Children who speak English as a second language now make up almost 27 per cent of pupils in one Black Country borough, according to new Government figures.

In Sandwell schools, 26.9 per cent of children have a different mother tongue, while in Birmingham the figure is 41 per cent of children and in London and Slough more than half of children speak a different first language. Across the country, English is a foreign language to more than one in seven primary youngsters, almost half a million.

In other areas, including Leicester, Luton and Bradford the proportion is approaching 50 per cent.

The figures released by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, highlight major demographic changes over the past few decades.

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