An entire Sydney school is made up of students who did not grow up speaking English, it has been revealed.
All of the students at Wiley Park Public School in Western Sydney have a ‘language background other than English’ according to the Daily Telegraph.
Between the school’s 520 students, 39 different languages are spoken from 31 countries, including Arabic, Bengali and Vietnamese.
Education experts have warned that students at public schools will suffer due to the creation of a two-tiered education system.
All of the students at Wiley Park Public School (pictured) have a ‘language background other than English’
At Hampden Park Public School, 99 per cent of students speak a language other than English
At another west Sydney school, Hampden Park Public School, 99 per cent of students have a ‘language background other than English’.
Seven other schools in the area have 98 per cent of students in the ‘language background other than English’ category, including Punchbowl Boys’ High School, Punchbowl Public School, Greenacre Public School and Belmore Boys’ High School.
In west Sydney 63 schools have more than 90 per cent of students who have grown up speaking a language other than English.
The average for schools in New South Wales is 52 per cent, in north Sydney it rises to 59 per cent, 60 per cent in the city’s southwest and 65 per cent in the west.
St Andrew’s Cathedral School principal John Collier told the Telegraph schools needed to allocate significant resources to literacy programs for students who do not have English-speaking backgrounds.
At Punchbowl Boys’ High School, 98 per cent of students are from a non-English background
The average for students with a non-English speaking background at schools in New South Wales is 52 per cent (Belmore Boys’ High School pictured)
Teachers are asking for more funds to help with literacy (Punchbowl Public School pictured)
‘We find that some students who arrive here in kindergarten don’t speak any English at all even though they are local children.
‘They have been born here in Australia to parents from overseas.
‘It is a growing issue as Australia becomes more multicultural.’