School marked down by Ofsted for being 'too white'

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Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

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School marked down by Ofsted for being 'too white'

Parents angered after Lincolnshire primary school marked down by inspectors for not having enough black or Asian children

 

Ofsted was accused of ?political correctness? after downgrading a top rural primary school for effectively being too English.

 

The education watchdog faced a backlash from MPs and parents following the decision to penalise Middle Rasen primary in Lincolnshire for not having enough back or Asian pupils.

 

In a report, inspectors said the school was ?not yet outstanding? because pupils? cultural development was limited by a ?lack of first-hand experience of the diverse make up of modern British society?.

 

The move followed a shake-up of Ofsted inspections introduced in the wake of the ?Trojan Horse? plot in Birmingham to impose hard-line Muslim values in state schools.

 

Schools are now told to place fundamental British values at the heart of the timetable including mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

 

But the reforms have already been criticised for having a knock-on effect on faith schools and those dominated by pupils of a particular ethnic group.

 

Last month, it was claimed that a small Christian school in the Home Counties had been penalised after failing to other invite faith leaders, such as imams, in to lead assemblies.

 

Commenting on the latest case, Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, said he had written to Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, ?objecting strenuously to the new so-called 'equality' regulations she is implementing in schools?.

 

He added: ?This is political correctness gone mad. Middle Rasen primary school is an outstanding school by any standards.

 

?Multiculturalism is an irrelevance in Lincolnshire with its low number of ethnic minorities, who are already welcomed and well-integrated into our local communities, as they should be."

 

The community primary school, which is based in the picturesque rural town of Market Rasen, has just 104 pupils aged four to 11.

 

It was handed a ?satisfactory? rating during its last inspection in December 2012.

 

The latest report upgraded the school to ?good? ? the second highest mark ? for making significant improvements, with staff creating an ?environment in which learning flourishes".

 

But the primary missed out on the "outstanding" grade for occasionally failing to set difficult work and giving staff few opportunities to improve their skills. In a key move, it was also downgraded for limiting pupils? ?first-hand experience? of modern society.

 

The report said: "The large majority of pupils are white British. Very few are from other ethnic groups, and currently no pupils speak English as an additional language.

 

"The school needs to extend pupils' understanding of the cultural diversity of modern British Society by creating opportunities for them to have first-hand interaction with their counterparts from different backgrounds beyond the immediate vicinity.?

 

The school is now attempting to strike up a partnership with an inner city school to address the concerns.

 

Melonie Brunton, the head teacher, said school trips usually involved visits to the countryside, taking in farms and zoos, but it had recently focused on outings to a mosque and factory.

 

Ofsted?s comments were criticised by parents.

 

Jodie Miller, 35, whose six-year-old daughter attends the school, said: "We are a small rural community in Lincolnshire, there just aren't many children here from different backgrounds.

 

"The staff can't just wander the streets forcing people to come and attend.?

 

Benjamin Bannan, 33, a father-of-two, added: "It?s outrageous that a British school can be punished for being too British. It just doesn't make sense at all.

 

"We would welcome people from different cultures with open arms I'm sure - but there just aren't any ethnic minorities around here."

 

Reverend Charles Patrick, who was head of the governors at the time of the report, said: "This is a rural area, like 80 per cent of the country, we don't have many non-white residents.

 

"Perhaps it would be a different matter if we were in the middle of London or Manchester or something."

 

Ofsted denied that it was downgraded for one reason.

 

?The report highlights a small number of areas where the school should look to improve,? a spokesman said. ?It was not denied an 'outstanding' judgement solely because of pupils? cultural development.

 

?All schools must teach pupils about fundamental British values including mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. That way they will be prepared for the future wherever they go.?

 

Source: The Telegraph

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Grand Master

T3X4S

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Its gotten to the point where any attempt to fall into a category, or specialize in something, even make a simple choice results in someone saying you are insensitive to the others.

Opening a new medical school ??  How dare you !  You need to be sensitive to lawyers and law school.

Want to buy a new pc laptop ?  You bigot !  You need to include a macbook pro in your purchases !

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Grand Master

Elliot B.

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I have a niece who had Muslim kids in her class and their parents told their kids to spread their religion in class to other kids!

 

If that's going to happen, keep 'em out of the classrooms.

