Official figures show that almost one-in-five pupils in primary education now
speak another language in the home following a sharp hike in the number of
foreign-born pupils over the last 12 months.
In inner London, native English speakers are now in a minority, with the
proportion as low as a quarter in boroughs such as Tower Hamlets, Newham and
Westminster.
Across England, the number of children who do not have English as their mother
tongue has increased by 54,000 in the last 12 months and around 227,000
since 2008. The number stands at almost 1.1m in 2012/13.
Figures suggest that the proportion of children starting school with English
as a second language has now doubled since the late 90s.
The disclosure – in data from the Department for Education – comes amid
concerns that a rise in the number of immigrants is having a significant
affect on public services.
It follows the publication of data showing that an extra 250,000 primary
school places are needed within the next year, with immigration and rising
birth rates cited a major cause of the shortage.
Some head teachers have complained that budgets set aside to teach children
from immigrant and refugee backgrounds have been cut – leaving them struggling
to buy in specialist support for pupils.
According to the latest data, 1,061,010 pupils speak other languages at home
in the current academic year compared with 1,007,090 a year earlier and
732,790 in 2008. The figures cover primary, secondary and special schools.
In all, children without English as their mother tongue make up 18.1 per cent
of primary school pupils compared with 17.5 per cent a year earlier.
Figures show that the proportion is higher than a third in 36 local authority
areas, including Blackburn, Manchester, Bradford, Leicester and Birmingham.
The proportion of primary pupils speaking other languages tops more than half
in inner-London, Luton and Slough.
The highest proportion of children who do not have English as their mother
tongue is found in the London borough of Tower Hamlets, where numbers are as
high as 76.1 per cent, followed by 74.8 per cent in Newham and 72.3 in
Westminster.
DfE figures also show that the proportion of children speaking English as a
second language in secondary schools stands at 13.6 per cent this academic
year – up from 12.9 per cent in 2011/12.
The figures also show an increase in the number of pupils in England classed
as being from an ethnic minority background.
In all, almost three in 10 primary school children are in this category in the
current academic year, with numbers reaching almost a quarter in secondary
education.