UK school sets new record for most languages spoken in class

Southfields Community College in Wandsworth has become Europe's most cosmopolitan school. The college takes pupils, who have fled war zones, cannot speak English and have not been to school before, now 71 different languages are spoken in its classrooms.

White Hart Lane comprehensive school in Tottenham was previously thought to have been Europe's most cosmopolitan school, with pupils from 50 countries speaking 58 languages.

Of the college's 1,300 pupils, 550 are bilingual and about 400 come from the Caribbean.

Headteacher Jacqueline Valin said: "The assumption that children are not bright because they can't speak English is rubbish. Education is so important to students that come from abroad. They see it as the way out of poverty, a way of getting ahead and raising their self esteem."

Anita Sollis, head of the school's ethnic minority achievement team, said: "These children have a burning desire and belief that education is the way forward. People say they hold other kids back but their attitude is so good they are role models."

The school's results are improving. The proportion of pupils getting five Cs or better at GCSE rose from 27 per cent in 2002 to 38 per cent last year.

The pupils reflect the world's troubles. "The children come from very traumatic and stressful backgrounds," said Ms Valin.

"I taught one Somalian girl and she had a scar on her hand. She said she got it from being shot." She added: "We have had a sustained increase in the number of pupils from abroad but there has never been a problem with the racial mix."