The news this week reports on an alarming increase in special teaching assistants to translate for Eastern European children. Despite the budget cuts, the staff are paid up to £65 a day to help pupils who are still learning English during lessons.  They are also paid to translate to parents during parents evenings.

A current survey has shown that the number of pupils in Britain whose first language is an Eastern European one has risen fourfold in seven years, from 51,955 to 190,506. At a Park Academy in Boston, Lincolnshire, 66% of pupils do not speak English as their first language. The school’s answerphone has even got a Polish option. This is alarming as Boston has topped a list by think-tank Policy Exchange of Britain’s least integrated towns.

It is very difficult to judge people for not speaking English, especially when all these extra measures are being put in place to assist. If we continually make adjustments, English will never be learned and those who emigrate to the UK, will never integrate.

What do you think about this?  Is it something you have experienced in your child’s school?