‘One-in-five UK pupils do not have English as mother tongue’

Almost one-in-five pupils in primary education in the UK do not have English as their mother tongue following a sharp hike in the number of foreign-born pupils, according to official figures. 

The number of schoolchildren speaking English as a second language soared to a record high of more than one million this year amid a continuing rise in immigration, The Telegraph reported. 

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 228,000 since 2008. The number stands at almost 1.1 million in 2012/13, the report said.