Pupils at Dundee primary schools speak more than 60 languages, a survey has found.
Children from ethnic minorities now make up one in every 13 pupils and a report by Michael Wood, the city’s education director, shows the efforts being made to integrate them.
Dundee City Council has a legal duty to promote equality and eliminate discrimination, not only on grounds of ethnicity but also religion, disability, gender and sexuality.
Mr Wood said the aim was to ensure that schools ”are best meeting the needs of all their pupils”.
There are around 17,300 children at city schools, just under 1,300 of them from ethnic minorities.
Many are not native English speakers and the education department’s bilingual pupil support service is there to aid them.
A survey carried out last year found that 63 languages were spoken by primary pupils, with 52 at secondary.
There were also 50 languages represented at nursery schools, an increase of two-fifths on the previous year.Lunchtime Polish clubsMr Wood said: ”BPSS are involved in the additional teaching of those children with English as an additional language (EAL).
”They support enrolment procedures, this includes enhanced information to support families who are new to English and the country.
”This service advises teaching staff of how to best meet the needs of our children with EAL.”
Fluency in English is measured on a five-point scale.
The 2011 school census listed 96 children who were new to English with another 161 at the early acquisition stage.
Another 288 were developing competence, with the remaining 625 children either competent or fluent.
Mr Wood’s report, which will be presented to councillors next week, lists some of the actions that nurseries and schools have been taking to help pupils and their families who are new to the country.
One nursery reported setting up a bilingual parents’ group, with input on play and positive behaviour.
A school said it ran a Polish club at lunchtimes where Polish pupils taught the basics of the language to other pupils and teachers. Older children provided peer support and translation for younger children.
Another said that newsletters and letters could be translated into Polish and Urdu and interpreters were invited to meetings such as parents’ nights.
The Active Schools programme has also tried to increase participation in sports by girls from ethnic minorities.