Multilingual service for schools

A new multilingual service to help primary school children learn English is to be introduced in a town in Essex.

The English Schools Induction Service (ESIS) includes a collection of 21 short films about school life.

The films are aimed at helping four to 11-year-olds who do not speak English as their first language and will be used by all Southend primary schools.

The films can be used in whatever language the child or parent speaks including Bengali, Arabic or Polish.

All children beginning primary school in Southend in 2009 will have access to the service.

The ESIS was developed by Blade Education, a not-for-profit company that focuses on social disadvantage in the UK.

Chairperson Mary Forsdyke said: "Schools, children, parents, everyone we have talked to has said that ESIS is needed now by every school in the country."

Sandra Roberts, from the Southend Education Trust, said: "Giving children realistic expectations of school life is important to how they settle in."