Sally Brand
Sally has worked as an Administration Assistant with EMAS, formerly MGSS, for over 25 years. Over that time the job has changed a lot from supporting a large team of teachers and senior staff to managing an Admin Team, booking Multilingual Assistants and monitoring Service Level Agreements. The Admin Team book Multilingual Assistants out to schools for: ongoing work supporting newly arrived pupils speaking little or no English on arrival; one-off meetings and phone calls on behalf of schools to parents who do not speak English. We are involved in the recruitment and training of new Multilingual Assistants, monitor school Service Level Agreement buy-in, invoice for work completed, and process and pay Newly Arrived Grant claims. We check and approve payment to all of our casual staff, along with answering the phone and monitoring the functional mailbox and dealing with all incoming email queries.
Debbie Outram
Debbie has worked as an Administration Assistant with EMAS, for 10 years. She helps Sally with all admin duties including booking Multilingual Assistants out to schools for ongoing work in schools, for one-off meetings and phone calls, checking hours worked by all of our casual staff for payment approval, answering the phone, monitoring the functional mailbox and dealing with all incoming email queries.
Amanda Millican
Amanda has been an advisory teacher supporting multilingual learners in Solihull and Coventry in both primary and secondary schools. She has worked with a range of learners from emergent bilingual learners to more advanced bilingual learners and with bilingual learners who have additional learning differences. She currently supports New Arrivals in mainstream schools in Coventry and works as part of the EMAS team to support the inclusion of pupils on UKRS, ARAP and Homes 4 Ukraine resettlement schemes in secondary schools in Coventry. She is an Individual Licensed Practitioner for The Bell Foundation and delivers a range of CPD programmes to schools in Coventry. Her prior experiences include teaching Modern Foreign Languages at secondary level for over 10 years, working as an EAL Co-ordinator in a primary school in Warwickshire, working in a Speech and Language provision within a primary school in Solihull and teaching English to young refugees for Refugee Education UK (REUK) and Refugee Action.
Joanna Wigfield
Jo’s career supporting bilingual learners began when teaching English as a Foreign Language in Poland to children and adults followed by teaching English for Academic Purposes at Coventry University to international students. As a qualified primary trained teacher, she has taught in Coventry schools for over ten years, some of which was spent championing and leading on EAL. She has also studied at postgraduate level in order to specialise in Primary mathematics. At EMAS, Jo works as an EAL advisory teacher offering support and advice to school staff and supporting the inclusion of primary aged pupils on particular resettlement schemes such as UKRS, ARP and Homes 4 Ukraine from EYFS to Year Six.
Marilena Richards
Marilena has previously worked as an EAL co-ordinator in a secondary school and is currently a PhD Education student researching language and literacy development of multilingual migrant children. Marilena has previously worked with other secondary schools to improve the EAL provision and attainment of newly arrived EAL children, focusing on inclusive education, more specifically, multilingual teaching and learning strategies within the classroom context. In her current role, Marilena works as an advisory teacher as part of the EMAS team and is responsible for assessing EAL children who are part of the UKRS and ARAP Resettlement Scheme, advising schools on best EAL practice and delivering diverse CPD programmes across primary and secondary schools in Coventry.
Jeanna Weller
Jeanna's 20-year career in education began with teaching diverse primary classes in Worcestershire, increasing the inclusion and attainment of learners with EAL across all key stages. As an Advanced Skills Teacher, leading on digital technologies, she supported emerging EAL initiatives. She dedicated her postgraduate studies to the development of language and literacies, including reading differences in multilingual learners. In her previous role as an EAL Specialist Teacher for the Warwickshire Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service, Jeanna provided tailored support for primary and secondary schools to enhance inclusion for newly arrived learners with EAL, including pupils on UKRS, ARAP and Homes for Ukraine resettlement schemes. She was responsible for assessing multilingual learners, including learners with additional needs, advising on adaptive teaching strategies, and delivering a range of CPD programmes across the county. Jeanna is looking forward to continuing this work as she joins the Coventry EMAS team.
Michelle Andrews
Michelle is an experienced primary school teacher and has proudly served as EAL Lead for several years at a School of Sanctuary in Coventry. Passionate about creating inclusive and welcoming environments for all children, she is also delighted to be working as a Local Lead for Schools of Sanctuary in Coventry. In this role, she supports schools across the city by guiding them through audits, helping with applications, and working alongside an appraisal team to recognise and celebrate schools that meet the award criteria.