Building a Whole School EAL System for Multilingual Learners with Dr Robert Sharples

Thinking Deeply about Primary Education

Author

Kieran Mackle
December 08, 2025

Building a Whole School EAL System for Multilingual Learners with Dr Robert Sharples

Good Morning!

Every so often I speak to someone who manages to put words, structure and clarity around the things many of us have been worrying about for years. This week’s episode is one of those conversations.

If you work in a school with even a small number of multilingual learners, you will know how easy it is for EAL provision to become a patchwork. A bit of brilliant practice in one classroom, a heroic EAL lead holding everything together, a handful of translated letters, and a long list of “we really must sort that out when we have time”.

In this week’s Thinking Deeply about Primary Education episode I’m joined by Dr Robert Sharples to explore what happens when you stop relying on individual heroics and start building a genuine whole school system for English as an Additional Language.

We talk about the Heddle framework Rob and his team have developed, how it helps schools map their current EAL offer, and the practical decisions it supports around admissions, assessment, classroom expectations and targeted support. We also touch on AI translation tools, the realities of limited capacity, and the small changes that can make life noticeably better for students and staff.

If you are the person colleagues look to when a new to English pupil arrives with very little information, I think you will find this episode both reassuring and energising.

Hope you enjoy it, and as always, I would love to hear what it makes you think about in your own context.

Building a Whole School EAL System for Multilingual Learners with Dr Robert Sharples

Episode 257: Supporting multilingual learners is never just about one intervention or one brilliant teacher. It lives or dies in the systems that sit behind every lesson, every admission and every decision a school makes.In this episode of Thinking Deeply about Primary Education, Kieran is joined by Dr Robert Sharples to unpack the Heddle System, a whole school approach to English as an Additional Language (EAL) that ties together admissions, assessment, classroom practice and targeted support into one coherent framework.

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Building a Whole School EAL System for Multilingual Learners (in 5 minutes 30 seconds)

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That’s all for this week. I’d love to hear what you think or any questions it raises for you – leave a comment wherever you listen, or simply hit reply to this email.

Until next time, thanks for listening.