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Original poster

DfE wanted country of birth data to stop schooling children of illegal immigrants

30 replies

noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 21:59

An apology. When people on here were claiming that schools were collecting nationality data because of some sort of racist purge, I argued that the data was most likely needed for research into effective school interventions.

Apparently the government are in fact, actually, a fucking disgrace. I'm appalled. And to those I disagreed with: I'm sorry, you were right. And I'm sorry you were right.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38165395

OP posts:
HardcoreLadyType · 01/12/2016 22:19

Good Lord! I can't actually believe I find myself agreeing with Nicky Morgan about anything.

tribpot · 01/12/2016 22:28

I was pretty shocked to find myself agreeing with Nicky Morgan when I read the story this morning.

TreehouseTales · 01/12/2016 22:29

What?!?!?

exLtEveDallas · 01/12/2016 22:35

Um hold on. How can the collection of the data be to keep children of illegal immigrants out of schools when the information can only be collected when they already have a place

??

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 22:38

The collection of nationality data was a compromise agreed by the DfE. The Home Office wanted passport checks.

Tweet from Laura Kuenssberg
mobile.twitter.com/bbclaurak/status/804245633926361088

OP posts:
exLtEveDallas · 01/12/2016 22:44

But the kids were still in school by then, so what would the point be? Unless you are suggesting that the child would lose their school place as soon as the info was given.

And actually, all the data collection asks is "Country of Birth" and "Nationality" so again, how does a school (or Home office) tell from those two words who is the child of an illegal immigrant?

ILoveOnionRings · 01/12/2016 22:47

I complete our school census and there is a 'box' to record passport details which was not there at the last census in May.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 01/12/2016 22:50

The Home Office presumably have their own records they could cross reference.

The timeline seems to be:
Home office demand that schools perform passport checks before schools admissions in order to boot out kids of illegal immigrants
DfE say no
Home office and DfE agree nationality data will be collected instead
National outcry
Home Office banned from accessing nationality data

I'm guessing that they would have found a use for it somehow.

OP posts:
SusanTrinder · 01/12/2016 22:57

The kids in my class are currently dutifully handing in their forms.

I want to lose each and every one.

squishysquirmy · 01/12/2016 22:59

That's appalling!
If it hadn't been leaked, would we have ever found about it?

PausingFlatly · 01/12/2016 23:32

Tcha, you exaggerate.

They might have been allowed to congregate in sink schools already under pressure from poor performance.

Only the ones whose parents weren't scared off from sending them to school at all, of course. But who cares about those?

PausingFlatly · 01/12/2016 23:37

TBF, it makes a kind of sense if you don't think about it for more than 10 seconds.

After 10 seconds, when your brain kicks in...

Let's see, if we decided to create a subpopulation of people who are impoverished, alienated, have no outside social connections, have no buy-in to a stable or peaceful UK, little access to the justice or child protection systems, who get their "education" from whoever or whatever they could find on the internet, a population of whose existence we might be unaware, never mind their whereabouts: if we wanted to create that, how would we do it?

Oh, I know...

PausingFlatly · 01/12/2016 23:39
RustyBear · 01/12/2016 23:59

ILoveOnionRings - the box to record nationality and passport number has been in SIMS since at least version 7.78, it's just never been used before, at least not in our school. You can see it on these instructions for that version, which are dated 2006.
wokinghamdirect.net/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=194878&type=full&servicetype=Attachment

GiddyOnZackHunt · 02/12/2016 00:08

It's because the government have no idea how many people are here illegally (obviously) and are scrabbling to meet their own targets.

There'll be posters in schools suggesting children ask their parents
to go home next. Much like May's travelling adverts of a few years ago. She's some mad throwback to Edwardian times. Cheerfully implementing Conservatism whilst expecting those at the bottom of the pile to stick their hands up for extra punishment.

AndNowItsSeven · 02/12/2016 00:10

I read that story as the children having the lowest priority in the parental choice of school , not that they wouldn't get a school place at all. Have I misunderstood?

PausingFlatly · 02/12/2016 00:15

DfE said:
"Aside from the impact on ordinary parents, there is also a risk to children's safety.
^"Introducing these checks could lead to some children not being registered for school because of real or perceived fear of deportation.
"Leaving aside the fact that these young people will not receive a decent education, this is a safeguarding risk - we have real concerns that children out of school may be at greater risk of radicalisation or other harms."^

So yes, DfE anticipated this would cause children to be completely outside the education system.

Chaotica · 02/12/2016 00:16

Horrifying. And not just about agreeing with Nicky Morgan.

Wasn't there an unworkable idea where they would ask for the passport of children allocated places, and then deny the place to the child once they had found out that they shouldn't be in the country? Thereby sending the schools allocation system into chaos as well as creating ghettos. It's not just grossly unfair on the children in question, it doesn't even work.

PausingFlatly · 02/12/2016 00:16

Sorry, mucked up italics.

ReallyTired · 02/12/2016 00:29

I think that the proposals are daft. Illegal immigrants should be deported. If the children of illegal immigrants have a right to stay then admissions to schools should follow the normal criteria. If the children of illegal immigrants have no right to remain then they should be deported alongside their parents.

I know someone whose ex boyfriend was deported after a very nasty crime. He has never been allowed access to his daughter. Why should his daughter (who is a British citizen, born in the uk to a British mother) be denied access to decent schools? What should happen to children who are taken into care who have a parent who is an illegal immigrant?

Nicky Morgan all is forgiven.

ReallyTired · 02/12/2016 00:30

The violent boyfriend was an illegal immigrant.

PausingFlatly · 02/12/2016 00:30

Yep, looks like it was that one, Chaotica.

Your response is pretty much what the DfE said.

And not all UK citizens have passports, so they'd be stuffed too.

JunosRevenge · 02/12/2016 00:33

I've just refused to fill in census info on my DS's school form.

Ethnic registration by stealth. Bastards.

user7214743615 · 02/12/2016 08:06

Why should his daughter (who is a British citizen, born in the uk to a British mother) be denied access to decent schools?

She wouldn't have been. But kids with both parents (or mother, no father around) illegal immigrants would have been.

titchy · 02/12/2016 08:44

Shock Shocking, truly shocking. TM is becoming a caricature.

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