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Rural school is denied top grade by Ofsted inspectors because it's 'too English' and not diverse enough

Report said pupils at Middle Rasen Primary School in Lincolnshire lacked 'first-hand experience' of modern British society
Said pupils should interact with 'counterparts from different backgrounds'
But parents criticised 'bizarre' decision because small town is 97% white
'Very few' at the 104-pupil school are from ethnic groups, report says
Headteacher believes comments are reaction to so-called Trojan Horse plot

By Steph Cockroft for MailOnline

Published: 12:25, 19 November 2014 | Updated: 15:50, 19 November 2014

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A high-achieving rural school was denied the top rating by Ofsted after being criticised for being 'too English'.

Inspectors who visited Middle Rasen Primary School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, penalised the school for not being multicultural enough - despite 97 per cent of the town being white.

Elsewhere, the small 104-pupil school had been highly praised in the report for its management and teaching, plus its well-behaved, courteous and enthusiastic pupils.
Middle Rasen Primary School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, has missed out on an 'outstanding' rating from Ofsted because it is 'too English'. Pictured: Headteacher Melonie Brunton (back middle) with pupils
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Middle Rasen Primary School in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, has missed out on an 'outstanding' rating from Ofsted because it is 'too English'. Pictured: Headteacher Melonie Brunton (back middle) with pupils
Inspectors penalised the 104-pupil school for not being multicultural enough, despite 97 per cent of the town being white and the majority of pupils not being from ethnic backgrounds
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Inspectors penalised the 104-pupil school for not being multicultural enough, despite 97 per cent of the town being white and the majority of pupils not being from ethnic backgrounds

But the report said the school, situated in a picturesque small town, was graded as 'good' instead of 'outstanding' because pupils lacked 'first-hand experience of the diverse make up of modern British society'.

The inspector suggested the school works to have 'first-hand interaction with their counterparts from different backgrounds beyond the immediate locality' - but did not specify how this could happen.

The majority of pupils are white British, with 'very few' from ethnic group. Every pupil has English as his or her first language.
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The report says: 'Pupils learn about different people's social and ethnic backgrounds, customs and beliefs.

'However, opportunities for them to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of modern British society by interacting at first hand with their counterparts from different cultural background beyond the immediate locality are underdeveloped.'

Pupils being given too hard or easy work, as well as insufficient opportunities for teachers to progress, were also deemed as reasons for why the school was not given the top rating.
Melonie Brunton
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Charles Patrick
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Head Melonie Brunton (left) said Ofsted's comments were a backlash against the so-called Trojan Horse plot, while Rev Charles Patrick (right), former head of governors, said town did not have many non-white residents

After the report was published, headteacher Melonie Brunton said the school would look to develop pupils' understanding of multicultural issues.

But she suggested the Ofsted comments were a backlash from the so-called Trojan Horse scandal, in which investigations were conducted into an alleged plot by hardline Muslims to seize control of school governing boards in Birmingham.

Tory MP for Gainsborough Sir Edward Leigh also branded the decision 'political correctness gone mad'.

Meanwhile, angry parents criticised the 'bizarre decision' to 'punish the school for being too English'.

Mother-of-two Kirsty Egen, 29, said: 'I think it's ridiculous. It's a brilliant school.

'I have no doubt that if there were non-white children attending they would make sure they were accommodated and the children interacted.
Elsewhere, the small school had been highly praised in the report for its management and teaching, plus its well-behaved, courteous and enthusiastic pupils
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Elsewhere, the small school had been highly praised in the report for its management and teaching, plus its well-behaved, courteous and enthusiastic pupils
Ofsted's damning verdict on Trojan Horse schools (related)

'But they can't force people to come. Why would the school spend time on trying to teach the children how to integrate with people who aren't even there?

'I think the school has been victimised, it seems very vindictive to just mark them down for something they cannot change.'

Jodie Miller, 35, whose six-year-old daughter Dylann attends the school, added: 'I don't think this should be a reason to mark a school down.

'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. There are only around 100 pupils in the school overall, you can't expect there to be that many from minorities in that number.

'The school does a lot to try and teach them about other cultures without there being children from other cultures there. It's bizarre to punish them for being too English.'
Jodie Miller, pictured with daughter Dylann, said it was 'bizarre' for Ofsted to 'punish' the school for being 'too English'
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The town (pictured) is believed to be made up of about 97 per cent white residents, but the school was told that pupils should be more exposed to a range of different backgrounds

Part time administrator Julia Weeks, 47, who has a 10-year-old son at the school said: 'To mark a school down for something they cannot control is crackers.

