Post by Editor on Feb 25, 2013 8:34:36 GMT
British primary school where every single pupil is 'foreign' and speaks English as a second language (but it still received a glowing report from Ofsted)
Gladstone Primary School in Peterborough most multi-cultural in Britain
But language barrier hasn't stopped major improvement in standards
By ANDREW LEVY
PUBLISHED: 13:32, 24 February 2013 | UPDATED: 23:51, 24 February 2013
A primary school with more than 400 pupils has become the first in the country where no children speak English as their mother tongue.
Punjabi Urdu, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Russian and several African dialects are among the 20 foreign languages spoken at Gladstone Primary School.
But it has thrived in the face of adversity. Only 14 months ago the school was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, the lowest of four ratings. Last month it was upgraded to ‘good’, the second highest.
Lesson in diversity: Christine Parker with some of her pupils, who between them speak 20 foreign languages
Gladstone Primary School headteacher Christine Parker chats with her pupils. She oversees what is the most multi-cultural school in Britain, with not one of the 440 pupils listing English as their first language
The school, in Peterborough, has adopted a string of measures to cope. Teachers give ‘running commentaries’, explaining everything they are doing so that pupils associate objects and actions with the words that describe them.
More...
Tell parents if girls are given morning-after pill at school, says MP
Meet the 15 sets of twins all enrolled at the same elementary school - out of 600 students total
A ‘buddy system’ is also in place with children in schools over the border in Lincolnshire so that pupils can benefit from having friends who are native English speakers. Pupils study and play together at each other’s schools once a fortnight.
Teachers are motivated by salaries that are linked to their performance, something Education Secretary Michael Gove is introducing across the country from September in an attempt to drive up standards.
THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN'S SCHOOLS
Gladstone Primary is believed to be the first in Britain where every single one of its pupils does not speak English as a first language, but more and more pupils across the country are now from foreign backgrounds.
In a 2012 census of 1,600 schools, it was found English-speaking children are now in a minority, with the figures particularly startling in the 14 inner London boroughs, where there were 98,000 non-native English speakers compared to 78,000 who could list the language as their number one.
Nationwide, there were 97 schools where the number of pupils speaking English as a mother tongue was fewer than one in 20 of the school population.
After London, Birmingham had the highest concentration of 'foreign' pupils, followed by Bradford and then Leicester.
Punjabi was the most widely-spoken first language.
Head Christine Parker, 54, said: ‘More and more of the world is going bilingual. The culture at our school is not to see bilingualism as a difficulty.’
Often, she added, it is preferable for children to speak no English at all, rather than turn up with a mixture of English and their parents’ language.
‘Sometimes parents have tried to help their children learn English but their own isn’t too good,’ she said. ‘The outcome is the children aren’t fluent in their own language. If they haven’t got a good foundation [in their own language] it can be very difficult to build on that.’
Some 358 of the 440 pupils were raised speaking Punjabi Urdu, according to Department for Education figures. The language is used in parts of stan and India.
Another 23 are fluent in Dari, which is used in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan. There are 15 Lithuanians and 11 Latvians, while other languages include Portuguese, Polish, Slovakian, Czech, Gujarati, Russian, German, Pashto, French, Arabic and four African dialects.
The different language groups are accommodated using 28 teaching assistants, ten of whom speak Urdu.Mrs Parker, who speaks some Urdu after living in stan with her teacher husband Stephen in the 1990s plus some French and German, said: ‘Some children like to start trying out what they have learned straight away.
‘Others have a silent period of up to six months while they are taking things in. Then they start to talk with some fluency. It’s lovely to hear.’
Beeches Primary School, which is also in Peterborough, has 23 native languages spoken among its 592 pupils. Only 24 children have English as a first language.
Despite the language barrier, Gladstone Primary School has been rated 'good' by inspectors just a year after it was deemed 'inadequate'
Several nationalities migrated to Peterborough in the last century, including stanis and Italians. The city also saw a huge influx of Eastern Europeans from 2004 when the EU expanded and is now believed to be the fastest growing multi-ethnic community in Britain.
By 2007 there were 16,000 Eastern Europeans estimated to be living there, one in ten of the population. Many of them arrived to work on farms and in food processing plants in the agricultural heartland.
Peterborough City Council said more than 100 languages are spoken in the area. More than a third of pupils speak English as a second language, up from one in five in 2008.
The city’s Conservative MP, Stewart Jackson, has warned that it is struggling to cope with the new arrivals.