 

Sorry but it angered me.

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Grand Master

simplezz

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I don't think the state should fund "faith" schools to begin with. Theology and education don't mix. A parent wanting to pay to send his or her children to a private faith based school, is fine, but don't expect the taxpayer to pick up the bill for proselytising the population. Such distinctions segregate society.

 

As to the topic in this thread, it's clearly ridiculous. Where I live there are hardly any minorities either. That doesn't mean we should be penalised for it. This whole concept of multiculturalism is a completely artificial construct in Britain. Living in London is entirely different to Scotland or the north. Why pretend it's the same?

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Grand Master

DocM

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In the US we went through this in the 1970's with court ordered forced school bussing to enforce school integration.

They'd actually pick up kids in one district and ship them to another district to achieve some theoretical "racial balance," not infrequently a trip of 20-30 miles.

The kids were exhausted by the commute, grades suffered and when parents protested (loudly!) they were called racists, bigots etc. :whistle:

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Grand Master

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I'm sorry, but I don't believe it. There is likely something missing.

 

It's so easy to believe that people can be this unrealistic that they forget that, in general, people aren't. I've not seen the Schools rejection records but I'm willing to bet there is some inferences to racial discrimination. People don't just blame a School in a predominantly white area for having a predominantly white school.

 

I'm not naive, I'm willing to accept that this is just stupidity, but I'm not going to just outright assume this.

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rfirth

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In the US we went through this in the 1970's with court ordered forced school bussing to enforce school integration.

They'd actually pick up kids in one district and ship them to another district to achieve some theoretical "racial balance," not infrequently a trip of 20-30 miles.

The kids were exhausted by the commute, grades suffered and when parents protested (loudly!) they were called racists, bigots etc. :whistle:

 

You support "separate but equal"? There was a huge difference in resources.

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Grand Master

DocM

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You support "separate but equal"? There was a huge difference in resources.

I support what actually happened here. The sensible minorities who could afford it left their fetid neighborhoods and schools, largely created by decades of progressive governance by both parties as they wrote the school & local govt. revenue sharing rules and ran most of the state, for better ones.

It's called voting with your feet.

When Detroit depopulated those sane people that left of all groups moved to the suburbs. Most of those left in Detroit moved their kids out of the failed public schools into small academies, parochial schools and state funded (but privately run) charter schools. Others used their cross-district rights to enroll their kids in better, nearby, neighboring districts.

Many more home schooled with state support including online academies. We now have at least 3 online academies that use the state run virtual schlol system.

Bussing kids 70+ miles a day was stupid at every level. Having options is better.

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Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

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So they need some ghetto kids, Muslims and the like, to be considered a "good" school?

 

Which is dumb as all hell.  In the UK, schools have "catchment areas". Kids outside that area don't generally get into the school unless they have spare capacity or siblings already in the school.

 

In rural areas, many schools are under-subscribed, and it's a truism that many of the rural area's are predominantly white. so what the hell is the school to do? Go out and kidnap kids?

 

Generally, Ofsted is a good thing, but not in this.  Morons.

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Grand Master

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and when muslim became more populous they would demand their own 'islamic religious school' (Madrasa or something), I don't see ofsted make remark about it for being 'too homogeneous' ...

.... and later on they go overseas to fight for IS...
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Grand Master

Arachno 1D

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They can in all intents and purposes only taken children within their catchment area so if this area is 99% Anglo Saxen White then that will dominate the School attendees.

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Grand Master

theyarecomingforyou

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Based on the article it relates to the school not doing enough to teach students first-hand about racial diversity. Just because the school doesn't have students of diverse races doesn't mean that racial diversity can't be taught through other means, like having guest speakers or going on field trips. The article is extremely misleading, especially the sensationalist headline. This is yet another case of the media promoting an anti-immigration agenda and exactly what I would expect from a right-wing publication like The Telegraph.  :/

 

Ofsted was completely justified in its report.

 

how can a school be too "white" if its their bloody country?  :/  That's like saying "this school in India is too indian!" stop that. 

There's no such thing as "their" country. The UK doesn't belong to any particular race. Even those of white heritage have a diverse lineage - for instance, my family tree can be traced back to Scandinavia. What you posted is extremely narrow-minded and offensive.  :crazy:

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