Mayor Bill Randall officially opened the Brighton and Hove Bilingual Primary School today (Friday 28 September).
Councillor Randall said: “Generally we don’t teach languages well in this country. We generally start language teaching late on in school life.”
He said that it was a perpetual embarrassment when he went abroad to hear so many people speak English so well while so few English people could speak anyone else’s language.
But with a billion native Spanish speakers around the world, including in many of the southern states of America, the Brighton and Hove mayor highlighted the importance of learning languages.
The mayor said that there were many Spanish speakers in the diverse city of Brighton and Hove.
He said that he learnt French at school and that it had stayed with him and he added: “I’m glad to see that the school is embracing the spirit of partnership with the council and other schools which is so fruitful in this city.
“It’s another string in the educational bow and future prosperity of this city.”
Councillor Andrew Wealls, who helped the founders of the bilingual primary school to turn their dream into reality, said: “I’ve been a passionate supporter of the school because there’s so much evidence that children with a bilingual education do well – and not just in languages but in all subjects.
“Brighton and Hove thrives on digital industries, media industries and tourism. We need to educate a workforce for the future.
“We need to have bilingual children who can reach out to the Spanish speaking and other people’s of the world.
“I started learning Spanish when I was 22 and my Spanish is absolutely dreadful because I didn’t have the opportunities that these children have.”
Councillor Wealls, who ended his speech in Spanish, praised Marina Gutierrez, the school’s founder and chair of governors, and head teacher Carolina Gopal.
The school is Britain’s first state-funded fully bilingual primary school and was set up under the free schools programme.
He said: “I hope this is not going to be the Bilingual Primary School but the first in a chain of bilingual primary schools.
“This is truly transformational for our country.
“It started here in Brighton and Hove with this team who made it happen.”
Mrs Gutierrez praised the dedicated group of parents who shared her vision and worked with her to set up the school.
She said: “The children have always been our inspiration in a world where employment prospects are improved by having more than one language.”
The school is based temporarily in the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy’s new building in Falmer while it searches for a permanent home in Hove or Portslade.
Academy head Phil Hogg said: “We are delighted that we have this resource. It’s absolutely fantastic to be able to share it with the Billingual Primary School.
“They are very much an inspiration not just to my staff but to some of our older children too who now realise that if a four-year-old can learn another language they can do it.”
Her Year 11 pupils put their catering lessons to good use, laying on a high quality spread of tapas.
Honor Wilson-Fletcher, the director of the Aldridge Foundation, praised the new school and its head, saying: “Carolina is an inspirational leader. We share an absolute conviction that there are no limits to what young people can do with our support.”
She said that she was learning Spanish in the hope of joining pupils at Portslade Aldridge Community Academy on a school trip to Costa Rica. But she had to achieve GCSE standard by next year to qualify for a place.
Carolina Gopal, head teacher of the Bilingual Primary School, said: “I had the good fortune to be raised in a bilingual home.
“For many years it has been my dream to share more widely the benefits of my experience as a bilingual learner.
“And having spent much of my childhood in Brighton and Hove, there is nowhere better to begin this important work.
“Our school enables me to give something back to a community that provided so richly for me in the past.”
