Survey of First Language and Ethnicity

The DfES are asking all schools, through their Local Authority, to carry out a check and re-categorisation of data on children's first languages. This development is welcomed as we have become aware of the need to improve the information schools and Local Authority have on pupil ethnicity and related data. The ethnic mix of Norfolk is changing and the number of ethnic groups is growing. Demographic trends suggest that this growth will continue for some time and further new ethnic groups will emerge. It is important that we can all respond to this growth in a positive and effective way to meet the needs of children and schools.

For several years the level of detail collected on ethnicity related data has been sufficient for our needs, but with our rapidly changing population this is no longer the case. For example, the systems used in schools do not differentiate between the different groups within the European Community and so we cannot easily identify the growing Portuguese, Polish and other communities in Norfolk. With the expansion of the EC, identification of such groups is crucial if we are to ensure appropriate support systems are in place.

The combination of accurate and more detailed ethnicity and first language data is an important step towards this so we are in a stronger position to:

• Support the planning and implementation of equality and diversity strategies.


• Report on pupil performance taking account of ethnicity and first language.


• Enable schools to monitor the outcomes for children from different ethnic groups.


• Better understand the cultural heritage of pupils and build an environment that is inclusive for all.


• Move towards an environment with greater language awareness and an openness to different cultures.


• Ensure designated funding is distributed to schools in response to ethnicity and first language needs.


• Ensure LA services and resources are deployed taking account of accurate ethnicity and first language information.

To achieve this the DfES is asking you to undertake a census of children to check and re-categorise their first language and the LA is asking that we use this opportunity to check and redefine the information we hold on ethnicity. The combination of improved data in these two areas will resolve current difficulties. Detailed guidance on completing this is provided here and a summary is given below. You will see from the guidance that the census should be carried out in November & December for collection as part of the normal January school census.

The Admission Form has been updated to reflect these changes. Please download and use the latest version.

The Nature of the Survey

We want to minimise the work involved in this survey. We have therefore supplied a tool that you can use with Phoenix to get an Excel report on the currently recorded ethnicity and first language of all pupils (see the full guidance for this).

The main focus of the data quality concerns are pupils currently recorded with ethnicity codes WOTH (Any other white background), MWAS (White and Asian), BAFR (Black - African) and OOTH (Any other ethnic group). These groups will be discontinued and so need to be broken down to tighter ethnic descriptions. At the same time we need to confirm the first language details of the same pupils.

With this in mind please use the Phoenix report provided to assess the quality of the data you are holding and from this take one of the following options:

1. Full Survey: Carry out a survey of all pupils to check all the data you hold on ethnicity and first language.
2. Partial Survey: Carry out a survey of all pupils you currently have categorised as WOTH, MWAS, BAFR and OOTH plus other categories that you feel should be checked for quality purposes.
3. Minimum Survey: Carry out a survey of all pupils you currently have recorded as WOTH, MWAS, BAFR and OOTH. This is the minimum option that all schools are required to carry out.

When the above survey is completed you should (a) be confident about the accuracy of all of this data and (b) have re-categorised those pupils currently in the 4 ethnic groups identified above.

We appreciate that this will not be a welcome task, but thank you for your work on this and I hope we will all soon benefit from having quality ethnicity and first language data.

Further sources of information