Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

School refusing to provide translator

765 replies

CapturedLeprechaun · 27/09/2023 22:19

I'm on the Governing body for a school with a really high proportion of kids with English as a second language. It's over 80% of their pupils. Many of the parents speak little or no English at all. There are some families who have been here 5+ years where one or both parents speak no English at all still, and even a "your child has no PE kit, they need to wear their PE kit on Mondays and Wednesdays" wouldn't be understood.

The school always use translators for meetings with parents - either a staff member who speaks that language who is available, or else they have a telephone translator service that they pay for, so the phone is on loudspeaker and a translator translates the conversation.

This is done for all parents evenings/ attendance meetings/ SENCO meetings etc for parents who don't speak or understand English.

Important letters like school trips/consent forms are provided translated in the three most common languages spoken.

The school offers English classes to parents, one held in the school one morning a week in the hall, one held in the evening each week.

School has now said translators will only be provided to parents whose children have been at the school for less than a year. If your child has been at the school for more than a year and you are unable to understand English, no translator will be provided, due to staff shortages and costs, and you have to bring a friend/family member who can translate. Letters will only be provided in English, and parents can use the translate feature on google if they need to.

On the face of this, does this seem a reasonable decision? The head has announced this and I don't know why it doesn't sit right with me, and I can't really articulate why. It has a lot of support from the English speaking parents, but it feels... divisive, I guess? And most likely children who will suffer. Currently trying to weigh up whether this is something I should raise, or accept this is a reasonable step for the school to take.

OP posts:
Patchworksack · 27/09/2023 22:22

I think their funding is cut to the bone and they have to make unpalatable decisions. What would you rather they cut?

ASCCM · 27/09/2023 22:25

At the risk of getting piled on. I think I agree this is the right move.

resources are stretched and tbh I’d never ever dream of moving to a country and sending my kids to school without learning the language myself. It sounds like the school have provided lots of supports to parents to learn English so if they haven’t taken this up and think it’s ok to not understand the language of the country in which they have chosen to live then why should money for the kids be used for translators instead?

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 27/09/2023 22:25

That must have cost them a fortune.

it will still cost them a fortune.

they’ve got no money.

are you prepared to fund it? What would you rather they cut?

Hopelesslyn · 27/09/2023 22:25

There are free apps now that can translate as the person speaks and google translate does it instantly when put over writing so I don’t think this is an unreasonable request especially after a year .

Pootle23 · 27/09/2023 22:26

Honestly, yes it does. Would you move to a foreign speaking Country with children at school and not bother to learn the language?

Five years and not learnt any English? Especially when the school offers lessons.

if the parents want a translator, they should pay for it…as we would have to other Countries.

Sandrine1982 · 27/09/2023 22:26

Where is this school?

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 27/09/2023 22:27

Patchworksack · 27/09/2023 22:22

I think their funding is cut to the bone and they have to make unpalatable decisions. What would you rather they cut?

Exactly this. Schools have no spare money.

I don't think it's a hugely unreasonable decision. It's a compromise - we'll provide a translator for the first year, but after that you should be ok to get by on your own with the help of the child (who will presumably have picked up a fair bit of English by then). There's no reason why the parent can't Google translate letters from school.

If I found myself in another country with my kids in their school system, I would be trying to learn the language pronto, so as to help my kids.

MortifiedSeptember · 27/09/2023 22:27

How is ht going to convey this information? My advice would be to prevent children from translating to their own parents. Also prepare yourself for longer parents evening.

Wishthiswasntmypost · 27/09/2023 22:27

As above. You speak the language of the country you live in or use Google translate

Elvis1956 · 27/09/2023 22:27

Because if you live in the UK surely you must speak English. How much of the schools budget is being spent on kids who have been in the UK for a while but who's parents have made no effort to learn English and don't speak English at home to their children.
Why should my child's education be impacted by someone who has moved to the UK for(mostly) economic reasons but had made no effort to integrate themselves or their children...it just feeds into the narrative that they are here for benefits not to work, because without English how can they get a job?

purpleme12 · 27/09/2023 22:29

Wow I can see why people aren't happy because obviously they've got used to this so you have it taken away it's not going to go down well.

