'Changing times as school finds no Irish-born pupils enrolling'

Changes in the population were brought into focus yesterday when a Dublin school
revealed there isn't a single Irish-born pupil among those enrolled in its
infant classes for next year.

The school is in the north inner city, where already nearly half the pupils are
minority ethnic and language students, and that percentage is rising.

Figures from eight local schools in the Dublin 7 area show that there are 1,839
pupils enrolled this year -- of whom nearly half, or 855, are minority ethnic
and language students.

In one of the schools, 63pc of pupils are from an ethnic minority. Another
school with only 292 pupils has 26 minority languages students, while a third
with 378 pupils has 25 languages spoken, according to a report launched
yesterday.

The report does not identify the school where no Irish have applied for places
in September, but says that may change as demand for places increases.

Dublin 7 is identified as an area of educational disadvantage by the report,
which took account of literacy, early school leaving, access to education,
academic under-achievement and underdevelopment of interpersonal and social
skills.

It adds that the north inner city has a significantly higher than average number
of ethnic minority residents, standing at 34pc of the population -- or three
times the national average, according to the 2006 Census.

Read more:
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/changing-times-as-school-finds-no-irishborn-pupils-enrolling-1397401.html

Ray