performances, with the help of a £5,000 grant.
The Jersey Community Foundation has awarded the funding to Every Child Our Future to address literacy gaps, using money from the Channel Islands Lottery Fund.
The grant will go towards funding dual-language performances of familiar stories, such as Goldilocks and the Three Bears, to over 600 nursery and primary-school pupils across ten schools.
These performances aim to improve literacy and entertain students aged three to five, who have English as an additional language.
Performed by entertainment company Flair Entertainment, they will be followed by a short Q&A session to further develop the story’s themes and language. Copies of the story and accompanying props are also provided for each attending class.
One teacher commented: “The sheer joy when some of our MLL (multi-language learners) children heard their home language gave us all goosebumps. Priceless to see that on their faces.”
Another added: “This was a very special performance. The children who speak Portuguese were so excited. They couldn’t believe it; their faces lit up. Those who do not speak Portuguese equally enjoyed it and knowing the story, they knew what was happening and thought it was hilarious.”
The need for dual-language education is supported by the findings of the Jersey Community Foundation’s Local Needs Assessment report in 2022, which revealed that English is an additional language for 26% of students in Jersey.
Cris Lakeman, the chief executive of Every Child Our Future, said: “Unless these literacy gaps are addressed at the primary-school level, we continue to embed long-lasting social and economic inequalities within our community.
“We are working to redress these social inequalities via our programmes to improve outcomes in communication, language, literacy and numeracy for less advantaged children in Jersey.”
Jon Taylor, presiding officer of Channel Islands Lottery, said: “These theatre performances are a brilliant way of demonstrating that small projects can have a big impact on the wellbeing and educational advancement of primary-school pupils.
“The reviews have been outstanding, from students and teachers alike.”
