to avoid a primary school that has a high proportion of traveller children

[APeePleaseBob]

I live in a catchment area for several primaries so when we were thinking about schools for my DS we started be looking at Ofsted reports for the closest ones.

One of them got a 'good with some outstanding features' report but in the school make-up section it said it had a high number of traveller children in the school. It is near a well-known traveller site so this makes sense.

I have to confess this put me off and I didn't even go to see it. We have since made our selections elsewhere.

I still think about it though - AIBU to be put off? Would you have felt the same?

I'm very sorry about your sons friend MrsDeVere.

Whilst safely enconsed in private school one of my friends father's was murdered by an employee he'd fired.

You can never control everything. It's a horrible horrible truth velouria

I'm not actually predjudiced against travellers btw,like I say my experience is a bad one. Any ofsted report mentioning a large proportion of travellers would put me off, if it was a small prorportion of the school/class fair enough.

And MrsDV - I wouldn't worry too much about using the term 'LAC', I think it was me who mentioned objecting to it before, but I use it myself - I meant when SWs in particular call children LAC's (shortened) to their faces, as if they need a handy little group title.

Yeah, its that easy to move

loopy how fecking rude! (not you, the sws).

You may want to read Carmen, OP. It's not exaggerated in the slightest, and gives a completely realistic representation of the gypsy culture. Honest.

What are you so scared of. Seriously? We had an incident where gypsies set up near ours. For certain reasons, the council had to move them on, but they seemed a pretty decent bunch.

Anyway. Have you checked the proportion of Chavs attending dc's school? God forbid DC starts mixing with one of their kind!

is it just because they live in caravans?

I think it must be very tough to want to settle and be unable to. But then, you're not really a traveller in an ethnic group, you're a homeless family forced to live in a caravan because you can't afford a house.

But then, HB has meant that most people should be able to secure rented property over the last fifteen years.

It looks like wanting it both ways to me.

I have to duck out here because I don't know any travellers and don't know the motivations involved.

Although it dosent suprise me, my DD was referred to as 'the luekemic' to her face once. Just the bloody once mind.

I know that LaWeaselyMys, jesus I am really changing this name,I have talked shite for years on this site and been ignored. Think I prefer the ignoring.

appletrees Roma are an ethnic group. AFAIK Irish travellers might also be, just not as old and established a group as Roma. Both have their own languages and traditions.

They would prefer to travel, but with current society they can't really. Most seasonal work is done by overseas labour, so as I understand it, lots are looking to settle in one place. They've got caravans, want to buy land and set up, but no one will let them!

I talked to a lawyer who frequently represents travellers trying to get planning permission and buying land, and that's more or less what she told me. I guess she'd probably a bit biased in their favour as sources go! But seems to match what I've seen in BFGW and talking to people.

(Happy to be corrected...)

It's hard to move MrsDeVere,but not exactly impossible. If my child was at risk of being murdered, I'd at least look into it.

Appletrees, you said:

"It's not about racism, it's about outcomes. But you just can't have that can you? Spoils your own precious ideas."

Can you then answer my question as to whether you would feel the same about sending your child to a school with a high proportion of Looked After Children?

travellers come in various categories from circus to bargee. Essentially stating that you are a traveller allows you to absent yourself from school without incurring the penalties you might otherwise incur, because this is part of your lifestyle. Travellers don't all live in caravan compounds, just as non travellers don't all live in curtain twitching semis. Thank goodness.

Velouria.
My OH has multiple sclerosis. If we moved we would have to buy a house with adaptations already done as we have no money. We live in an deeply unfashionable part of London and there is a recession.
My DS 2 goes to a special needs school. So I would have to move somewhere with a school that could/would take him.
I have a job and my OH has a job so we would have to move somewhere that was within travelling distance. We both work part time due to his disability and my caring responsiblities. This could only mean moving into more expensive parts of London or out to expensive parts of the home counties.

So if you can sell my house, find me a 4 bedroomed, adapted property or a huge bungalow for around 200k near a special school with vacancies, a nursery with a sessional place for DS3 within short driving distance of both my OH's and my workplaces please do.

If you can make it by the seaside and throw in a pony that would be fab.

Um, altinkum, why have you quoted me? I put that to your attention because you said:

""The children with the poorest outcomes of all are children in care."
They aren't!, its black boys."

Sorry I forgot something.

Could you also make sure it was somewhere with at least a degree of diversity because my kids are mixed race and I could do without the added problem of the bigotry displayed by some of the posters on here.

sometimes I want to 'like' posts.

altinkum- I'm afraid you're wrong. Statistically, children in care have the worst outcomes of any group of children.

Black Caribbean boys have the worst outcome of any ethnic group (nationally).

Applestrees They are ethnically different.

They don't want to live in a house as it is not their way. (mostly though obviously some do)

Many do want to settle and build their own communities, there have been some very welcomed and succesfull schemes were land has been donated to travelling communities (there is great opposition to travellers buying land even when they have the funds and they need permissions etc) where they set up happy settled and stable communities.

I have just re read this thread and tbh it struck me that this would be what MN would be like in the 50's talking about their children mixing with "foreigners"

What? You disagree with tethersend's point because you believe that black boys have a lower outcome in education that children in care. (As you demonstrated in "They aren't!, its black boys.")
However, as I have shown (and you quoted back to me) you are wrong.

Unless I am very confused, but I'm struggling to see what the confusion is here.

Now this is why I love mumsnet, the argument ends up in a tussle over who's quoting the most relevant statistics.