Is it worth trying for a place at Redland Green School?

[Brainwracked]

We are moving to the Bristol area and can't decide between Redland Green and Backwell Schools. Is it worth makig the effort to get our DD into Redland Green? We would have to pay through the nose to rent a house within 700 metres of the school and although we would love to live there, chances are we wouldn't get a place at the school anyway since we won't be moving until March or April. I think Backwell School is good for performing arts, which is DD's main interest, but we worry about becoming isolated in a small community and having to commute a lot to Bristol. Can anyone share experience of this?

(sorry, 1 too many 'and another's)

I would agree with those reports. I know a lot of children where English is not their first language and while they can chatter quite fluently in their parent's language, they struggle in English

However, it is down to parental input. One of my close friends is Arabic and while she chatters a lot to her DD in Arabic, she has put a lot of emphasis on her English, so she has started school with excellent language skills

On the other hand, a family in our street, speak their native language to their DS, even though they can speak English fine and he struggles when he plays with DS and I am asking him what he would like to eat/drink - they also do not mix very much outside their immediate family members - even though I have tried to break the ice - so the segregation does exist - on both sides imho

same with me riven, I take the little kids to the park in easton loads, but despite living near southmead feel it's not as safe.

Agree with Riven though - would rather walk through Easton than Southmead

Easton is getting a pretty good vibe these days. DH came back from there one day and said wow, its changing..I said ooh what's it like and he said 'lots of lentil weavers'

cafe maitreya and thali cafe are great!

it is lovely - highly recommended!

So the consensus is that Southmead is no go and seemingly racism is far more frightening than guns and drugs, so this may prove to be a no go for schools? No comment on whether racist attitudes are more tangible in schools than say gun/crime/drug culture, (although I would think both are apparent in different areas).

It's funny as a society we abhor racism, as we should, but feel weirdly compelled to blame drug use and crime on poverty and therefore social injustice. Seems like we'd rather our children mix with criminals than racists.....

I think Southmead is no go for a lot more than muslims tbh riven. I wouldn't walk through Southmead on my own.

I wouldn't walk through parts of Southmead or Henbury at night, and I'm not muslim. Probably wouldn't walk around Easton or St Pauls on my own either though.

I think racism is often linked to poverty too, well the real active nasty type and not the DM casual 'I have black friends but couldn't live next door to one' racism.

yy PP, I heard some v interesting views waiting for my ante-natal appointments, very vicious towards 'black people who take our council flats'...

not unless she is about to have a baby

Fucking hell, I'm finding myself having to second post all of the time as I'm paranoid of people misinterpreting! Obviously all types of racism is vile, but some is more brazen and violent.

My p[oint about crime and poverty is that we excuse it, well give reasons and it becomes less personal or 'evil' whereas racism is so widely abhorred that we don't give the same level of excuses. So someone holding bizarre views on Romas (like a friend of mine who is pretty affluent but all for the ethnic cleansing in FRance) is less forgiven that Johnnie the robber who grew up in a bad home.

Must.Stop.Rambling.

Crime statistics can certainly be misleading. I knew someone who was murdered in Cotham/Kingsdown area. That was all down to drugs, utterly tragic, he was a widower, had a 3 year old son who my ds1 used to play with, the boy was in the flat at the time, and was left with his dad's body for 3 days.

Crime is a choice though and I would argue, as a friend of mine recently had to move from Swindon as all of the children at nursery wouldn't play with him as they thought he was dirty, racism is not. These children were left unaltered about their view of the only boy without white skin, no action was taken by the nursery or their parents to change it and so until the time comes when they are shown what is right they keep those views and they grow. Plenty of these attitudes are enforced night after night in places like Southmead. This is an area that all on this thread have been negative about. Easton and St.Pauls have similar responses from some of us, actually I wouldn't walk anywhere alone at night(grew up in a small town), and feel that the criminal attitudes (whatever they are) would drip feed into the playgrounds, the secondary school children already entrenched in either the drug/gun/racist culture and, as parents,we base our choices upon these perceptions.

not always a choice.

If I'm honest I would never let my kids near any ethnic minorities, Its not that I'm racist, I just don't trust them.