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?

A lot would depend on where you were - whether it was somewhere like Essex where there have been huge tensions between travellers who have rather taken the p* in they way they have acquired land for sites and the community who have been v. defensive in response or somewhere like parts of NW London where certain schools are pretty used to dealing with the attendant issues (illiterate parents, idiosyncratic religious/ moral belief systems) and the population is very used to people with widely differing backgrounds rubbing along together.

Thanks loopy, was struggling to understand altinkum's post too... iphone issues perhaps?

I went to school (as a pupil) with 'travellers' I have inverted the word as they didn't actually travel anywhere and were permanently sited. They were of Irish descent but many had been born here.

My experiences of this particular site of travellers were:

One of them tried to inappropriately touch my friend (so I threw him in a conveniently place bin).

They stole our lunches

They stole our pencil cases (I had a lovely Garfield one)

They refused to interact with anyone even when we tried to be nice and spoke barely understandable gibberish

All but one of them were completely illiterate by aged 14 (the one that wasn't actually asked to learn and was taught in lunch times by me)

Their parents drove uninsured cars and vans while dropping and picking up their kids. (this was verified by a reliable source)

If it was my child, I wouldn't be sending them to a school near this particular site.

If that is racist, then so be it.

I swear I have had more aggro using this name in a week, than others in a year

I wonder how many times "the plural of anecdotes is not data" can be quoted on one thread for it to remain valid?

I think it bears repeating, TBH Loopy...

Well OP, I think you should have gone to see the school and then made your judgement. So I think YABU.

Mmmmmm, OP I wonder if you're talking about my DD's school. She goes to a school with an outstanding Ofsted but also in the report it mentions that attendance can be poor due to the high number of traveller children.

It didn't worry me about sending DD there. Most of the traveller kids are lovely and very polite. One is a total git, but there are plenty of non traveller gits as well.

skeptical about the statistics that "prove" that looked after children do worse than travellers - suspect lots of traveller kids disappear out of the system without any qualifications - but because they are not "looked after", no-one notices. the "barely understandable gibberish" is called Cant or Gamon -it's is their own language, which they almost certainly do use to separate themselves from others.

Curlymama, in this case, the OP doesn't talk about high turnover or absence of pupils. She states that she has no evidence for her perception, but that she acted on it.

Her evidence is the stereotype, that as I pointed out, travellers often (not always) perpetuate, and do nothing to change.

It's a chance she's not willing to take, and who can reasonably blame her? It's her child's education ffs.

I only know a couple of traveller families but their children are better informed than mine in general, so I'd hesitate to make assumptions, just go and see the school and see if you like it?

No NotRocketSurgery - have looked up what you have said re the language. As far as I could see it was just very fast, poorly executed English with a fake Irish accent and lots of F words.

oh, misread post, now see you didn't bother

NotRocket, you raise a good point about travellers 'disappearing' out of the system resulting in a lack of statistical data, but the statistics I quoted were in response to posters saying what terrible outcomes traveller children had, and that this was the reason they would not want their child at school with them (as opposed to any other reason).

Statistically, the worst outcomes are for children in care, so I was asking whether those posters would avoid sending their children to a school with a high proportion of Looked After Children.

So far, nobody has answered.

Cock picture, anyone?

PMSL @ velouria's private school comment.

Hahahahahahahaaaaaa.

Last week only one of my DS1's school friends got murdered.

FFS.

I don't have a problem with the fact they are of a different ethnic minority, more the merrier. I do object when they would have directly affected my education or that of my dcs. No, you can't tell with any school but why risk it if you have negative experiences already?

heh, BitOfFun, maybe they should improve the range of smileys Lol

" cant unfortunately, cant even remember hat source it was, however it would be government one."

How odd. I am an advisory teacher for children in care and I have never heard that statistic.

I am interested in what you mean by my point is "valid but not wholly accurate"- please point out any inaccuracies.

Statistically, children in care do worse than any other group of children. I have offered no reason as to why this may be.

yes i have only ever heard "cant" spoken the once. by a couple of teenage boys on a site i was visiting.

their father came over, clipped them round the ear and told them to stop being rude.

Rather niavly i asked what they were saying, and was this the language they all spoke at home.

he said "nah, its cant. AS in cant be bothered to talk proper"

which made me smile. Many do speak with an Irish lilt and very very fast. it does make it difficult to understand at times (think snatch) as they do use a lot of terms that i simply don't understand. But i think it would be the same if i went to Newcastle/liverpool etc

tether - no I would not avoid schools with a high proportion of Looked After Children providing I felt it was a good school

the gem for me was 'normal, just people'

altinkum, surely the reason children in care are being compared to traveller children is because outcomes for both are poor in terms of education, and in both cases it is due to a likelihood of disrupted and less supportive home life. Whether or not 92% ( ) of looked after children see school as a sanctuary is really irrelevant.

By the way, the reason I am so hesitant to believe your 92% statistic is that is seems so very woolly. 92% of which LAC in which study said this? I now you can't remember, but I really don't think you can claim it as fact. I am a care leaver, and am doing a PhD in the education of children in care by the way, which is why am am interested in your posts.