'They do plenty about other cultures, they learn about them, they are all taught Spanish, it's not like the school has closed off to them.

'If there were more people from ethnic minorities around then maybe you could have a complaint, but there just aren't.'

Another parent Tina Green added: 'The school is excellent, my five-year-old son is autistic and he has come on leaps and bounds since he went there.

'It's not even like the school is entirely white. There are ethnic pupils here, it's just that not many ethnic people live around here, but that is an entirely different matter.

'There really is nothing the school could have done about that, and it doesn't seem fair not to give them an outstanding rating because of this.'
Jodie Miller, pictured with daughter Dylann, said it was 'bizarre' for Ofsted to 'punish' the school for being 'too English'
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Jodie Miller, pictured with daughter Dylann, said it was 'bizarre' for Ofsted to 'punish' the school for being 'too English'

Father-of-one Benjamin Bannan, 33, added: 'Its 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.'

Ms Brunton said the school would look to look to partner with an inner-city school to develop their understanding of multicultural issues.

She said: 'We would have liked to be 'outstanding' but we were very pleased to have got the very positive comments.

'We all worked really hard - everybody, the staff and the pupils have worked hard.

'I think the problem is that we are a rural Lincolnshire school and that is always going to be an issue. I agree that we could do more and we are trying to get a partnership with an inner city school.'

The head said school trips usually involve visits to the countryside, such as farms and zoos.

But they recently had a trip to Derby, which included a mosque visit as well as touring the Rolls-Royce factory.

She added: 'We try to do things but not enough. I felt the Ofsted comments were a backlash against the Birmingham Trojan Horse issue and Ofsted are very keen on British values.'

Reverend Charles Patrick, who was head of the governors at the time of the report, added: 'There is always more that you can do and maybe now we look at twinning the school with ones from other minority areas or something like that.

'But 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.'

Tory MP for Gainsborough Sir Edward Leigh said: 'This is political correctness gone mad.

'Middle Rasen Primary School is an outstanding school by any standards, and Melonie Brunton is a brilliant headteacher - I back the school and its head one-hundred percent.

'Just last week I wrote to Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary, objecting strenuously to the new so-called 'equality' regulations she is implementing in schools.

'Conservatives have always stood for freeing our schools from the deadening hand of state-enforced orthodoxy.

'Why there has been such a massive U-turn under Nicky Morgan is inexplicable to me.

'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.'

A spokesman for Ofsted reiterated that it was not the only factor in depriving the school of its 'outstanding' rating.

He said: 'We judged this school to be good across all areas including leadership and management, teaching quality, and pupils' behaviour and safety.

'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.'
THE DEMOGRAPHIC OF MARKET RASEN, ACCORDING TO LATEST CENSUS

According to the Office for National Statistics, the latest Census from 2011 shows the demographic of the 5,417 people living in Market Rasen is chiefly White British.

Under the country of birth, the statistics show 5,165 were born in the UK. There were 90 people born in EU countries, with 29 born in Africa and 62 born in the Middle East and Asia.

There were just 30 people born in the Americas and the Caribbean, while nine were born in Oceania.

Under the category entitled 'ethnic group', 5,200 people were White British, while 23 were White Irish. There were 76 people under the category of White Other.

There were just 16 residents of mixed white and black ethnicity, with 16 of mixed white and Asian ethnicity.

There were 17 of Indian ethnicity and 19 of Chinese ethnicity. There were 22 of Black, African, Caribbean or Black British origin.

In terms of main languages spoken, there were 5,246 people who classed English as their first language.

Just 24 had another European language as their first language - including Romanian, Lithuanian, Greek, Swedish and Danish - while another 27 had their first language marked as an East Asian language.

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Tom and Jerry racist? No, the real bigots are those who want to rewrite history, writes sociology professor FRANK FUREDI

By Professor Frank Furedi For The Daily Mail

Published: 00:33, 4 October 2014 | Updated: 00:33, 4 October 2014

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For more than 70 years, their cat-and-mouse capers have enthralled young people across the globe. Violent, hilarious and often somehow poignant, Tom and Jerry’s only crime has until now been to encourage children to watch tele-vision when they should have been doing their homework, tidying their bedrooms or performing some other worthwhile task.

This week, however, they fell foul of the censors at Amazon, which seems to have taken its lead from Cromwell’s Puritans. The company says Tom and Jerry cartoons must carry a warning that ‘they contain some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society’.

