To ask how this can be anything other than racism?

[SuedeEffectPochette]

local opposition to proposed new secondary state boarding school. Here

www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/apr/21/labour-race-row-west-sussex-academy

I listened to some woman on the radio saying she was concerned for the children being part of this "experiment". Really? It is surely NIMBYism to oppose this isn't it? Lucky children who live in Lambeth I say, and I hope it means that you all get a better education.

[HoHoHoNoYouDont]

I quite like the idea, I think it will give the kids some breathing space away from inner city problems. However, if I was a resident of the village I would have concerns too. Nothing to do with the colour/race of the kids but more about what they may be getting up to if let loose in the town etc. I'm sure they won't always have a guardian with them.

But, at the end of the day, they should be tackling the problems the kids face rather than just moving the kids away from it. The problems aren't going to go away on their own.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

clicky link What an ARSE! He should resign or be sacked the wanker.

It sounds like an amazing school....it's going to be amazing for the kids to board and amazing for the local community to have a chance to host kids from a variety of cultures.

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

HoHOHO would you be concerned if Eton moved their children to a site near you? Or would you assume they'd be well behaved? Why shouldn't these kids have a chance to live rurally?

[SuedeEffectPochette]

But the kids are not going to be let loose are they? The site that they are proposing to use used to be a school, and they didn't have problems then.......

[NeoMaxiZoomDweebie]

Suede some people have the idea that non white kids are feral and will escape.

[Xenia]

I think the site used to be a much much smaller school and the land is used by local dog walkers etc but I am sure that can be compensated for.

I think it will be first 100% free state boarding. The others you pay the boarding fees for but not tuition. So I suppose if the people who beat you up are at your school what this achieves is to lock you up with your bullies Monday to Friday with no escape. If those who beat you up are off site then it gives you a release from that in the week.

The teachers will need to work boarding school teacher hours.

[HoHoHoNoYouDont]

Yes Neo, ANY school regardless of the background of the students. It has nothing at all to do with that.

[ubik]

It is classic NImbyism tinged with racism. I am sure if Eton opened a new school there the residents would be delighted.

[5Foot5]

I read about this in The Time and thought it sounded a great idea.

The school will be a weekly boarding school and it sounded like the children will be on the premises pretty much all the time they are there so unlikely to be "let loose" in the near by town.

I think the outspoken councillor has since resigned.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Xenia,

But that's true of all boarding schools,or are you meaning to imply its more likely at a state one.

[CloudsAndTrees]

It's racist to open a school with the intention that 97% of the students will exclude one race.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't get it.

[Xenia]

Sock, yes that's true. It's one of the reasons why when I could easily afford boarding schools for my children I would not send them.

[Fargo86]

I wouldn't like it to happen in my town.

[sherbetpips]

I went to school in the US and we had a METCO programme that allowed the gifted students from the inner city areas to come to our suburbian school. they hated it, most of the students just acted out and didnt perform academically as they would have done if someone hadn't taken them out of there local environment and forced them to go somewhere 'nice'. Sounded a good idea and they at least graduated but it felt very racist and was very unintegrated.

[DionFortune]

"Ninety-seven per cent of pupils will be black or Asian," he said. "It depends what type of Asian. If they're Chinese, they'll rise to the top. If they're Indian they'll rise to the top. If they're Pakistani they won't."

He said while there were certain nationalities who valued hard work, there were also "certain nationalities where they are uncertain what this hard work is all about".

OMFG!

[lljkk]

The Tory councillor (Cherry) is saying racist things.

I suspect that most the village oppose the school out of sheer xenophobia/NIMBYism. Not racism, strictly speaking.

I hooted at the comment about dangers of children outside their "natural" surroundings. You know, like the children of landed gentry are "naturally" better suited to boarding school or summat, must be to do with their patrician heritage I guess.

[DontmindifIdo]

Suede - while he is obviously racist, a lot of the local objection is the scale of the school - the one that was previously on the site was for only 100 pupils, it will now be 600 or more. The new school will need to build several buildings to accomodate the much larger numbers.

[Szeli]

He resigned last week.

His comments were racist and ridiculous x

[Pigsmummy]

This was in the news on Monday, the man retracted his comments and resigned. Yes it was outrageous racism to say what he said so yanbu

[PatPig]

I guess if I lived in a quiet village in Sussex, I wouldn't be particularly pleased with this. Brixton is effectively a different country from Stedham.

Cllr. Cherry is old and stuck in his ways, and he is now being investigated by the thought police as a result:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-22262117

It's not however clear why the new school should take 97% black pupils. That's not the demographic of London, Sussex, or even Brixton.

[PatPig]

Basically what has happened is

1. Old stuck-in-his-ways Tory makes stuck-in-the-past racist generalisations
   

1. Big drama is made about some old bloke in Sussex having outdated opinions. National news.
   

1. Meanwhile anyone else who is opposed to this school being built in sleepy Sussex is smeared by association as probably racist too, by metropolitan London dwellers - 'Hahaha look at these silly provincial types, don't they know this is progress, sneer sneer, sneer'.
   

It's a very effective technique for closing down debate.

[DontmindifIdo]

Can I point out as well, if you lived in a rural area, and found a new school was being built on your doorstep, that would require a lot of distruption and extra strain on local services, but that no local children would be able to apply for the school in their village, but have to travel to the next school, how happy would you be with that? You would have the downsides of having a very large secondary school built in a village, but local families won't benefit from it.

[ubik]

"Ninety-seven per cent of pupils will be black or Asian," he said. "It depends what type of Asian. If they're Chinese, they'll rise to the top. If they're Indian they'll rise to the top. If they're Pakistani they won't."

Bloody hell.

[SuedeEffectPochette]

Any child in the school's Lambeth catchment can apply but that has a 97% black and ethnic minority rate so therefore school would be 97% black and minority, yes. I would be pissed off if I lived there and my kids couldn't get in, in truth, yes. However, it doesn't work to set it up as taking the local kids does it? They don't need to board for a start.

[Blu]

I think that might be close to the demographic of Durand.

And it isn't aimed deliberately at a certain percentage of black children, (for heaven's sake) it is the secondary provision of a s london school, and will represent whoever is at the school.

The idea behind the school is that children, who typically do very welll and achieve top results in Durand (as in many Lambeth schools), are not then disadvantaged by a negative local or family environment as they progress thorugh secondary. These are not chidren being removed because they themselves need 'dealing with', they are normal children.

Brixton may well have many differences from Sussex, but I fail to see why children from Chelsea or westminster can be shipped out to boarding schools in the country but inner city s london kids must remain ghetto-ised where they are.

The whole reaction stinks to high heaven. The DM reported on the residents meeting that raised the belief that these children would need to be 'searched daily for weapons'.

The vast majority of young people in Brixton and Stockwell are well behaved children wanting to do well - just like anywhere else. Unfortunately, due to years of complex pressures and circumstances boys who have the potential to do well sometimes become involved in gang activity as the only way they see to stay safe. It is this cycle the Head of the school is trying to avoid, I think.

In breaking cycles of underachivement THE WHOLE COUNTRY will benefit.