A FUSION of languages from across the globe will inspire pupils at an Oxford school after thousands of pounds was dished out to educate youngsters.

East Oxford Primary School was given a £3,000 handout to buy an assortment of colourful multilingual books for children speaking English as a second language.

The lump sum of funding will support the 80 per cent of youngsters at the Union Street school who speak an eclectic mix of 30 different languages.

Headteacher at the 300-pupil school Russell Kaye said: "I think it's important that we celebrate and recognise all the different languages that we have here, and that's part of a child's identity and they should not lose that.

"It feels like we are going to make a big difference to the children by doing this. I think this is a real asset for the children who come to the school."

Mr Kaye said the ‘amazing’ variety of languages spoken at the school include Urdu, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Swedish.

Oxford-based St Michael's and All Saints' Charities awarded the lump sum of cash to the school for the collection of children's books last autumn.

Books bursting with vivid pictures and adventurous tales, including creations penned by much-loved author Roald Dahl, now sit in trolleys waiting to be picked by youngsters and their parents.

The trolleys are rolled out into the playground on Thursdays, when parents can pluck a multilingual book from the collection and read it with their children at home.

Mr Kaye, who has been at the helm of the school for almost three years, said parents have been 'really interested' in the new scheme, which is open to all pupils at the school.

He added: "We thought taking the books to the parents would perhaps be easier than getting them to come inside the school.

"It helps children to actually be bilingual. We have lots of children who speak different languages but it's good if they can read and write in different languages too.

"We also have a lot of children here temporarily, here for one or two years, and then they go back overseas and have to pick up their studies overseas. It's important that they keep up with learning to read and write in their own language."

Mr Kaye went on to say the book scheme will also support families where opportunities to sit and read with their children are limited due to parents not speaking English at home.

Celebrations marking the 'exciting' book scheme were held earlier this month, when Kashmiri-born Lord Mayor of Oxford Mohammed Altaf-Khan revealed his experiences as a second language learner during an event at the school.

The school is looking to expand its collection of books, as well as the range of languages catered for, as the new scheme unravels.