Many clans

With pupils representing 32 nationalities from across the world, Dalry Primary in Edinburgh celebrates cultural diversity and the benefits it delivers for our young people. Nicola More pays a visit.

Dalry Primary may be housed in a grand old Victorian building, but inside, its corridors are the epitome of modern, cosmopolitan society.

Hanging from the balconies are banners declaring ‘One nation, many clans’ and ‘One clan, many families’. The gym hall is adorned with no less than 32 colourful flags - flags representing pupils from South America, Papua New Guinea, India and Poland to name but a few. Hanging on the wall are pupils’ drawings of a fireman - these firemen have different coloured skin and in many cases a young Indian artist has drawn a white fireman, or a white artist a black fireman.

'We just see a child who needs to learn,' says headteacher David Fleming. 'It doesn’t matter where they’re from. We currently have 300 pupils and 53% of those are new to English. Our record books show that we have always had a high number of international pupils, from Spanish people during the civil war in the 30s to Germans between the wars. So our school community has always reflected what’s happening in the world. We see it as a positive thing - many companies today are multinational and our pupils will be entirely unphased by that.'

David takes something of a pastoral approach to his role as headteacher, offering pupils and parents support and guidance through the school. Recognising that parents are the biggest influence on a pupil’s ability to learn English, the school offers adult tuition in English language.

This is offered both through a formal class structure and through fun pilates lessons, which reduce the sense of isolation and create a welcoming social network. Both parents and pupils can also keep their own language fresh in mind through the school’s classes in Arabic, Polish, Bengali and Urdu.

The school’s social calendar is equally multicultural. Regardless of nationality, pupils take part in Mehndi handpainting to celebrate the Muslim festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr, enjoy a meal at Ramadan and celebrate Scottish traditions such as Burns Supper. Recently the school combined Diwali with Remembrance, creating a touching link between a time of light and of darkness.

'We take a holistic view of education that extends beyond 9-3,' says David. “What we try to do in creating this community centred around the school is to provide a substitute for the intergenerational family these children miss out on. Life in a foreign county can be lonely so we do everything we can to give people a warm welcome.'

Of course, having such a large number of non-English speaking pupils does not come without its challenges. In that sense Dalry Primary School has nothing but the highest praise for the City of Edinburgh Council’s English as an Additional Language (EAL) support team. The school has three EAL teachers and three bilingual support teachers funded by the city, plus 'an army of volunteers' from the surrounding community.

David personally believes that the challenges are far outweighed by the benefits. 'We’re very well supported here in Edinburgh, and although it takes some pupils a bit longer to catch up, they do make a great contribution. We have a lot of experience in this area and we work within the parameters of the resources we’ve got. I have found these pupils to be highly motivated, hard working and well behaved. Given the choice, who wouldn’t want to fill their school up with pupils like this?'