Support EAL and ESL newcomers during their first two weeks with this editable Excel onboarding toolkit, daily tracker and progress dashboard.

This practical resource helps primary and elementary teachers welcome pupils who are new to English, collect important family and language information, organise classroom support and review the child’s first 14 days in school.

Teachers can record each pupil’s language background, previous schooling, home-language literacy, preferred family contact arrangements and initial English starting point.

The workbook also provides a structured First 3 Days checklist and a simple daily observation tracker covering classroom routines, essential needs communication, listening, spoken communication, peer interaction and literacy access.

What is included

• Editable Microsoft Excel workbook
• Space for up to 30 pupils
• Student newcomer register
• Family and language information form
• Previous schooling record
• Home-language literacy information
• Initial English starting point
• Interpreter requirement record
• Welcome buddy and safe adult planning
• First 3 Days onboarding checklist
• Automatic checklist completion percentage
• 14-day daily observation tracker
• Attendance and wellbeing monitoring
• Classroom engagement observations
• Essential needs communication tracking
• Listening and understanding observations
• Spoken communication observations
• Peer interaction observations
• Literacy access observations
• Automatic daily progress scores
• First three days and final three days comparison
• Parent communication log
• Buddy and classroom support plan
• Day 14 review form
• Printable pupil review summary
• EAL newcomer dashboard
• Review-date and missing-information alerts
• Printable essential classroom communication cards
• Fictional example pupil data
• Step-by-step instructions

Essential communication cards include

• Toilet
• Water
• Help
• Break
• Hurt
• Hungry
• Yes
• No
• I do not understand
• Home time
• Stop
• Friend

Each card includes space for a teacher or family member to add the pupil’s home-language translation.

Suitable for

• EAL teachers
• ESL teachers
• Primary school teachers
• Elementary school teachers
• Classroom teachers
• Teaching assistants
• EAL coordinators
• Inclusion leads
• Newly arrived pupils
• International new starters
• Refugee and migrant pupil support
• School admission and induction
• Parent welcome meetings
• Initial classroom observation

This toolkit supports onboarding and classroom observation. It is not a formal language assessment, diagnostic instrument, safeguarding record or replacement for school policies, interpreter support or specialist professional advice.

The pupil examples included in the workbook are fictional.

Microsoft Excel or compatible spreadsheet software is required.