Schools where English is a foreign language to students

May 5 2008 By Anuji Varma

A STAGGERING 40 per cent of primary schoolchildren in Birmingham do not speak English as their first language.

Shock new Government figures have revealed that 31,869 of the city's pupils have a foreign language as their main tongue.

But teachers have warned that the rising numbers of pupils without a decent grasp of English is undermining educational standards - and costing schools more money.

The new 2008 figures were published by the Department for Children, Families and Schools (DCFS) following a school census.

Sandwell is the next West Midlands authority with the highest proportion of pupils without English as their first language - with a quarter of primary and a fifth of secondary students.

Across the whole of the West Midlands, 16.7 per cent of primary kids do not speak English as their first language, compared to 12 per cent of secondary students.

Nationally, the figures are 14.4 per cent for primary pupils, up from 13.5 per cent in 2007, and 10.8 per cent for secondary schools, up from 10.6 per cent.

That means that more than 800,000 pupils on the school roll in Britain now have English as their second language.

Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "It's clearly more difficult for teachers if children arrive in school unable to speak English.

"If the classrooms are overcrowded as well, it makes life doubly difficult."

Teachers' unions also say coping with large numbers of foreign children risks undermining the quality of teaching given to all pupils.

Philip Parkin, general secretary of the Professional Association of Teachers, said rising levels of immigration and a lack of multi-lingual teaching staff were "providing serious challenges'' for schools trying to maintain standards.

The new school census also shows there are now 441,200 teachers working in state-funded schools in England - 1,900 more than last year.

The number of teaching assistants has also risen by 13,100 to 176,900.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: "Parents have always told us they want more staff in schools to help their children get the most out of school and that's what we've delivered. The huge rise in teaching assistants shows we've put our money where our mouth is on school workforce reforms."