Ethnic Minority Achievement Team
Ethnic Diversity Service
Bann Street
Edgeley
Stockport
SK3 0EX
Tel: 0161 477 9000
Fax: 0161 480 1848
The Ethnic Diversity Service is made up of the Ethnic Minority Achievement Team and the Stockport Interpreting Unit. The EMA Team is made up of specialist teachers and bilingual teaching assistants working in nursery, primary and secondary schools in Stockport. Our main aim is to raise the achievement of minority ethnic pupils in partnership with schools and other services. We provide a range of support for pupils learning English as an Additional Language (EAL), and for those from particularly vulnerable groups such as Refugee/Asylum Seekers and Gypsy, Roma and Travellers.
Specialist teachers work in partnership with mainstream teachers to help pupils access the curriculum and all other aspects of school life. EMA teachers assess and teach pupils and provide a range of training to other teachers around ethnic minority achievement. EMA teachers can also offer advice on differentiating resources, EAL pedagogy, policy development, making links with minority ethnic parents and other agencies and issues around community cohesion.
Bilingual teaching assistants offer short-term support in the first language for pupils in the early stages of learning English. Although the main focus of the work is usually in the Foundation Stage, this support may be offered for other key stages.
The EMA team also has two Bilingual Community Learning Mentors who foster links between schools and families and the local community. The Service also offers cultural talks to schools to enrich the curriculum and to promote community cohesion.
The Stockport Interpreting Unit supports the EMA Team by providing interpreters in schools for parents and carers. SIU outreach workers also offer support to families and schools where necessary.
The Ethnic Diversity Service manages Stockport’s School Linking Programme which brings together children and young people from different parts of Stockport and tackles deeper questions around identity, diversity and community.