The English School In Which The Word British Is A Complete No, No.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3672534/School-58-children-not-English-mother-tongue-refuses-use-term-British-fear-offending-migrants.html

/// He has even asked teachers not to use the term ‘British’ to reduce the chances of upsetting migrant families. ///

/// In 1992, half of the school was white British - but this is now at 15 percent ///

[dannyk13]

Maybe he should also ban the words denoting the nationality of the non-British pupils in case the 15% of white pupils may be offended,

[fiction-factory]

I think it was designed to strike a chord with a large section of its readers who are concerned about the growth in the numbers of non-white English citzens and will be past the age of having direct experience of how schools are doing an excellent job in difficult circumstances not of their making

[fiction-factory]

You may find this article interesting, AOG.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/theres-never-been-such-a-thing-as-an-official-language-z8gvx32sx

[Jackdaw33]

I take that with a barrow-load of salt.

[sp1814]

Well thankfully the school is rated 'Good' by Ofsted and has a decent exam pass rate.

The 'banning' of the word British?

Sounds like a mental idea. I too wonder about context here. It smells of Mailbaiting.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// Well thankfully the school is rated 'Good' by Ofsted and has a decent exam pass rate. ///

I wonder what the exam pass rate is in English?

[anotheoldgit]

And there is more

/// At parent evenings, translators are recruited in bulk by the school to help teachers communicate, although Mr Gallagher points out: “They cost about the same to hire for the day as a teacher
does.” ///

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1381028/pressure-on-classrooms-mounts-as-we-reveal-school-where-42-different-languages-are-spoken/

[Mamyalynne]

It's a real shame that translators are needed so much but of course there needs to be communication.

I am a great advocate of the push for all who live here to learn English, children and parents alike.

[fiction-factory]

AOG - you asked "I wonder what the exam pass rate is in English? "

It's a primary school so you must mean SATS scores. The latest I could find without a major search was for 2014.

In 2014, 79% of pupils attained Level 4 or above in the key stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test. This is an increase of four percentage points since 2013.

In 2014, the school's result was in the top 40% of similar schools' results, and in the middle 20% of all schools.
http://dashboard.ofsted.gov.uk/dash.php?urn=131750

As for the use of interpreters at parents' evenings I agree fully with Mamyalynne. The school has to try to make the best of the intake it gets- and it seems to be doing a good job in challenging circumstances.

[jourdain2]

Translators should not be needed. Seriously. I've worked in schools where non-English-speaking pupils were paired with a couple of native speakers and within a term these kids were coping - after a year they were pretty fluent.

In France you speak French, full stop. No quarter is given. If you don't understand you take along a translator at your own expense. Children just have to cope... and they do, I promise, I've seen it happen time and again.

Mamya, this is how they learn English and integrate - or the other way around in France. I've known quite a lot of British kids, they struggled at first, but 1 year sorted it out for all of them. All save the 14 yr.olds, whose idiot parents didn't understand the system. Poor kids, they lost big time. :(


As far as the word 'British' is concerned - they live here and presumably aspire to be British, so I can't see the problem.

[fiction-factory]

Jourdain- I assumed the translators used at parents' evenings are there to help communication between parents and teachers.

[jourdain2]

Yes, I was speaking generally f-f. But I would say that if a parent needs a translator then he/she should pay towards their time.

I have personal experience of this. As Language Support to a Science class I sat with the teacher when a particularly 'laid-back', obstreperous, idle, rude Asian boy brought his non-English-speaking father in to Parents' Evening. We both laid into this kid comprehensively with dire predictions about his GCSE results if there were no change pretty rapidly.

The boy turned round and translated for his father - who beamed and shook our hands, going off highly pleased with the positive report! After that one of our Asian members of staff was always on call.

Notwithstanding, I think that no quarter should be given about language, which is the cement of a society.

[Togo]

//Jourdain- I assumed the translators used at parents' evenings are there to help communication between parents and teachers. //

There is the answer, not intended I assume, but the answer never the less.

[fiction-factory]

I think the school's priority is to do the best for its students and part of that involves meaningful communication with parents. I think it would be unfair on the child to insist on speaking to the parents in English.

[jourdain2]

In that case, f - f, there is no incentive to learn English, which is my point.

[jourdain2]

^^^^The parents, if they care, should arrange for a translator. Most who are like that don't care, in my experience. They are quite happy in their own community and have no real idea of living in Britain. I've had boys tell me that they are not worried about exam results because they will work for their uncle/cousin etc.. Even had one tell me that he would go into selling drugs because it brought good money. (Yes, I reported it!)

[THECORBYLOON]

ANOTHEOLDGIT asked, "I wonder what the exam pass rate is in English?"

The Ofsted report from May this year says, "Those pupils who speak English as an additional language make excellent progress in reading and writing, and their achievement is good overall. Skilled teaching assistants and language specialists assess their needs early on and the thorough induction process ensures that they settle in quickly and adapt to school life."