An English state school has hit the headlines this week due to the diversity of languages spoken and the multi-lingual talents of its pupils.

At St Matthew's School in Redhill, Surrey more than 40 languages are spoken by 178 pupils, from Afrikaans to Zulu.

At the 477-pupil school, head teacher Janet Lightfoot has said that some of the pupils are not just bilingual, but trilingual."Many people see this as a difficulty”, she said, “but we have all the resources in place to help the children and we celebrate our differences – it makes the school varied and special."

She said that many of the children's parents have moved to England for work, “some of the children's parents are doctors working at East Surrey Hospital; others work for local companies in Redhill or Gatwick.”

"The fact that St Matthew's is a Church of England School, with a clear Christian ethos, is appreciated by parents of all faith backgrounds which makes it a popular choice.”

"We are known within the community for our multicultural make-up, 36 per cent of the school's pupils speak more than one language, and so when people move here they are advised by other parents to try our school."

"There is also a homework club specifically for children for whom English is an additional language and whose parents might find it difficult to help them at home.

"We have to be careful with words that the children don't recognise, like 'mufti day' and 'inset day', by calling them 'non-uniform day' and 'teacher training day'."

Mrs Lightfoot explained that some of the children speak no English when they start at the school, but they receive individual lessons to help them along.

Surrey County Council's family learning team also provides classes in English for parents of pupils at the school and offer help for them to become familiar with British customs and traditions.