SCHOOLS have been called on by the prime minister of Poland to teach to language to their pupils.

The subject of teaching Polish in English schools was discussed during talks between the prime minister and her European counterpart this week.

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However, in many schools in East Lancashire, the subject is already taught with teachers supporting pupils to gain formal qualifications in their native tongue.

Headteachers have said there are increasing numbers of Polish and other Eastern European children schooled in the area.

Xavier Bowers, headteacher at Mount Carmel RC High School in Accrington, said: “We already teach Polish to a selection of our students and have entered several of them at GCSE in the subject.

“We think it’s important to reinforce the knowledge of their native tongue and also support students who go to a Saturday morning learning club elsewhere in Accrington that’s held every week and there’s also the opportunity for those who wish to attend mass in Polish at a service in Blackburn.

“We have two members of staff who speak Polish who were hired in part for those skills who help those students with their English.”

Ian Adlington, headteacher at Marsden Heights School in Brierfield, said: “We have 29 different nationalities at the school and for around 75 per cent of them English is an additional language.

“An increasing number of our students are from Eastern European backgrounds and the school makes every effort to get them formal qualifications in their native language, including Polish.”

In a visit to the UK earlier this week, the Polish prime minister spoke to Theresa May about the possibility of teaching Polish as a language to pupils in British schools.

Beata Szydło said she also raised the possibility of cooperation between universities in the two countries and more student exchanges.

After a meeting in Downing Street, she said: “We also spoke about the support for our community, we spoke about the possibility of teaching Polish as a language in British schools, we spoke about many different things that are important to those Polish people who live in the UK.”

Last week, Poland’s foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski made a similar request of the government in Ireland, where large numbers of Polish children also live.