Agenda item

Report of the Joint Directors for Education

Jane Daffe, Senior Achievement Consultant, introduced the report, highlighting the following:

(a)  the Council used to have a dedicated Traveller Team, but the remit now falls under Jane’s area of Vulnerable Groups;

(b)  there are a number of particular issues that apply particularly to Roma communities. They have often had experience of persecution and discrimination, and so commonly do not identify themselves as Roma but as Polish or Other White background;

(c)  the highest number of Roma children are in the Forest Fields, Hyson Green and Sneinton areas, with Forest Fields primary being the school with the largest on roll at 49. Due to the problem with ascription it is difficult to get accurate data;

(d)  it is difficult to engage the Roma community with education. In primary school, it is more common in Eastern Europe for children to srart school at the age of 7 and so Roma parents are reluctant to allow their children to attend school at an earlier age. At secondary age, some children drop out as family and carer responsibilities take priority. Thera are also problems with accessing the school admissions process due to language and literacy problems;

(e)  Roma children in Nottingham underachieve at school, particularly in writing. This is in contrast to other children with English as an additional language who are generally higher attainers in Nottingham;

(f)  Teenage pregnancy is prevalent in the Roma community, with 21% of all school-age pregnancies in Nottingham in 2015-16 being Roma girls even though they only make up 0.4% of the school population. The age of consent in Hungary, Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic is lower, and there are very traditional attitudes to sex and gender roles;

(g)  Roma children are 7 times as likely to be permanently excluded from school, and 6 times as likely to be excluded fixed-term. These high levels are similar to previous high levels of black Caribbean boys being excluded, so lessons that were learnt then could be applied here;

(h)  possible interventions to improve the education and opportunities of Roma children in Nottingham include events for Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month (June), Schools guidance documents, transition to secondary Roma initiatives, a home/school Roma liaison worker, and Family Information Service outreach for pre-school children.

The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:

(i)  there are some voluntary sector organisations working in the city which work with Roma communities and could have a role in any planned projects;

(j)  in Nottingham there is a lack of understanding of the community, with people referring to them as  Romanians. People see them as causing antisocial behaviour, but this is often just down to their way of life with large family groups coming together. It can be difficult to identify a leader for the community to engage with;

(k)  a single point of contact has been established in the Duty Team to ensure a consistent response to the Roma community. They may not always have had access previously to good sexual health education which needs to be addressed.

RESOLVED to

(1)  note the findings of the report and consider the implications/ cascade across areas of responsibility;

(2)  bring an update to the Children’s Partnership Board in a year’s time.