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Written question asked by Lord Goodman of Wycombe (Conservative) on Monday, 23 February 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 25 February 2009. It was answered by Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Labour) on Thursday, 5 March 2009 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Children: English Language

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what estimate he has made of the percentage of children in England at (a) primary school and (b) secondary school who did not speak English as a first language in each of the last five years.
Answer

The percentage of children in primary and secondary schools who did not speak English as a first language in each of the last five years can be found in the following table.The latest figures are in the Statistical First Release 'Pupil Characteristics and Class Sizes in Maintained Schools in England: January 2008 (Provisional)' and can be found at:"http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000786/index.shtml"

The percentage of children in primary and secondary schools who did not speak English as a first language in England
Pupils of compulsory school age and above¹,²,³
Primary schools¹ Secondary schools¹,²
2004 11.0 8.8
2005 11.6 9.0
2006 12.5 9.5
2007 13.5 10.5
20084 14.3 10.6
¹ Includes middle schools as deemed.
² Excludes dually registered pupils.
³ The number of pupils by their first language expressed as a percentage of the number of pupils of compulsory school age and above.
4 Includes CTCs and Academies.
Note:
Numbers have been rounded to the nearest 10. There may be discrepancies between the sum of constituent items and totals as shown.
Source:
School Census

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
488 c1825W; 258985
Session
2008-09
Subjects
Languages Pupils
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk