Secondary school pupils have successfully trained to become interpreters for fellow classmates with little or no English.

Fifteen pupils from Nightingale Academy, in Edmonton, have completed the special programme and are now able to translate into Bulgarian, Spanish, Romanian, Turkish, Polish, Italian, Kurdish and Portuguese.

Seven more students have begun their training and will join the rest of the team in after completing the course in around two weeks time.

The team’s primary role will be to translate in teacher meetings with parents, and to help with phone calls and open evenings.

Dagmara Fiedler, interpreter co-ordinator at Nightingale Academy, said: “This builds the interpreters confidence and makes them feel proud as they have an important role in school.

“These skills could even lead to careers for them.

“We are looking to recruit even more students and cover more languages in future.”