The particular focus of Amazon’s reproach is the portrayal of the black maid in the cartoons, known as Mammy Two Shoes because only her lower half ever appears on the screen. Her character, apparently, is nothing more a crude racial stereotype. ‘Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today,’ states Amazon.
Amazon says Tom and Jerry cartoons must carry a warning that ‘they contain some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society’
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Amazon says Tom and Jerry cartoons must carry a warning that ‘they contain some ethnic and racial prejudices that were once commonplace in American society’
The particular focus of Amazon’s reproach is the portrayal of the black maid in the cartoons, known as Mammy Two Shoes because only her lower half ever appears on the screen
The particular focus of Amazon’s reproach is the portrayal of the black maid in the cartoons, known as Mammy Two Shoes because only her lower half ever appears on the screen

The particular focus of Amazon’s reproach is the portrayal of the black maid in the cartoons, known as Mammy Two Shoes because only her lower half ever appears on the screen

There are those who have applauded the online retailer’s stance. Dr Birgitta Hosea, director of the animation master’s course at the University of the Arts in London, says: ‘Images like that are not OK. Children are at stake here. It is important that they get positive images of people and not just negative, “mammy” stereotypes of black women.’

Poor old Tom and Jerry. All they were trying to do was entertain us, but now the thought police have decided to impose their modern-day values on cartoons made decades ago.

On the surface, perhaps, this is a trivial affair. Why should Amazon not warn viewers that they may be offended by the depiction of Mammy Two Shoes? After all, she is the archetype of a black woman working for a white family from the southern U.S. in the mid-20th century, when such women did not have the vote.

Well, there are a number of reasons in my view.

To begin with, it is deeply patronising to suggest that modern-day families do not understand that they are watching historical cartoons, made when values were different. Are the censors really suggesting that, by watching Tom and Jerry, our children will turn out racist, believing that ‘Mammy Two Shoes’ is the norm?
Mammy Two Shoes' character, apparently, is nothing more a crude racial stereotype. ‘Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today,’ states Amazon
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Mammy Two Shoes' character, apparently, is nothing more a crude racial stereotype. ‘Such depictions were wrong then and are wrong today,’ states Amazon

More importantly, however, this is a worrying new example of the way history is being re-written by politically-correct know-alls who are so blinkered that they can only see things from their own perspective — which is, of course, a modern-day perspective. It is as if they are writing history back-to-front, imposing their own moral views on the past.

These people pose as the champions of children, arguing that by issuing their warnings of racism, they are offering them protection from encountering it. But it’s hard not to believe that their real motive is to parade their own piety.
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What is worse, is that in order to do this they are airbrushing history, which sets a very dangerous precedent — for it is only by acknowledging the truth about the past that we can progress to a better future.

And yet the warnings on Tom and Jerry are far from the only example of this trend — the moralisers have indulged in an extraordinary range of denunciations in recent years.

Today, we laugh at tales about finger-wagging Victorian prigs who wanted to cover up piano legs for fear of inflaming erotic passions, but these modern dogmatists are just as bad.

It is not even the first time that Tom and Jerry have come under their gaze. In 2006, the children’s TV channel Boomerang edited some scenes from the cartoon which featured characters smoking.

Tintin cartoons by the Belgian artist Herge, about the adventures of the young reporter and his dog Snowy, have also been attacked for racial stereotyping.

One of the first books in the series, Tintin In The Congo, written in 1930, has been withdrawn from the children’s sections of many libraries and bookshops because of the way it depicts African natives as primitive and ignorant. In some cases, publishers have even wrapped the book in protective packaging similar to that used for top-shelf pornography.
Tom and Jerry was created in 1940 and centres around a rivalry between a cat (Tom) and mouse (Jerry)
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Tom and Jerry was created in 1940 and centres around a rivalry between a cat (Tom) and mouse (Jerry)

Both Asterix the Gaul and Babar the Elephant have been condemned for denigrating Africans or promoting colonialism. One Babar book was even removed from shelves by library staff in East Sussex.

Offence can be found anywhere. One writer even complained about a character in the Phantom Menace, a film in the recent Star Wars series, whom he said was a ‘dark-skinned, hook-nosed greedy slave owner’ and therefore ‘an all-purpose anti-Semitic caricature’.

Nor are the Disney studios immune. In 1992, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee compelled the corporation to re-write the lyrics of the opening song in musical Aladdin, after complaining that it presented a cruel, negative image of the Middle East.

Those in the politically correct brigade are not interested in encouraging tolerance, as they pretend, or in promoting knowledge and open inquiry. Instead, like all hard-liners throughout history, they want to impose their own ideological values on impressionable minds.

