Schools exclude pupils less often

The number of exclusions from England's schools went down last year, latest figures show.

There were 8,130 permanent exclusions from primary, secondary and special schools in 2007-08, 6.4% less than the year before.

There were 383,830 fixed period exclusions, down 9.8%. Boys featured in three times as many cases as girls.

The number of appeals lodged by parents dropped a quarter to 780. Of these 26% succeeded, up 1.3 percentage points.

Appeal panels ordered children to be reinstated in their school in just over a third of the successful cases (35%), down five percentage points on the previous year.

Pupils from black Caribbean backgrounds were three times as likely as all children to be permanently excluded and twice as likely to be suspended (given a fixed period exclusion).

The exclusion rate was highest for Gypsy/Roma children, though they accounted for fewer than 2,000 cases in total nationally.

'Myth'

Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "There is a serious problem with discipline and poor behaviour in English schools.

"The fact that nearly 500 children a day return to school after assaulting an adult or a classmate shows that teachers do not have sufficient powers to keep control."

The statistics show there were 71,330 fixed period exclusions for assaulting another pupil and 17,870 for attacking an adult - though both sets of figures were lower than last year.

But Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo said: "It is time to put to bed the myth that behaviour is deteriorating with teachers powerless to act.

"The truth is that we have given teachers the powers they asked for to tackle bad discipline and today's figures, as well as the trend over the last several years, show that the action we have taken is working in improving discipline in schools."

'Fiddling'

She said programmes such as Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (Seal), which ensures that young people understand the consequences of their actions and are taught how to respond to situations responsibly, had had a positive impact on discipline.

"But we can always do more and that is why we have strengthened home-school agreements to make sure the worst behaved children have clear expectations of behaviour and schools can force parents to take action if they do not live up to these expectations."

Liberal Democrat spokesman David Laws said: "Although permanent exclusions are down, there is a strong suspicion that the government is fiddling the figures by not declaring the transfer from one school to another of children who have effectively been excluded.

"Yet again, we can see a divide between rich and poor in our education system, with those children entitled to free school meals being far more likely to be excluded."

Poverty

It was this aspect that most concerned a charity that works with excluded youngsters, UK Youth.

Children entitled to free school meals were three times as likely as the average to be excluded, and secondary schools in the most deprived areas had more exclusions than those in the least deprived areas, it noted.

UK Youth chief executive John Bateman said: "Young people who are at risk of exclusion need access to a personalised curriculum that motivates them together with support from teachers, youth workers and mentors who can provide appropriate support and guidance."

He said they responded well to being given access to vocational subjects which allowed them to gain skills and qualifications and to have a clear sense of how to manage their lives when they left school.

Warwickshire parents remove children from school after gypsy camp is set up nearby

Dec 19 2008 by Christina Savvas, Birmingham Post

Angry parents removed their children from a Warwickshire school because they felt threatened after a group of gypsies set up camp in their village.

The travellers caused uproar when they arrived on the rural site at Darlingscott, near Shipston-on-Stour, next to the home of Olympic minister Tessa Jowell, during the Easter bank holiday.

After a nine-month battle by the local council to evict them, a three-day public enquiry into whether the camp can remain ended at Stratford-upon-Avon Town Hall yesterday.

The travellers’ families, who lodged an appeal against eviction, said they bought 16 plots on the site in October 2007 for £20,000 each. But Stratford-on-Avon District Council refused planning permission for the camp and secured an injunction to stop any more people going onto the site and halt building work.

Coun Christopher Saint said: “There was a lot of local concern when the gypsies arrived. They felt compromised by the sudden appearance and felt it created a negative impact on the community. Several parents removed children and transferred them to other schools.”

Coun Michael Hutchins, of Tredington Parish Council, added: “The junior school has had 11 children from the travelling community with potentially another 21 of school age and three pregnant mothers. If they have to take all these children in one go they would not be able to cope.”

He raised concerns about pollution, flooding and dangerous driving.

Paul Cairnes, barrister for the local authority, said allowing the site to remain would be harmful to the rural area. He said Ernest Wilson, who lodged an appeal against the decision to remove the families resulting in the public inquiry, failed to demonstrate the site would meet a need in the district as identified in the Gypsy Travellers Accommodation Assessment.

The team acting for the gypsies said they had a right to permanent residency.

Barrister Michael Rudd said: “What do you expect them to do? Move them down a mile then they move back a mile. It becomes a never ending problem. There is a clear and undisputed significant regional need for additional pitch provision. The personal need of the appellants is also recognised. The appellants perhaps unusually in such cases have attempted to engage in consultation and were ultimately forced to move onto the appeal site in a last resort.”

