At Alice Smith School, we have always believed that the richness of our community is one of our greatest strengths. Walk through our corridors and you will hear Mandarin, Japanese, Malay, English, and dozens of other languages woven together, a living reflection of the diverse, globally-minded families who choose to be part of our school.
That diversity is something we celebrate. And it's something we want to do even better.
We are proud to announce a significant step forward in how we support our Multilingual Learners (MLL) - students whose home language is different from English, or who are navigating the remarkable journey of becoming fluent in multiple languages at once.
What's Changing?
From the 2026 - 2027 academic year, MLL support will become a fully integrated part of the Alice Smith experience - available to every child who needs it, at no additional charge, in the same way as general learning support is provided.
This means MLL provision will no longer be a separate, fee-dependent programme. Instead, it will be woven into the fabric of how we teach and support all students across the school.
To make this possible, we are investing in our team: expanding our specialist MLL staff so there is dedicated support across every year group from Preschool through to Year 6 in primary, with a Head of MLL providing leadership and vision across the whole school.
Why Does This Matter - Even If Your Child Is a Fluent English Speaker?
This is a fair and important question, and we want to answer it honestly.
The research on multilingual learning is clear: classrooms with strong language support are better for all learners. When teachers are skilled at making language visible, explicit, and accessible, every child benefits - whether they are a native English speaker stretching into complex academic writing, or a new arrival building confidence in their first term.
We are also building a generation of children who will live and work in a multilingual world. Learning alongside peers who speak different languages at home and seeing their teachers treat that as an asset rather than a challenge, develops the kind of cultural intelligence and empathy that cannot be taught from a textbook.
A school that celebrates its linguistic diversity openly is a school preparing all of its children for the world as it actually is.
Why Now?
Our school community has changed. More than two-thirds of our new admissions each term are multilingual learners. Mandarin is the most widely spoken home language across our school. The multilingual learner is no longer the exception in many respects, they are the heart of our school.
Our current model, while well-intentioned, was designed for a different time. It created a barrier that sat uncomfortably alongside our values of inclusion and belonging. Removing that barrier is simply the right thing to do.
A Note to Our MLL Families
If your child is a multilingual learner, we want you to know: we see you, and we are investing in your child's success as a full and valued member of this school not as an add-on, and not at extra cost.
We know that choosing a school in a new country, in a language that may not be your home language, takes courage. We want Alice Smith to be the school where that courage is met with genuine, expert support - from your child's very first day.
A Note to Our English-Speaking Families
This investment in MLL provision is not at the expense of what your child receives. It is an investment in the quality of teaching across the whole school and in the kind of diverse, globally-minded community that makes an Alice Smith education distinctive.
We are proud to be a school where students from over 50 nationalities learn together. That does not happen by accident. It takes deliberate, thoughtful support and that is exactly what we are building.
We are excited about where this takes us. If you have questions, we warmly invite you to speak with your child's class teacher, or if you are joining school to our Admissions team. We are committed to keeping our community informed every step of the way.