To them, history is not merely a process of study to illuminate the past of mankind. It is also a tool of propaganda, an instrument with which to enforce correct thinking.

In this regard, the ideologues have a similar outlook to the party bosses in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, in which the Ministry of Truth constantly rewrites history in books and newspapers to ensure that the citizens of the socialist state have the right political outlook.

‘Who controls the past controls the future,’ is one of the party’s slogans. It has often been claimed that Orwell based the Ministry of Truth on the BBC where he once worked, and Orwellian thinking was certainly demonstrated in a shameful recent controversy at the Corporation.
The classic cartoon has won Academy Awards for Animated Short Film many times
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The classic cartoon has won Academy Awards for Animated Short Film many times

This was when the popular children’s programme Horrible Histories portrayed pioneering Victorian nurse Florence Nightingale as an unashamed racist.

In a sketch for the show, Miss Nightingale — known as the Lady of the Lamp — was shown to reject four job applications from the Jamaican-born Mary Seacole to work in a hospital for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War.

The position, their version had Nightingale saying, was ‘only for British girls’, her apparent discrimination causing fury to Seacole.

‘Four times me tried to join Old Lamp-Face’s nurses in the Crimean War, and four times she said no,’ said Seacole in the script.

But this was a complete travesty of the truth designed purely to fuel contempt for a revered Victorian figure and to suggest that the British Empire was institutionally racist. There is no record that Seacole was ever rejected for any position with Florence Nightingale. Nor was she, in fact, medically qualified for such a role.

Last week, the BBC Trust ruled that the depiction of Florence Nightingale was ‘materially inaccurate’ and that the producers had provided no compelling evidence for their charge of racism.

In a mealy-mouthed statement, a spokesman for BBC children’s television said that the aim had never been to ‘undermine the reputation’ of Florence Nightingale, but to ‘open up a discussion about some of the attitudes of the time’.

The distortion of history by these people is impossible to avoid. A London museum recently had a huge poster of Winston Churchill at its entrance from which his cigar, perhaps his most famous prop, had been airbrushed.

In 2006, Brunel University, named after the famous 19th century engineer, unveiled a statue of the great man based on the iconic photo of him standing in front of his steamship, the Great Eastern, but, as with Churchill, Brunel’s trademark cigar had been excised.

A similar trick was perpetrated when a school text book was published featuring a doctored image of Brunel, again reflecting the ridiculous belief that pupils are so vulnerable, so easily swayed, that a puffing Brunel might turn them all into chain-smokers.
The show was rebooted by Cartoon Network over this year, with the old style (pictured) largely kept to
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The show was rebooted by Cartoon Network over this year, with the old style (pictured) largely kept to

The trend has predictably assumed grotesque proportions within the unaccountable institutions of the European Union. When plans for the construction of a Euro-Museum celebrating the EU’s ‘historical memory’ were drawn up, it was suggested that history began in 1946.

Why? Because for the EU political elite the history of the continent before 1945 is forbidden territory — it shows a Europe that was far from united.

But while European history certainly contains its share of depressing and horrific episodes, it is hardly something to be ashamed of.

Ancient Greece was responsible for acquainting humanity with philosophy and opening us to the promise of science. From Judaism and Christianity, Europe gained a series of moral principles that are upheld as ideals to this day. From the Romans we inherited an appreciation of the law and a legal system that provides security and order.

The Renaissance and the Enlightenment in Europe drew on the experiences of ancients to call into question prevailing assumptions and prejudices.

It is no less likely that Europeans today will need to draw on their past to revitalise their society and develop the moral resources necessary to face the future.

That is why this doctrinaire censoring of the past is highly dangerous. It creates a climate of hysteria, where wild accusations of racism or bigotry are hurled about, and where rational debate becomes impossible.

That was clearly demonstrated in the explosive row over the ‘Human Zoo’ exhibition at the Barbican Centre in London. Conceived by the South African artist Brett Bailey, this show recreated the 19th-century phenomenon of ‘human zoos’, in which African tribespeople would be gazed at by European audiences.

The explicit aim of the show, which featured semi-naked actors standing on platforms while a Namibian choir sang lamentations in the background, was to highlight the cruelty of past colonial prejudice.

Bizarrely, however, this laudable goal was ignored by the censorship mob, who accused the artist, actors and the Barbican Centre of being ‘complicit in racism’.
Posters for somne of the episodes of the cartoon from the 1940s and 1950s
Posters for somne of the episodes of the cartoon from the 1940s and 1950s
Posters for somne of the episodes of the cartoon from the 1940s and 1950s

Posters for somne of the episodes of the cartoon from the 1940s and 1950s

So ferocious was the campaign against the show, which including loud protests and a petition with 15,000 signatures, that the Barbican felt compelled last month to close it down, despite the fact the performers issued a statement claiming that the exhibition was ‘a powerful tool in the fight against racism’.

