An increasing number of Portuguese families moving to work in England have been exposing their children to a school linguistically and culturally dissimilar from their home practices. This presentation will examine some critical issues concerning the adaptation of Portuguese students to schools in England. The analysis draws on interviews conducted with students and parents. These were part of a case study in a single sex (girls) secondary school in the South of England. This case study was carried out as part of the second stage of the project, "Portuguese children in British Schools: England and the Channel Islands". Having established in the first stage of the project that there were problems regarding the school achievement of the group, the case study approach was chosen as an attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of possible reasons underlying their learning. As a focus of analysis, we chose to discuss various aspects of the impact of language on the students' adaptation to school and life in England.