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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that the school logo is not very inclusive?

187 replies

weakestlink · 04/09/2011 13:23

We have been looking at all the local primary schools as DS2 may be on the Autistic Spectrum and he may not get all the support he needs at the school we originally chose for him.

We have found a really lovely primary for him which has a really positive attitude to SEN and has a Good Ofsted report as well.

BUT DH is really not keen on the schools logo which appears everywhere, in colour, including on sweatshirts, polo shirts, book bags etc.

The logo is of two parents and a child reading a book. The bodies of the people are in blue/green but the heads (just ovals no features) are all white/pale beige colour. DH is black and says he is a bit Hmm about the logo and it would have been better if they had kept the heads the same colours as the bodies (blue & green) rather than putting a white family on the logo.

Is he being over-sensitive? I am white and we live in a mainly white, rural area.

I do always notice that the local Sure Start Newsletter is filled with photos of a wide range of ethnicities so they have obviously made a real effort to do that.

What do you think?

OP posts:
MrsRobertDuvall · 04/09/2011 13:45

Grin @ IloveTiffany's suggestion of colouring them in.

2BoysTooLoud · 04/09/2011 13:46

Once your child is at the school perhaps DH could make a suggestion re logo. Some schools have comment/ suggestion boxes.
[Also, if he becomes a parent governor he could get invovled with the school and it's ethos maybe].

Original poster
weakestlink · 04/09/2011 13:47

Madam why have you written you ? Like that?

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 04/09/2011 13:47

Y (DH) NBU.

Every school should have a crest as it's logo.

DandyLioness · 04/09/2011 13:47

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Claw3 · 04/09/2011 13:48

Also what colour is the background, a lot of uniforms are navy blue or dark colours, so a black oval for a face wouldnt show up too well?

Minus273 · 04/09/2011 13:48

My dd's school badge has a castle on it, it is not posh.

If you push it you could also argue it is also offensive to the illiterate.

Is there anything else about the school that would suggest a non-inclusive atmosphere?. If not, your DH is being over sensitive.

MumblingRagDoll · 04/09/2011 13:48

It's easy for people to say this is over sensitive...but the fact is that unless you belong to a minority then you have no idea how it feels to be always the different one.

Growing up in a rural village with my mixed race cousin in the 1970s, I became aware at an early age of how important it is for children to see people like themselves represented in books, toys, film and other media.

I would let it go OP but see that there are books withall races in the school library.

RandomMess · 04/09/2011 13:49
Confused

In the dds school the ethnic minorities are actually several different eastern european or indeed non-english israeli/scandanavian but it's always one of the 2/3 dc that look different mixed race afro caribbean or indian/pakistani that are in every photo for the school...

School logo however is just a tree (built in the grounds of an old manor house)

MadamDeathstare · 04/09/2011 13:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ShirleyKnot · 04/09/2011 13:52

Good Lord this is a bit mad.

And some of the comments on this thread are starting to veer towards the unpleasant.

Cocoflower · 04/09/2011 13:53

Can you not try and just see the positives of the logo;

Parents spending time with their child
Child getting individual attention
Parents helping the child get educated and literate
Parents hugging child to show love and comfort

It is a very positive logo

MissTinaTeaspoon · 04/09/2011 13:53

Shock at claw's yellow comment

Curiousmama · 04/09/2011 13:54

That's good then OP. Hope your ds settles in well Smile May be a good idea as stated, if your dh did become a governor?

RosemaryandThyme · 04/09/2011 13:55

I'm offended that they are promoting reading over maths.
I'm offended that they are promoting single-child familes over families with siblings.
I'm offended that they are promoting people with blue/green bodies - surely they should depict the mother in pink, the father in blue - the blue green thing is so definately promoting LGBT parents that it is highly offensive to straight parents.
I am offended that the faces are oval shape - no-hair ? - again promoting baldness/alopcia over haired heads.
Your fella is right....stear well clear of this school.

Fontsnob · 04/09/2011 13:55

Well, to be honest, if they were trying to be completely inclusive then they would need to have: a person of each race, at least one disabled person, a single family, a gay parent family, a single gay parent family, a child with their grandparent...

It could just be that they wanted a simple logo and didn't mean to cause any offense. I would tell DH to relax a little and not to take a school logo so personally.

MrsRhettButler · 04/09/2011 13:55

If you are the only mixed race family then surely the fact that they are White people on the logo was/is correct really, it would look a bit silly for a village school full of White people to have black people on the uniform?

Claw3 · 04/09/2011 13:56

Why Shock MissTina?

MrsRhettButler · 04/09/2011 13:56

And me too Tina I wasn't really sure how to approach that one so didn't say anything.....

ShirleyKnot · 04/09/2011 13:57

Because it's fucking rcist and offensive Claw. Hmm

ShirleyKnot · 04/09/2011 13:57

Racist. Obviously. Stupid i pad

MmmmmCake · 04/09/2011 13:57

Never heard such rubbish in my life!!! Give him something useful to stress over!

this ^

MissTinaTeaspoon · 04/09/2011 13:58

I could have read it wrongly, but you mentioned that your son's logo is yellow, which you linked to being Chinese?

MissTinaTeaspoon · 04/09/2011 13:59

And it seems I'm not the only one who thought that...

gaaagh · 04/09/2011 13:59

If you are the only mixed race family then surely the fact that they are White people on the logo was/is correct really, it would look a bit silly for a village school full of White people to have black people on the uniform?

Exactly!

Honestly, OP, your DH is being a complete idiot by getting "quietly offended" by this.