But it sounds like they've been really lucky really to have all these translations! I don't think that's normal in a school!

Thisisworsethananticpated · 27/09/2023 22:30

I agree with you

i think if they are adamant they need to roll this out gradually and warn people

and maybe solicit for bilingual parents to help
Could be a community building thing

usererror99 · 27/09/2023 22:31

I agree with the school it's ridiculous that they have been paying for this - the parents need to accept some responsibility for being in this country several years and still not speaking the language sufficiently - and people wonder why mass immigration isn't supported

Wildthingsrevenge · 27/09/2023 22:31

I think a year is a reasonable compromise. What your school have done to date is exceptional though wonderful. Few people don't have access to a phone with Google translate capabilities now though so more onus must fall on the parents.

madeinmanc · 27/09/2023 22:31

Google Translate isn't that great at all for some languages still, and especially some languages that I can think of that might be relevant here. I'm not getting involved in the debate but just pointing that out for information.

CurlyhairedAssassin · 27/09/2023 22:32

If there is no money for it there's no money for it. I work in a primary school. Finances are dire now.

I mean, I wouln't take MY family to another country and expect the local school to provide a translator for me. It's up to me to learn enough to get by, and if my language wasn't good enough to understand meeting to find myself someone who could translate, even if it meant I had to pay for it. It simply wouldn't be the school's responsibility to spend money on MY lack of knowledge of the language. They need to spend any resources for EAL on the pupils that need it, not their parents. That's not unreasonable, OP.

MaudGonneOutForAFag · 27/09/2023 22:32

It’s not ideal, but I can see why — having translators to such an extent must have been cripplingly expensive, and this is a compromise.

I don’t know where things are with the NHS and translators these days, but when I lived in north-east London in 2011/12, on several occasions I ended up translating for fellow-patients at my GP surgery because a translator wasn’t available or hadn’t shown.

RedToothBrush · 27/09/2023 22:33

Given that you can download 'Say Hi' for free which will translate typed word or take photos of text and translate it, I simply don't understand why so many resources were allocated in the first place. It's really not needed.

PurpleRadish · 27/09/2023 22:33

I think it's fine. They should learn English.

madeinmanc · 27/09/2023 22:34

The reason you are all thinking Google Translate is wonderful and the solution is that you will have been translating into English, the language which has benefitted from the most research and funding. Don't make the mistake of assuming it's similarly accurate translating into lesser spoken languages (relative to English).

CurlyhairedAssassin · 27/09/2023 22:35

And yeah, parents can use google translate for letters, or get a friend to explain them. I just can't see a French school, say, producing a version of a letter in English, for an English family who had moved into the area. I really don't see the difference for families moving here.

If it's a refugee type of situation then there are often local charities that help such families with integrating into the local community. But that can't go on for years and years. Those parents will simply have to learn English going forward.

LadyWithLapdog · 27/09/2023 22:35

This wouldn’t apply in the NHS, and rightly so. You can’t be doing things to people without informed consent, so they need translation services. As much for the protection of staff as that of patients. I wonder where that would leave a school if parents don’t understand what’s going on.

AnneLovesGilbert · 27/09/2023 22:36

Sounds very reasonable. If they’re offering free English classes during the day and in the evening hopefully there’s a good uptake. It’s obviously better for the children for their parents to be learning the language of the country they live in.

ChesterDrawz · 27/09/2023 22:37

If money was no object, fine. But that's not the case and the cost of translation - which is not cheap - will mean cuts elsewhere to fund it.

It's absolutely right and reasonable that there should be a limit on the use of translation facilities.

theysaiditgetseasier · 27/09/2023 22:37

Feel bad for those 20% of kids who's funding has been cut for so long and by so much to support families who can't be bothered to learn the native language in the country that they live in.

A drain on public resources if after 5 years the parents / carers can't speak basic conversational English.