Project hopes to support multilingual children in Jersey

Sixty-two languages are spoken in Jersey's schools and many young people provide translation for their families

A project aimed at supporting young people from multilingual families on Jersey has had a "real impact", an assistant minister has said.

Sixty-two languages are spoken in the island's schools with Portuguese, Polish and Romanian the most common among multilingual pupils.

The project, which provides meetings and events, has welcomed more than 250 people since its first session in 2022.

Connétable Richard Vibert said the numbers showed it was a "success".

The pilot scheme has been funded by the government with the aim of increasing engagement from people who speak multiple languages.

Connétable Vibert, the assistant minister for children and education, said it was originally proposed in 2019 and since then, interviews and focus groups with 164 representatives of the different groups had taken place.

He said they had found multilingual young people were often required to provide translation for their families and were less likely to access health services and take part in extra-curricular activities.

He added that the research had "identified some of these barriers" and the scheme was working to lessen them.

The government said that alongside the existing events, a senior youth club would be introduced for young people aged 13 to 18 and more multilingual workers would be recruited to support the service's weekly sessions.

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