Children without English as a first language outperforming classmates

The first set of national data on children’s mental arithmetic has revealed that children who do not speak English as a first language outperformed their classmates. The multiplication-table checks of more than 625,000 Year Four pupils in England showed the average score for those with a first language of English was 19.4 out of 25 but 21.2 for pupils with a first language other than English. The results also showed the average score for disadvantaged pupils was 17.9, while the average score for pupils not known to be disadvantaged was 20.5. For all pupils, the overall average score was 19.8 out of 25. Meanwhile, over a quarter (27%) of all pupils got full marks. The schools minister Nick Gibb said: “Learning your times tables fluently is so important for children – both for their time in school and in day-to-day life, and today’s data gives us an important benchmark to build from over the years to come.”

Source: The Daily Telegraph