Latest news with #KobiNazrul
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Revealed: The 2,000 schools where more than HALF of pupils don't speak English as their first language... so is YOUR child's one of them?
English is no longer the first language for the majority of pupils at more than 2,000 schools, MailOnline can today reveal. No children at two primary schools – one in Tower Hamlets and another in Kirklees, West Yorkshire – have English as their mother tongue. Our statistics, obtained exclusively under Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, show nine in ten pupils don't speak only English at home at 107 schools. The full results of our audit, covering all 22,000 state schools, can be viewed in our search tool below. Bengali is the mother tongue of 92 per cent of the pupils at Kobi Nazrul, the primary school in Tower Hamlets where none of the kids solely speak English at home. The others speak a slew of other languages, including Indonesian and Urdu. At Pentland Infant in Dewsbury – the Kirklees school – the overwhelming majority of the children speak either Gujarati (36 per cent) or Panjabi (45 per cent). When broken down by languages, our FOI revealed Tottenhall Infant School, Enfield had the highest rate of Albanian speakers at 18 per cent. Sheffield's Netherthorpe Primary School topped the league table for Arabic (54 per cent), meanwhile Burnley Brow Community School in Oldham had the highest share of Bengali speakers (93 per cent). In terms of Chinese, St Cecilia's CofE Primary School in Wokingham, Berkshire, had the highest rate (28 per cent). Polish speakers were most heavily concentrated at St Cuthbert's Catholic Primary School in Windermere (43 per cent), while Urdu was most common at St Michael's CofE Primary School in Bolton (58 per cent). In total, English is no longer the first language for the majority of children at 2,039 schools. This includes deaf schools, where pupils' first language is BSL. Nationwide, English isn't the first language of 1.8 million pupils, or one in five pupils. Fuelled by immigration having spiralled to all-time highs, this has risen from 1.1 million ten years ago. The soaring numbers have raised concerns among critics that the slew of different languages can be incredibly disruptive in classrooms. Robert Bates, of the Centre for Migration Control, told MailOnline: 'It's a great shame that we have reached this point and it is evidence of successive governments failing to properly address assimilation issues. 'Multi-language classrooms are hugely problematic. They inevitably sap the precious time of teachers who are forced to devote additional attention to those with a weaker grasp of the language at the expense of those who only speak English. 'The resources used will be lowest-common-denominator teaching devices that provide little from the individuals to excel. 'They also foster long term division, with little incentive for those who do not speak English to improve their fluency. 'It is time for a sink or swim approach in which state funding for translation costs are stripped across the board, encouraging adult migrants and parents alike to devote greater attention to improving this pretty basic skill.' Schools have had to pivot their limited resources to provide for the needs of pupils who struggle with English. Strain has been placed on their tight budgets due to providing translated versions of resources, adding subtitling and voiceovers, as well funding in-class interpreters. Teachers have previously said schools were under mounting pressure from mass immigration and called on ministers to fund them properly to cope with the array of different languages that pupils speak. MailOnline's analysis showed the authority that had the highest rate of first language speakers other than English was Newham (66.4 per cent). Brent (63.7 per cent) and Harrow (63.6 per cent) rounded out the top three. On the other hand, our FOI found 97 per cent of children spoke English as their first language in Northumberland. Redcar and Cleveland (96.7 per cent) and Cornwall (96.1 per cent) came second and third, respectively. Experts warn that kids who aren't taught English before they get to school are less likely to do well. Ian Mansfield, head of education at Policy Exchange, said: 'These statistics demonstrate the very real pressure that mass immigration places on public services.' However, some studies suggest that pupils who speak English as a second language can outperform native speakers and their presence has no impact on the learning of other pupils. Despite the language barrier, Kobi Nazrul was regarded as 'friendly and welcoming' in a glowing report from Ofsted in its most recent inspection Depending on how close they are to English, both phonetically and grammatically, some languages can be very difficult to switch from. Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said: 'English is the glue that brings and holds us together as a country and helps new arrivals to blend in.' Mr Mehmet, who said he was the only non-English speaker at his east London school growing up in the 1960s, added: 'If teachers have to focus their attention on children who struggle to speak English because the language spoken at home is different, the time devoted to other pupils is bound to diminish.' Jim McConalogue, CEO at the think-tank Civitas said: 'You are effectively seeing the proportion of school-age pupils in England speaking English as an additional language continuing to steadily increase over time. 'Measures to ensure English language acquisition must therefore be prioritised. 'There are some short-term challenges that the DoE need to address for students who speak English as an additional language, as a lack of emphasis on English language provision can have a detrimental impact on both these students themselves and their classmates. 'Many policymakers talk about diversity and inclusion, but relatively little is being done to support English language acquisition. 'This omission creates deeper problems not only for the individual children but society at large, around a common citizenship, a shared language and identity, belonging and social cohesion.' Some politicians believe the high number of immigrants now entering the UK need to be integrated into society by the government properly. Shadow education minister Neil O'Brien said: 'These figures underline just how serious the challenge of integration has become in some parts of the country. 'Integration shouldn't be an afterthought, it must be a priority. 'The government has totally failed to stop the boats and numbers coming illegally are massively up. 'They abandoned our plans to raise income requirements on the family route. And as well as having no plan on immigration they have no plan on integration.' Some campaigners argue the Government needs to have more involvement in schools that have especially high numbers of foreign language speakers. Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, said: 'The Government should publish the data regarding the language of pupils in each school and ensure that non-native speakers do not outnumber native speakers of English. 'This will benefit all pupils and allow our society to become more integrated, harmonious and at peace with itself.' The FOI data, from the Department of Education, reflects the state-of-play in January 2024. In it, schools have some flexibility about how they code pupils' language. DoE bosses define the first language as 'where the pupil has been exposed to a language other than English during early development and continues to be exposed to this language in the home or in the community'. A Government spokesperson said: 'This government is determined to break down barriers to opportunity so every child, including pupils who speak a language other than English, can achieve and thrive. 'Schools are best placed to understand the needs of their pupils with English as an additional language and are responsible for determining what support to put in place. 'Additional funding is provided to schools to support pupils who need help learning how to speak, read and write English. 'More widely, to better integrate migrants into their new communities this government will introduce a new English language requirement across a broader range of immigration routes.' MailOnline's investigation comes after Keir Starmer last month warned that mass immigration risks making Britain an 'island of strangers'. Scrambling to blunt the threat of Reform, the Prime Minister vowed to give Brits what they had 'asked for time and time again'. He unveiled a package to 'take back control of our borders'. The skills threshold will be hiked and rules on fluency in English toughened under the Government's plan to bring down annual inflows by around 100,000.
