Ethnic minorities and travellers

Here you will find information on Traveller pupils and those pupils whose first language is not English.

Salford City Council provides a support service called Salford Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service (EMTAS), we work within Children’s Services under the Transforming Learning division.

The team helps children from different ethnic minority groups, both in their homes and their educational setting.

Children whose first language is not English

There are a number of children in Salford from ethnic minority backgrounds. Some need support and specialist teaching to help them to reach the educational level which other pupils of similar age and ability would be expected to achieve.

The EMTAS team employs a number of teachers and teaching assistants who work with pupils in schools to meet their educational needs, mainly through supporting them in their acquisition of English. Some of the members of the team are able to provide bi-lingual support to certain pupils as they speak an array of languages which include Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Urdu, Lingala from Africa, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese.

The aim of the team is to provide support to ensure equal opportunities and to enable the pupils to access all the opportunities in their educational provision. Some pupils will be learning English as an additional language (EAL), having started their education in another country and some will be bi-lingual. Others may not have accessed any education at all before arriving in Salford.

Salford EMTAS also supports a number of refugees and children from families seeking asylum.

Traveller children

The name ‘Travellers’ encompasses a number of different groups including Gypsies, Irish Travellers, Circus Travellers, ‘New’ Travellers and Showman (Fairground Travellers) also ‘housed’ Traveller families. Most of these communities have a long tradition of a travelling lifestyle although their history and customs vary.

As before, the EMTAS team provides support for the children of these families to ensure equal opportunities and to enable them to access the available educational provision they need, i.e. early years provision, primary and secondary schools.

The team works with children and their families in a variety of situations:

Learning activities taking place on and off site
Encouraging Traveller families to go into higher and further education
Supporting families with education, welfare and social issues

What we do

Help school staff to provide the best education for all the children
When possible, provide interpreters for school meetings
Work with other departments such as special educational needs, educational psychologists, education welfare officers, housing, health and social services in order to ensure equality of opportunity
Provide training for schools on EAL learners and new arrivals