English as an additional language (EAL) and language diversity attract much interest amongst policymakers and educationists; yet little is known about the performance in English schools of EAL pupils who are not fluent in English and speak different languages at home. The findings of the aggregated data confirm that EAL pupils achieved less well…

The aim of this article is to explore the attainment of Eastern European children in primary schools in England. The research draws on detailed National Pupil Database and school census data for 586,181 pupils who completed Key Stage 2 in England in 2016. Two methodological approaches were used to analyse the data. First, the performance of all…

Examined the relationship between bilingual students' level of English fluency and academic achievement. Data on British elementary and secondary school students indicated that bilingual students who were not fluent in English tended to do less well in school, and bilingual students who were fully fluent in English generally outperformed their…

This paper analyses the national key stage 2 test results for 2300 11-year-old pupils in an inner London LEA. A range of concurrent pupil background data was also collected, including whether pupils spoke English as an additional language (EAL), and if so, their stage of fluency in English. EAL pupils at the early stages (1-3) of developing…