During the enquiry members of the gypsy community told of their desire to settle permanently on the site so they could educate their children.

Gypsy kids herded into Czech schools for disabled

By KAREL JANICEK – 22 hours ago

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AP) — Roma children face severe discrimination in the Czech Republic and are still being segregated into schools for those with mental disabilities, a rights group said Thursday.

The charge comes a year after the European Court of Human Rights demanded that the country stop the practice.

Roma children "continue to be dramatically over-represented in practical primary schools that follow a special curriculum for mentally disabled pupils," the European Roma Rights Center said in a report.

Czech Education Minister Ondrej Liska said it could take three to five years to solve the problem but admitted that the children of Roma, or Gypsies, "are not less talented and do not have fewer abilities than the others."

Rights advocates said, however, that officials at all levels are reluctant to address the issue.

"What is needed here is a real action to bring Roma children into mainstream schools," said Robert Kushen of the Budapest-based Roma Rights Center. "I hope we can see that commitment, but I'm skeptical."

Roma are one of Europe's largest, poorest and fastest-growing minorities. An estimated 7 million to 9 million live in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries.

They remain at risk of social exclusion, despite government programs to integrate them. The European Union has set aside millions in education, housing and job aid to help.

In November 2007, the European Court of Human Rights demanded the Czech Republic take steps to end the discrimination against Roma youths in schools after Roma students sued. The ruling acknowledged that "other European states had had similar difficulties."

Failure to comply with the ruling could lead to a new court case and possible fines or sanctions.

Gypsies in Dharmapuri get residential school

Tuesday August 26 2008 01:48 IST
M Sankararamanujam ENS

DHARMAPURI: The Dharmapuri district administration and the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) have launched an exclusive school for children coming from gypsy families in Pachinampatti in Harur taluk.

An NGO—Gypsies’ Development Society— had started its service for the welfare of the gypsy community in Pachinampatti. According director S Maheswaran, more than 75 gypsy families were living in Pachinampatti, selling plastic products and birds to earn a living. So the NGO organised them and formed the society.

In Dharmapuri the gypsy community was spread in several places. As it was a model village in Panchanampatti where children were given schooling in residential school, Dharmapuri district administration and SSA administration also considered the plea and started the residential school exclusively for gypsy students, he added.

Maheswaran and two teachers were teaching them. The Chief Educational Officer (SSA) S Suganya told Express that to promote the educational status they enrolled the dropouts. The building and other infrastructure were being launched by the NGO and the SSA would support by providing teachers and teaching aids. The children would later be admitted to regular Government schools.

This was the first attempt to launch residential schools for gypsies and there are plans to launch more schools in identified hill areas.

The gypsy families of Madhu, Anchammal, Sridevi and Guna appealed to the district administration to provide community certificate and form a society for the welfare of the community. The also submitted their memorandum zto the Collector.

Gypsy children being bullied

Aled Blake
Published: 02 February 2007

http://www.tes.co.uk:80/2335778

Gypsy children have alleged shocking incidents of racist bullying in Welsh schools in a survey for charity Save The Children.

Face-to-face interviews were held with young pupils from the minority group about their experiences in mainstream education.

Name-calling was said to be the biggest form of abuse, with “Irish freaks”, “tramps” and “gippo” being hurled most frequently.

But it was also revealed that bullying has led to violent reactions from some Traveller children, who claim telling teachers is no help.

One six-year-old girl said she had been constantly called “dirty gypsy” during playtime.

Karen Crockett, from the Welsh office of Save The Children, said: “Without exception, every group we questioned had experienced racism and bullying at schools.”

Ann Crowley, senior policy adviser for the charity in Wales, said in her report for 2006/7 that bullying and lack of guidance for teachers, as well as cash, was impeding the progress of young children from traveller families.

She hit out at the Assembly government for not telling schools and local education authorities of progress at a national level.

But, although the government says the alleged bullying is unacceptable, it claims nearly £2 million has already been provided for the education of Gypsy/ Traveller children in 2006/7 alone.

It has also set up a Gypsy and Traveller unit, with partner organisations working to ensure families from the minority groups have more say in issues affecting them. Teachers, particularly in Welsh primary schools, were praised for their work with Gypsy children by chief inspector Susan Lewis in her annual report for 2004-5.

But tracking the educational performance of these children traditionally has been difficult because few LEAs keep records.

There were 1,415 Traveller children in Welsh schools in 2005-6, with a third located in Cardiff.