A front-page Daily Express story claiming that English was starting to "die out" in some British school classrooms was inaccurate, press regulator IPSO has ruled.

Jonathan Portes complained about the front-page story from 24 July, headlined “311 languages spoken in our schools”. The sub headline read: "Special investigation: classrooms where English is starting to die out."

The online version said: “311 languages [are] spoken in our schools as English starts to die out”.

It reported that English-speaking pupils are “becoming a minority in hundreds of classrooms”, that in some schools English is “hardly heard at all”, and that there are schools where “foreign languages have overtaken English”.

It said this was due to a“decades-long open door policy on immigration”, and referred to data obtained from the Department for Education.

IPSO said in its ruling that the article "made clear assertions of fact that English 'is starting to die out' in schools and that English was 'hardly heard at all' in some schools. These claims distorted the data cited by the newspaper, which did not include any information about the frequency with which English was spoken in schools, by either pupils or teachers.

"This was a particularly concerning case because the inaccuracies had been repeated throughout the entire article, including prominently in print in the front-page sub-headline, and because they were central to the report, on a matter of significant public importance."

It said that a proposal from the Express to correct the story on its letters page was inadequate.

It said: "The article’s central claim – which was both dramatic and significant – was substantially undermined by the inaccuracies and the newspaper had failed to comply with its obligations under Clause 1 [of the Editors' Code] to correct it. In such circumstances, a reference to the adjudication must be published on the front page, directing readers to the full adjudication, which should be published on page seven.

"The front-page reference should include a headline making clear that IPSO has upheld the complaint, and refer to its subject matter; it must be agreed in advance. It should also be published on the newspaper’s website, with a link to the full adjudication appearing on the homepage for 48 hours; it should then be archived online in the usual way."