Is it wrong to choose a school on the basis of ethnicity?

Oh, and my white dd hates X factor and has never watched Eastenders. Even white kids aren't some kind of generic mass as you seem to imply.

minifingers - not true. DD1's Asian friends use a lot of slang she doesn't get and refer to cultural references she doesn't share eg Bollywood etc. Plus they don't really ever get to share a social life as they only go out with Asian friends/family out of school - no parties, discos, gigs, the kind of stuff I did at her age. Luckily, she's now managed to make some friends out of school and stayed in touch with some friends from primary so is starting to have a bit of a social life again. But it's just not true to say that all British kids have the same shared culture. Obviously it depends on the individual and some Asian girls will live pretty Westernised lives - but some really won't, however much you want to pretend there is no difference between different cultures.

"Gosh, you're all a tolerant lot. I wouldn't want my dcs to have no-one at all in their class who shared their culture/values."

If your child is at school in the uk the vast majority of children there will be British born children.

The stuff which matters - their feelings about youth culture, Eastenders, X-factor, books, films etc - they will find shared interests.

Gosh, you're all a tolerant lot. I wouldn't want my dcs to have no-one at all in their class who shared their culture/values. DD1 is the only white girl in her group of about 9 friends - it is a bit of a problem as they make a lot of in-jokes she doesn't get and they don't go out at all as usually doing family stuff. That said, about half her class are white and she chose the Asian girls as friends so it was an active choice. But dd2 has a mainly white group of friends and they're out all the time at sleepovers etc - again her choice, as about 2/3 of her class are non-white. I just think dd2 is having a better time.

I decided against sending them to my old school, now about 75% non-white because I had heard of racist bullying of the white kids and didn't want my dcs to have to through that.

Of course ethnic mix matters. As an adult, if I worked in a workplace, say, or went to a party where I was the only white person, I'd probably feel a bit self-conscious. Why should we expect nervous adolescents whose greatest desire is to blend in at that age, to find it any easier? If I was black, I'm sure I'd rather my dcs' school had some other black kids in. Why is that unreasonable? It's not fair to expect kids to have the confidence to be trailblazers.

@ Theas18

Clean - I wouldn't lump all Asian people, or all Muslim people as one group, no! LOL But in some parts of some cities - I have no idea where the OP lives of course - then you do get communities from certain areas of certain countries, and yes, then there can be wider cultural divides.

For example, the young man in Glasgow on 21 Up that I was watching from last Monday, talking when he was 14.

For those who doubt " their friends won't be allowed to do teenage things". For us it's never been an issue .

On the contrary it's actually nice to know the parents of the 14-15 yr old who's party your child is going to REALLY won't allow alcohol in the house.

Back are you referring to a particular group? If it's Asians or Muslims you're referring to then I should mention that my niece is at an ethnically diverse school with a high percentage of Muslims. She is always out at the cinema/town/nandos / bowling and has just returned from being on holiday with her friends family. I agree with the poster who said that teens of every race colour and culture usually tend to be interested in the same things the world over.

Yes minifingers but when they are 15, most dc in western culture, want a little bit of freedom to go out with their mates - as I said above, swimming, dancing, shopping, cinema, weekends away with youth groups, etc. Some cultures do not allow their teens to do this. Now, if it were a lovely mixed school with all sorts of families from all sorts of backgrounds in it, then great, but if there were almost all of one culture there that didn't allow their young people those kind of freedoms, then that would impact upon my dcs' social lives if they were a lone 1 or 2% of the population that did. In that case, then culture of the families, does become important.

Mine went from a very white primary to an ethnically diverse , white minority grammar .it was fine, in fact more than fine, it was bril.

I think the person who said " same values" was right - primary the kids were not " like them". In the grammar they were. Skin colour and country of origin irrelevant.

Children are children - they will be interested in the same things: football, sports, sweets, tv, computer games. That's what kids talk about in school the world over.

My son is the only Caucasian boy in his class.

He doesn't care and scarcely notices.

I'd not want my child to attend a school where his peer group had very different values from those espoused at home.

I'd also consider EAL.
I've worked in a school which was excellent, attained top marks in all inspections and had a lovely atmosphere.....but I wouldn't have sent my TV own kids there because nobody else would have had English as their first language. I find this has a serious impact on the level of class discussions....and attainment, really.

I agree with the other posters. It really depends on whether the 98% is a different but diverse group or 98% different and homogenous.

I would agree with others and it depends how mixed it actually is. I am very pro highly diverse schools and but also a school which suits my DC in every other way too - sports, friends with similar interests, right level of academic pressure.

There are two other children in my dd's year at school with the same ethnic origin as her. It has never been an issue for is at all, but it's a very diverse and inclusive school.

If all of the 98% were of the same ethnic group as one another, I guess I'd want to consider whether that was likely to have an impact on my child, but as a general rule, if go for the excellent academic school without hesitation.

Depends - 50 different groups and 2% of each is very different from 98% one specific group and 2% something else. Although eg ethnic Chinese families in the Highlands of Scotland cope (not always happily) because they simply have no choice.

Which school does your son want. He may want to go to the same school as his friends.

What racial origin are the 98%?

For me, it's to do with the culture of the families that go there.
I wouldn't want my dcs school friends to all come from backgrounds where teens are not allowed to go to discos, cinema, swimming, mixing with their friends in other friends homes, sleepovers, parties, or (eventually) choosing their own boy/girlfriend. I want my dc to be able to do all those things with their schools friends.
So whereas I couldn't give 2 hoots about the religion or the skin colour of people, I wouldn't want my dc to miss out on what I would consider to be all the "normal" things secondary age dc do.

I think it really depends. My niece is the only white girl in her class for instance, but it's fine, because the school itself is fairly mixed (Indian, Pakistani, black British etc) anyway and from what I understand, it's only ever really referred to when they're making a few jokes and no one cares less. But I think you have to see the school and ask around a bit to be sure. Equally, my best friend's DS moved schools due to how left out and isolated he felt, the only mixed race kid in his year pretty much and the school weren't do anything to stop the bullying. So from the basic facts, I don't think you can decide, as it isn't the mix/lack of but how the school handle it iyswim?

DS1 and DS2 (who are white) went from a mostly white primary to a mostly non-white secondary. The transition has been fine.

I would say just go for the school you think is the best fit for the child, and/or the one with the best pastoral care. Don't worry too much about academic or racial profile.

Part of the reason we moved house was because dd1 was the minority in her nursery class. Of the 45 children there was one other child the same ethnicity as her. The other parents wouldn't talk to me in the playground and didn't really mix outside their group. This was primary though, so a bit different.

Is your dc very academic?

I think it depends on whether the 98% are from the same background or all sorts of backgrounds. I wouldn't like my DS to feel left out.