School where all pupils will be taught English as a foreign language: And that includes the ones who ARE English

• Native English speakers are a minority at 314-pupil City of Leeds School
• The head teacher says many students are not even literate in own language
• Georgiana Sale says: 'Sometimes we are the first to put a pen in their hand'
• All students will be taught English as a foreign language to raise standards
• The community secondary is judged to 'require improvement' by Ofsted
• Largest ethnic groups are of Pakistani, Czech, Roma and Traveller heritage
  

By Harriet Arkell

Published: 11:16 GMT, 24 March 2014 | Updated: 23:39 GMT, 24 March 2014

A school with pupils from more than 50 countries is to teach them all English as a foreign language.

City of Leeds comprehensive, which has been transformed by the arrival of large numbers of migrants, is thought to be the first in the country to take the extraordinary step.

At the last count it had on its books 55 nationalities and 50 languages or dialects, from Czech to Urdu.

The multi-ethnic City of Leeds School is to teach English as a foreign language to all of its 314 pupils

The school's head, Georgiana Sale, hopes giving the pupils a better grounding in English will boost results

Pupils at the comprehensive come from nations around the world, and a minority are native English speakers

The new class will be compulsory for the 15 per cent of pupils who are native English speakers.

Georgiana Sale, who is the headteacher, said they would gain as much as foreigners because their skills were so poor.

Giving a sobering overview of the problems faced by her staff, she said: ‘Many of our pupils are not only new to English but they are not even literate in their own language.

‘In some cases we are the first people to put a pen in their hand.’

She said she believed her school was the first to teach English as a foreign language to all its pupils.

‘The closest thing I could find was a school in London where a lot of pupils come from diplomatic circles with all the embassies nearby,’ she said.

‘That is obviously very different to us. We are proud to be a multi-cultural school and will continue to encourage new ideas to help us to be a supportive and encouraging learning environment where all pupils are given the same chances to learn.

‘Education is about giving children what they need and so we have asked ourselves: What do our children need?’

Mrs Sale, described as having 'boundless energy' by Ofsted, wants to raise standards at her school

The headmistress said her pupils' progress at GCSE level was being hampered by their poor English

But Andrew Carter, the Tory opposition leader on Leeds City Council, condemned the move. ‘I don’t see how it’s going to be of any use to these young people who will need to be employed to not have English as their first language,’ he said.

‘To teach the national language as a foreign language seems to me to be almost throwing the towel in.

‘The prime requisite of educating people of different nationalities who are currently living here and could be living here for the rest of their lives is they learn to speak English.

'It would appear to me that is going to be a secondary consideration and it can’t be.’

UKIP leader Nigel Farage said ‘an open door on immigration’ was to blame for English becoming a second language for so many.

He added: ‘I am just absolutely appalled we are allowing this to happen. It is just increasing division in our society.’

From next term 50 minutes a week will be spent teaching English to every pupil ‘as an additional language’.

The largest group is of Pakistani heritage and an Ofsted inspection a year ago reported that ‘a significant number of students from Roma and Traveller backgrounds have joined.’

The 314 pupils come from across Europe, Asia and Africa.

Staff speaking a wide variety of languages have been hired to help the school function properly.

Many teachers are relying on a ‘rusty O-level’ to teach foreign languages to primary school pupils, according to a study.

Just six months before a new duty is imposed to teach languages at the schools, researchers found that teachers are often just ‘a page or two ahead’ of the children in the textbooks they are using.

In a quarter of primaries, not a single teacher has a languages qualification higher than a  GCSE or O-level.

The research  also found that language learning  is in ‘deep crisis’ in sixth-forms amid perceptions that marking  of language A-levels is ‘harsh’  and ‘erratic’.

Teachers told researchers they were happiest giving pupils songs, single words and short phrases and struggled when it came to tackling grammar, correct pronunciation, reading and writing.

The findings are published by the CfBT Education Trust in conjunction with the British Council.

Work ahead: Many of the children at the school have only arrived in Britain in the last four years