Immigrant pupils cause cash crisis in schools

They are being forced to take in up to eight foreign children every week.

Theresa Haggart, headteacher at St Ethelbert's Roman Catholic primary school in Slough, said she would not be able to cope without extra cash from the Government.

Her school, which was recently judged "outstanding" by Ofsted for the harmonious relations between pupils of different races and creeds, was managing thanks to the dedicated staff and help from Slough council, she said.

Immigrant children now account for 17 per cent of the St Ethelbert's roll, up from eight per cent a decade ago. At St Anthony's Catholic primary, also in Slough, the proportion of new immigrant pupils is one third.

Mrs Haggart said: "It does get very difficult. Every time a new child comes in, it has to be worked out where they can slot in. We have to rearrange all our staffing groups.

"Our local authority can't make the budget stretch that much further. If this continues on the same level, we would obviously need more funding to give the quality of education we currently give."

Eighty-five per cent of pupils in the St Ethelbert's reception class do not speak English as their first language.

Many of them come from east European countries, such as Poland, while others are from the Middle East and even further afield, including the Philippines.

Mrs Haggart said she had staff and pupils who could put some new arrivals at ease by speaking to them in their own languages and she used a "buddy" system to pair up new children with those who had been there a while.

The National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers gave evidence in the House of Lords yesterday calling for more money for schools that have to absorb the highest numbers of new arrivals.

NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said: "We have had schools in London where the head has arrived with seven or eight youngsters and taken them to a GCSE English class and none of the youngsters can speak English. The teachers have been pulling their hair out."

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said schools were given money for pupils who arrive speaking little English.

The Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant is being raised from £178.6 million this year to £206.6 million in 2010/11.

Meanwhile, an Ofsted survey of primaries that have integrated children who speak little English showed most were "pessimistic about being able to sustain the excellent work they had built up over the years if funding continued to decline".