ACERT – Page 61 – Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers

“Overwhelmed with pride at being a Gypsy and knowing that we count”.

This quote, taken from an participant evaluation, sums up the atmosphere at the first session of the UK ROMED training programme was held at Luther King House in Manchester from December 4 – 8 2012.

25 trainee mediators from Roma, Gypsy and Traveller backgrounds from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales took part. They were very positive about having been selected for the training and appreciated the successful learning experience for everyone involved.

The participants gelled as a group, enjoyed learning about each others’ cultures and rapidly developed in confidence as they took part in the training activities. They appreciated the participative delivery style and the friendly and supportive approach of the trainers and welcomed this unique opportunity for networking and sharing of professional knowledge and experience.

When the week ended they were fired with enthusiasm, looking forward to putting into practice the skills they had learned and to meeting up with the group once again in late March.

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Roma Children in Care

‘The report’ on Radio 4 was broadcast on Thursday 20th. December 2012, it is well worth a listen.

Following the row over Rotherham council’s decision to remove three foster children from a couple because of their support for UKIP, Simon Cox investigates concerns about the high number of Roma children being taken into care.

Here is the links:

Article:
Roma children: Britain’s hidden care problem
By Simon Cox

BBC Radio 4’s The Report
Download (13MB) audio.

What the census tells us

There were two new tick boxes in the 2011 Census: Gypsy or Irish Traveller, and Arab. Gypsy or Irish Travellers accounted for 58,000 usual residents (0.1 per cent of the population), making it the smallest ethnic category (with a tick box) in 2011. The highest proportion of people who identified as Gypsy or Irish Traveller were found in the South East and East of England with Basildon, Maidstone, Swale, Fenland and Ashford all at 0.5 per cent.

This is the first census to have included the tick box and there was a campaign before the census to make the communities aware of the change but the figure is significantly lower than previous estimates suggesting that many families were either excluded from the census or chose the more neutral British or Irish identifications. It is unlikely that Roma families would have ticked this box, regarding the term Gypsy as racist and not considering themselves to be Travellers. It also only covers England and Wales.

An interactive map is available for users to explore all ethnic groups further at the local authority level. https://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/interactive/census-map-2-1—ethnicity/index.html

Section 444 of the Education Act 1996

Under section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 (EA 1996), a parent commits an offence if they fail to ensure their child’s regular attendance at a school where the child is registered. Under section 444(1A) EA 1996, a parent commits a further offence where the circumstances in section 444(1) apply and the parent knows that the child fails to attend regularly at the school and fails to cause the child to attend.

However, this legislation sets out defences to these offences. In particular, section 444(6) EA 1996, gives parents a defence in which they cannot be found guilty of a school attendance offence, provided that the child is of no fixed abode and:

(a) parents are engaged in a trade or business of such a nature as to require them to travel from place to place, and

(b) the child has attended at a school as a registered pupil as regularly as the nature of that trade or business permits, and

(c) if the child has attained the age of six, that he or she has made at least 200 attendances during the period of 12 months ending with the date on which the proceedings were instituted.