British schools are facing an “influx” of immigrants, and need much more government support to deal with the large numbers of new students, the chief inspector of schools has said.
Sir Michael Wilshaw said that it could become a “big issue” if schools cannot cope with the new students from other countries without having the resources to deal with them.
Speaking to LBC Radio, Sir Michael said: “Schools need the resources to deal with that. When they’re faced with an influx of children from other countries, they need the resources and capacity to deal with it and if those resources aren’t there, that’s a big issue for Government. That’s the first thing and we’ll be producing reports on this quite soon.”
His comments come just days after Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that some towns were being “swamped” with immigrants and their residents were feeling “under siege”. His comments caused considerable controversy, and he later backed down and said his words had been poorly chosen.
Earlier this year, a report by the Migration Advisory Committee said that parts of Britain are “struggling to cope” with immigration, with pressure being put on public services such as schools, health and transport.
The Department for Education said: “As part of our plan for education we are making every effort to ensure local authorities have the resources and flexibility to provide the school places needed by their communities.
“We are giving councils £5billion to spend on new school places over this parliament — double the amount allocated by the previous government over an equivalent period – and a further £2.35billion to create the places needed by September 2017. This has already led to the creation of more than 260,000 new places.
“School funding is allocated based on pupil need, whether that is special educational needs or where English is not a pupil’s first language and should a school grow in a single year, local authorities can and do top up their funding to reflect that.”
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