More are expected as families leave London because of the Government’s cap on housing benefits.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283696/Primary-school-ALL-440-pupils-speak-English-second-language-receives-glowing-Ofsted-report.html
Gladstone Primary School in Peterborough most multi-cultural in Britain
But language barrier hasn't stopped major improvement in standards
By ANDREW LEVY
PUBLISHED: 13:32, 24 February 2013 | UPDATED: 23:51, 24 February 2013
A primary school with more than 400 pupils has become the first in the country where no children speak English as their mother tongue.
Punjabi Urdu, Portuguese, Czech, Polish, Russian and several African dialects are among the 20 foreign languages spoken at Gladstone Primary School.
But it has thrived in the face of adversity. Only 14 months ago the school was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, the lowest of four ratings. Last month it was upgraded to ‘good’, the second highest.
Lesson in diversity: Christine Parker with some of her pupils, who between them speak 20 foreign languages
Gladstone Primary School headteacher Christine Parker chats with her pupils. She oversees what is the most multi-cultural school in Britain, with not one of the 440 pupils listing English as their first language
The school, in Peterborough, has adopted a string of measures to cope. Teachers give ‘running commentaries’, explaining everything they are doing so that pupils associate objects and actions with the words that describe them.
More...
Tell parents if girls are given morning-after pill at school, says MP
Meet the 15 sets of twins all enrolled at the same elementary school - out of 600 students total
A ‘buddy system’ is also in place with children in schools over the border in Lincolnshire so that pupils can benefit from having friends who are native English speakers. Pupils study and play together at each other’s schools once a fortnight.
Teachers are motivated by salaries that are linked to their performance, something Education Secretary Michael Gove is introducing across the country from September in an attempt to drive up standards.
THE CHANGING FACE OF BRITAIN'S SCHOOLS
Gladstone Primary is believed to be the first in Britain where every single one of its pupils does not speak English as a first language, but more and more pupils across the country are now from foreign backgrounds.
In a 2012 census of 1,600 schools, it was found English-speaking children are now in a minority, with the figures particularly startling in the 14 inner London boroughs, where there were 98,000 non-native English speakers compared to 78,000 who could list the language as their number one.
Nationwide, there were 97 schools where the number of pupils speaking English as a mother tongue was fewer than one in 20 of the school population.
After London, Birmingham had the highest concentration of 'foreign' pupils, followed by Bradford and then Leicester.
Punjabi was the most widely-spoken first language.
Head Christine Parker, 54, said: ‘More and more of the world is going bilingual. The culture at our school is not to see bilingualism as a difficulty.’
Often, she added, it is preferable for children to speak no English at all, rather than turn up with a mixture of English and their parents’ language.
‘Sometimes parents have tried to help their children learn English but their own isn’t too good,’ she said. ‘The outcome is the children aren’t fluent in their own language. If they haven’t got a good foundation [in their own language] it can be very difficult to build on that.’
Some 358 of the 440 pupils were raised speaking Punjabi Urdu, according to Department for Education figures. The language is used in parts of stan and India.
Another 23 are fluent in Dari, which is used in Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan. There are 15 Lithuanians and 11 Latvians, while other languages include Portuguese, Polish, Slovakian, Czech, Gujarati, Russian, German, Pashto, French, Arabic and four African dialects.
The different language groups are accommodated using 28 teaching assistants, ten of whom speak Urdu.Mrs Parker, who speaks some Urdu after living in stan with her teacher husband Stephen in the 1990s plus some French and German, said: ‘Some children like to start trying out what they have learned straight away.
‘Others have a silent period of up to six months while they are taking things in. Then they start to talk with some fluency. It’s lovely to hear.’
Beeches Primary School, which is also in Peterborough, has 23 native languages spoken among its 592 pupils. Only 24 children have English as a first language.
Despite the language barrier, Gladstone Primary School has been rated 'good' by inspectors just a year after it was deemed 'inadequate'
Several nationalities migrated to Peterborough in the last century, including stanis and Italians. The city also saw a huge influx of Eastern Europeans from 2004 when the EU expanded and is now believed to be the fastest growing multi-ethnic community in Britain.
By 2007 there were 16,000 Eastern Europeans estimated to be living there, one in ten of the population. Many of them arrived to work on farms and in food processing plants in the agricultural heartland.
Peterborough City Council said more than 100 languages are spoken in the area. More than a third of pupils speak English as a second language, up from one in five in 2008.
The city’s Conservative MP, Stewart Jackson, has warned that it is struggling to cope with the new arrivals.
More are expected as families leave London because of the Government’s cap on housing benefits.
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283696/Primary-school-ALL-440-pupils-speak-English-second-language-receives-glowing-Ofsted-report.html
