Southend schools have been defended as foreign language teaching throughout the county came under fire.

A report from the Government's Department of Education revealed that the number of children learning languages in Essex has fallen behind other counties.

However, Southend Council's executive member for education and lifelong learning, Sally Carr, claimed that local schools have an excellent foreign language teaching record.

She said: "I can't believe what this report says is reflected in Southend. We have 12 secondary schools and two of them have language college status. That is Southend High School for Girls and Southend High School for Boys."

Published Tuesday, August 5, 2003

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