Daily Mail
21-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The school where NONE of the pupils speak English as first language
On a bright, sunny afternoon parents are picking up their children from Kobi Nazrul primary school in London 's East End in familiar scenes repeated up and down the land. Yet Kobi Nazrul is unique. It's thought to be the only school in the country with no pupils who speak English as a first language. Despite the language barrier, the 'friendly and welcoming' school received a glowing report from Ofsted in its most recent inspection. Leaders have 'high aspirations for pupils' who 'very much' enjoyed their learning environment and gave the school a 'good' rating, the second highest. Parents seem equally as enthusiastic. Picking up her six-year-old son, Bina Begum, 36, told MailOnline: 'The school is amazing, they're so supportive and very welcoming. 'I think the staff are doing a wonderful job.' The inner city school sits in a quiet side street off the busy Commercial Road in Whitechapel - a district once synonymous with Jack the Ripper and the Kray twins and home to the nation's true Cockneys. So how is it that pupils at the school - that stands in the shadow of towering skyscrapers which represent the immense wealth of the City - start their academic life speaking very little, or no, English at all? Latest UK government data shows that of the 243 pupils aged three to 11 on the primary school's register, 100 per cent of them do not have English as their first language compared with 22.8 per cent across England as a whole. Department of Education statistics, obtained by MailOnline under a Freedom of Information request, show 92.5 per cent of boys and girls at the school speak Bengali as their first language. The overwhelming majority of children at the school come from the local Bangladeshi community. Yet there are also a number of youngsters from Indian and Pakistani backgrounds who speak Hindi and Urdu and a small but growing number who speak Albanian. There are also pupils who are fluent in Italian and German who were born in Italy and Austria to Bangladeshi families who later moved to London. At the end of the street, just yards away, is the East London Mosque, one of the largest in Europe which accommodates up to 7,000 worshippers for prayers. Mrs Begum said: 'The majority of children are from a Bengali background but the school embraces all cultures and everyone is made to feel at home. 'My niece was the first in the family to go there and she's now 27-years-old. Her siblings followed and now my son is in Year One and my daughter is due to start later this year.' Speaking at the school gates as he waited for his son and daughter with other fathers, Md Al Mamun, 40, said: 'I like that the teachers and those who run the school try and keep things interesting for the children. 'They had a trip recently to the seaside and the children loved that. There's also a lot of extracurricular activities organised by the school. 'The classes aren't huge. 'My children speak English fluently but also speak Bengali, most of their school friends do. 'But it's not just children from a Bengali background. There's children from Indian, Pakistani and Middle Eastern backgrounds and a few children from Albanian backgrounds.' According to the 2021 Census, more than half of Whitechapel's residents - 51.3 per cent to be exact - come from an Asian background. The area has a long history of welcoming immigrants. From the late 19th century until the late 20th century, Whitechapel had a very high Jewish population but since the 1960s it has been home to London's Bangladeshi community. Gone are the traditional East End pubs and pie and mash shops and in their place are Islamic cafes and shops selling Muslim robes and sarees. Palestinian flags flutter from windows or are painted onto the grills of shopfronts and street signs warning of 'No ball games' are written in Bengali as well as English. The local authority is headed by controversial Bangladeshi-born mayor Lutfur Rahman who was re-elected three years ago. Rahman had been removed as mayor in 2015 and banned from standing again for five years after being found guilty of electoral fraud. Mohiul Islam, 56, has worked for a money transfer business based opposite the school, for the last 40-years. He said that when the business was set up in the mid-1980s there were still 'a few' East End-born and bred Cockney families living in the area. Mr Islam, who is originally from Bangladesh, said: 'They are all long gone. I don't know of any now because they've either passed away or moved out of Whitechapel. 'This area has always been popular with Bangladeshis, it's our heartland in London. 'Before Brexit there were Bengali families who had been living in Europe, in countries like Italy, Germany and Austria who came to Whitechapel. Some have stayed others have gone back. 'There is also a growing number of East Africans, particularly Somalis, moving to the area but I think it will always be dominated by the Bangladeshi community.' Not all the changes in recent times have been good, according to Mr Islam. He said: 'I think the biggest change is the sheer number of people who live here now. It's become very overcrowded and as a result there's a lot more litter around the streets. 'The young people are also not as considerate today as people were a while ago. They appear much more arrogant and entitled. 'There are still drug dealers operating around here and some of the youngsters walk around smoking cannabis, you can smell it. 