More than a million youngsters in England do not have English as their mother tongue, according to a new study, with the figure rising by almost a quarter of a million in the past five years.
According to the Daily Star, almost one in five pupils spoke another language at home and there was an increase in the number of pupils who came from an ethnic minority background, with almost three in ten primary school children falling in this category.
The report said that in the last year alone, the number of children who spoke English as an additional language had risen by almost 54,000, based on statistics published by the Department of Education.
A breakdown of the statistics revealed that 18.1 percent of primary school pupils spoke a first language other than English, 13.6 percent in secondary schools and 12.7 percent in special schools, along with 8.7 percent at Pupil Referral units, the report added.
