School refusing to provide translator

Of course is BS.

I thought that's why migrants wanted to live in Britain, over other countries in Europe, because they can already speak some English?

Or was that bullshit?

It also suggests that the parents aren't working, either.

So, you're the one paying for this, OP!

Yeah, good luck to them getting a dentist.
There was a dentist on the local news that night saying he'd just returned from a volunteer stint in a refugee camp in Jordan. He said the refugees there had better easier access to dental care than we do in the UK. His solution to improve access here was to throw all working age people off his list and open it up to new NHS patients but only if they were under 18 or over 80.

I've gotten to know a lot of Ukrainians here through one we had living with us. They go back to Ukraine for medical and dental treatment because they can't get it here.

Another country simply wouldn't do it.

We're the only mugs who constantly bend over backwards to help people who don't/won't help themselves.

When in Rome, etc.

Sorry, but the school is in England. Every letter should be in English.
I have zero sympathy for those who decided to move here and want everybody to pander to them because they won't assimilate or learn the language.
My son is in year two, several parents had just moved here when they started reception. They didn't speak much English but took it upon themselves to learn and now we chat together in the playground no problem. They never, ever put the onus on the school or made it anybody else's problem.

People on this thread are showing their ignorance by applying their own western values about family and education to cultures that are very, very different. In some places parents are happy to sell their daughters to a man who gives them enough money. Do you really think these sort of parents care enough about their children to learn English for their education's sake? You have a better chance at integrating the children if they are properly supported via school.

Maybe because he didn't want to put extra responsibility completely outside of their work description on them...
Tbh I am kind of with him. I would not be happy acting in that position. When something goes wrong after, I would get the blame.

They're getting free healthcare, dentists, schools, housing etc the least they can do is learn the language.

The op mentioned that a meeting was held (in English) to exclude a child which the Polish speaking mother did not understand. The head refused to allow any staff member in to translate even though there were staff who could have done so.

I like how I can't even guess which one gives you sweats😂 Could go either way

If it is a choice between translation and staff or materials then I'd support a head who chose the latter to be honest. This is the world we are living in the education budgets leaving schools having to make such choices.

However I do think that accommodations need to be made for quasi-legal processes like exclusion and so a misjudgement has been made there.

An IRP would overturn the exclusion if the parents effectively had no access to paperwork

Having a meeting to exclude a child in a language that the mother isn't fluent in, especially when there are people on site who could translate, is just cruel. Frankly, I'm surprised it's legal

How is it exclusion? They are welcome to attend English lessons, lots of colleges have free English lessons, there will be other parents who speak the language and if asked by the parent would happily attend. This isn’t a school problem. This is a parent problem.

Schools can’t be everything to everyone. Nor can they afford to bear the brunt of the cost.

The school doesn't have an intimate amount of money to keep paying for translation services. And it isn't a one size fits all, I imagine there are many many languages. So budget is getting consumed by this which is effecting the entire student body.

Personally if you move tona country you should learn the language so a bit of tough love might make some of these families buck up their ideas.

I doubt the intentions of the head teacher which makes me dislike this policy. I think that a previous poster is correct that the head wants to change the ethnic make up of the school.

Having a meeting to exclude a child in a language that the mother isn't fluent in, especially when there are people on site who could translate, is just cruel. Frankly, I'm surprised it's legal.

It's also the punitive way that the head brought this in. If he had said "The school language is English - let's think of ways that we can use more English with parents and only have interpreters very occasionally." that would feel different. A half way decent head should be able to think of suitable pictures and photos to put on letters to make the content and context clear.

Primary school English is also surprisingly difficult and has a lot of cultural capital attached to it. Eg "Monday is an inset day." doesn't make it clear that children shouldn't be at school that day.

The fundamental issue is that a country has for decades implemented immigration and integration policies that were guaranteed and predicted to result in this outcome, yet all your governments did it anyway.

The fact so many are responding by tying yourselves up in knots about the ethics of who should pay is just more of the same. It's civilizational scale self-harm. I can fully understand why many of the beneficiaries would be unmotivated to learn the language of cultures that have so demonstrably lost the plot.

@sashh I agree with you, but look how many posters say just use a child, a friend, a neighbour. Most things will be simple, but I think everyone deserves confidentiality and respect. I don’t have an answer about how to fund it.

Why do the school have to fund it? Why can't the parents fund it? I would never have expected my DDs school or any other authority to have provided

@melj1213 replace family integration with SEN, dyslexia, gender identity theory etc

Schools should fund it because it ultimately benefits their students

There is usually a minimum booking of 2 hours, so if it is 15 mins actual interpreting you are paying for 120 mins.

There are cancelation fees. So if the parents don't turn up you are still paying the 120 mins, if you know ahead the parents are not attending you might get away with a £50 cancelation fee.

Most interpreters work via agencies so you are paying for the agency as well.

You are also paying for the travelling expenses of the interpreter.

Interpreters need insurance, the consequences of getting something wrong can be devastating.

You are paying for the skill of the interpreter, some things a 7 year old can translate but not everything.

I've come across two children in totally different settings who have said they lived in a 'terrorist' house. In both cases it was a terraced house, but the children mixed up the words.

In healthcare a child often doesn't have the vocabulary, and even if they do, does a 9 year old boy want to ask his grandmother when her last period was?

Interpretation is about more than just being fluent in two or more languages, there is also cultural mediation taking place at the same time.

Eg if a Deaf person signs that they went to a Deaf school the audience perceive that differently, Deaf people generally see Deaf schools as positive experiences, hearing audiences often think 'special school = bad', so an interpretation might be, "I was lucky enough to attend a Deaf school"

Thank you for pointing this out. They are indeed very different. One of them I do day in, day out, while the thought of doing the other makes me break out in a cold sweat...

Re sen there was a child of italian mum in dd2 class. He was behind and school told parent that at moving up to school but he still moved up. Within 6 months he had moved back to prescho ol into the year below. It wasnt lack of language to understand that he was behind. But the parent just didnt want to drop him back a year.
i think like a pp said for whatever reason parents may not agree some sen exist at all etc.

I agree the language courses can be unaccessible without driving. Generally adult ed has declined and price up hugely. And i think its affecting people wanting z career change

Do you mean older retirees that have moved somewhere sunny? As all the British people I know who have moved abroad (I know a fair few due to my husband's line of work) who have children have generally made an effort to learn the language that their children are being taught in. I mean why wouldn't you want to be able to speak the same language as your kids?

Nope. Not retirees, although there are Brits who retire and carry on living here in their retirement.

And "generally make the effort to learn" isn't enough. You have to actively learn it, more than being able to order a coffee or buy some train tickets. There are plenty of Brits abroad, with kids, who don't. Some circumvent it by putting their kids in "British" or "International" schools which teach in English. Then you get kids who have spent their whole life in a country and can't do much more than the basics in the language. I actually know someone whose daughter was struggling to find work because she didn't have enough of the local language to be able to work. This kid even has a passport from the country!

but to stay for longer than a few months would be great instead of flying back and forth

Like other countries, they can’t stay too long because they’d become tax residents.

@OspreyLambo well I’m certainly too chicken to ask anyone 🤣

Of course I’m probably wrong. There are so many ways I’m sure - you mentioned work visas in restaurants, then there’s marriage, dependant parents etc. It may maybe just looks that way to me but perhaps it’s happening in other ways.

Sorry your parents can’t make it over!