'But I would say there are fewer robberies than before and there has been a reduction in instances of domestic violence which used to be a big problem locally. There's more education and awareness around the issues now.' Shahin Ahmed, 55, runs a corner shop close to the school. He said: 'Most of my customers are from a Bangladeshi background but there are increasing numbers of shoppers from Europe and Brazil. 'A lot of the children come in here after school and all of them speak in English to me even though they are fluent in Bengali. 'There is a good sense of community spirit around here. There is very little in the way of tension. 'The police and council have put up more CCTV cameras which has helped push the drug dealers out. 'Whitechapel is a busy and crowded area and it's noisy but the streets around the school are relatively quiet and calm.' Mohammed Saaddudin, who runs a nearby Halal butchers, explained that the majority of Bangladeshi's in Whitechapel come from one region in the north east of the country. Mr Saaddudin, 71, said: 'I would say if you stopped 100 people in the street outside, at least 90 of them would be from Sylhet. 'When Bangladeshis first started coming over to England, that's where they came from. 'Over the last 15-20 years Bangladeshis have been coming over from other parts of the country but most of us will be from Sylhet. It's a home from home in Whitechapel.' Iqbal Hossan, 50, is one of many Bangladeshis to come to London from Italy. He had been working in Venice and Milan before travelling to Whitechapel eight years ago and now runs Caffe Italia just off Commercial Road. Despite the name, most of the customers are Bangladeshi and speak Bengali. Mr Hossan said: 'The UK has a much bigger Bangladeshi population than Italy and Whitechapel is the centre of London's Bangladeshi community which is why so many of us have travelled over. 'The coffee and the food is Italian but it has a Bangladeshi flavour.' The terraced streets around Kobi Nazrul primary are filled mainly with late Victorian three-storey villas. The average price for a detached house is more than £1million and more than £600,000 for a two-bed leasehold flat - out of the price range of the families of most pupils at the school. According to an Ofsted report in 2016, a 'much higher than average' number of students - almost half those on the school roll - were eligible for 'pupil premium funding' - grants aimed at improving the outcomes for disadvantaged children. Through the scheme primary schools receive £1,480 per child with funds allocated to schools based on how many children are receiving free school meals. The school also had a higher than average proportion of pupils who had special educational needs or disability with most cases relating to 'speech, language and communication needs or moderate learning difficulties'. Despite this the school, which was named after a Bengali poet and activist, is thriving. According to the latest published performance data, 76 per cent of pupils at Kobi Nazrul are meeting 'expected standards' in reading, writing and maths even though all 29 children in the final year of primary school did not have English as their first language. That compares with a local average of 71 per cent and an average of 61 per cent in England. But it was not always this way and the school has had something of a chequered past. In 2006, future Prime Minister David Cameron visited Kobi Nazrul to unveil his 'vision' to transform education. Cameron, who had recently been made Conservative leader, outlined his party's plans to turn around the fortunes of schools in inner-city areas which he said had been failing for too long. The school was chosen for the launch as it was achieving good results despite its location in one of Europe's poorest districts. Another high profile visitor was Judy Murray who went there to share tennis tips and teach the kids ball games - just days after her son Andy beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets to win his first Wimbledon title in 2013. But there were troubles on the way for the school which just months later was plunged into crisis amid allegations its leadership had been infiltrated by Islamic extremists. Troubles began after a dramatic drop in standards led to Kobi Nazrul recording the worst ever SATs results in the borough. Just 40 per cent of children at the school achieved the required results in Maths and English compared with 82 per cent in 2012. It led to an emergency Ofsted inspection carried out with no notice at the request of the then education secretary. It then emerged Tower Hamlets Council held information relating to concerns over attempts by Islamic extremists to infiltrate local schools and subvert teachings. It also emerged that one of the school governors was a senior member of Hizb ut-Tahrir - a radical global group with a 'long-term goal of establishing a caliphate ruled under Islamic law' which has since been outlawed in the UK. The school was placed in special measures after it was found to be 'inadequate' in all areas. Its then headteacher denied there had been attempts at radicalisation but amid the failings, the head was replaced along with the school's entire board of governors. Australian-born Belinda King was appointed interim head before the position was made permanent and she remains at the school today. She set off on a mission to turn around the failing school and quickly produced results. In February 2016 the school was given its 'good' Ofsted rating after an inspection found the 'highly effective senior leadership team' has secured 'significant improvements'. Ms King told MailOnline: 'The community here is wonderful. We are a very diverse school and I'm fiercely protective of all my children and their parents.'
