PUPILS at Diss Junior Academy, which is part of the diocese of Norwich’s St Benet’s Multi-Academy Trust, are involved in the Young Interpreter scheme to support fellow classmates learning English as an additional language.

The initiative, developed by Hampshire County Council, welcomes children, helps them to settle into a new school environment, and, Norwich diocese says, also offers training for pupils to learn a range of communication techniques that strengthen their own academic learning.

The trained Young Interpreters wear sashes and badges to ensure that new pupils can identify them, together with 18 image cards so that pupils can point out what they need support with.

The class teacher with responsibility for the scheme at the Academy, Roseanne Soong, said: “Our Young Interpreters can give tours to those children; they can be a buddy to those children . . . They are all compassionate, they’re all caring, they’re all really empathetic, and they use those skills to help other children.

There are 170 pupils at Diss. Collectively, members of the school community and their families speak 23 languages.