Duchess of Cambridge praises migrant school
A migrant school in the Tower Hamlets area of London where the majority of children speak English as their second language has been praised by the Duchess of Cornwall for its efforts to improve literacy.
Smithy Street school has been highlighted as a forerunner in work to better the reading skills of the East End's Bangladeshi community whose immigrant children often have poor levels of written and spoken English, the London Evening Standard reports.
Headteacher Edith Philipsen said: "Ninety-nine per cent of the children are bilingual. From day one we aim to raise standards in spoken and written English. Literacy is absolutely crucial."
She added that there has been an influx of immigrant children in recent years from the EU and that many of the youngsters need to be taught English from scratch.
Joanne Wilkins, a teacher at the school was invited to Clarence House with one of her pupils to meet Camilla, who thanked them for their work in raising money for the National Literacy Trust.
The London Evening Standard's get London reading campaign was recently recognised by the EU as an innovative scheme to encourage literacy.