Yet such words count for nothing. The sanctimonious censors might like to think that we live in more advanced times.

But their own intolerant, aggressive attitude is all too reminiscent of the witchfinders of the past, fixated with rooting out supposed evil, desperate to enforce their own creed, contemptuous of both the past and freedom.

In their crusade against bigotry, they are guilty of the most flagrant double standards, sometimes descending to exactly the same kind of racism that they so fiercely condemn in others.

For instance, the former BBC boss Greg Dyke notoriously accused the Corporation of being ‘hideously white’, a statement that was echoed last month by the popular author James Dawson, who said that there ‘are too many white faces in children’s books’.

And as history is recast, apologies and pardons are dished out as if our forebears were all common criminals. Tony Blair said sorry for the Irish potato famine, and Gordon Brown for the criminalisation of gay computing genius Alan Turing, who famously cracked the Enigma code during World War II.

But these apologies are not made with true humility — they are only really designed to paint the politicians in a beatific light compared to those they regard as the old reactionary monsters of the past.

This constant denigration of our history is profoundly destructive. The determination to bang on about the ‘bad, old days’ presents it as nothing more than a saga of embarrassment and shame, depriving children of any proper understanding of the past.

Of course there are bad moments in our history, times when we behaved in ways that appear shameful with the benefit of hindsight. And of course our generation, living in the 21st century, has every right to adopt different views from our forebears.

But we are in no position to try to undo their actions and decisions, or to pretend that events of the past never took place.

To do so is not to fight prejudice from the past, but to inflict real cultural damage with our own prejudices in the present.

Frank Furedi was formerly professor of sociology at the University of Kent.
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Frank Furedi is pished.

'But we are in no position to try to undo their actions and decisions'

lol @ furedi

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Tally ho toddlers! The Boxing Day hunt riders get younger every year as sport attracts a new generation of supporters

Young hunt supporters were out in force for traditional Boxing Day meets
Many decorated horses in tinsel for the biggest day in the hunt calendar
Countryside Alliance say hunting is growing in popularity among young
They estimate 250,000 people turned out to support 300 hunts around the UK

By David Wilkes for the Daily Mail

Published: 22:14, 26 December 2014 | Updated: 23:23, 26 December 2014

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Sitting proudly atop their noble steeds, these are some of the baby-faced riders who saddled up for a spot of Boxing Day hunting.

While some youngsters decorated their bridles with tinsel, two-year-old Ella Hayward-O’Neill seemed more interested in her sausage roll snack.

They were all representing the new generation of hunt supporters who took part in Boxing Day meets yesterday, as the political debate over the sport continues.
Two-year-old Ella Hayward-O'Neill eating her sausage roll at the Vine and Craven Hunt
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Hattie Denham, four, at the Vine and Craven Hunt
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Two-year-old Ella Hayward-O'Neill tucks into her sausage roll snack, left, while Hattie Denham, four, sits proudly on her horse, right, at the Vine and Craven Hunt in Hampshire
One rider wearing his Christmas jumper dressed his horse in tinsel and reindeer antlers at the Quorn Hunt at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough
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One rider wearing his Christmas jumper dressed his horse in tinsel and reindeer antlers at the Quorn Hunt at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough

The Countryside Alliance estimated more than 250,000 people turned out to support 300 hunts, which met across the country on what is traditionally the biggest day of the hunting calendar.
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The group claimed the sport has attracted increasing numbers of children since the 2004 Hunting Act, which banned hunting foxes with a pack of hounds.

Most of the gatherings now practise trail-hunting, in which participants follow a trail across the countryside laid with a rag steeped in fox scent.
A young rider leads her horse through Lambourn High Street as part of the Vine and Craven Boxing Day hunt
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A young rider leads her horse through Lambourn High Street as part of the Vine and Craven Boxing Day hunt
The town square in Chipping Norton was packed full of hunt supporters both young and old to welcome the Heythrop Hunt
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The town square in Chipping Norton was packed full of hunt supporters both young and old to welcome the Heythrop Hunt

Yesterday a Countryside Alliance spokesman said: ‘There are a lot of young people hunting. There’s a new generation of people hunting who have come into it since the ban came into force.

‘They are as devoted as everyone else to countryside traditions and feel that hunting in its proper form is entirely justifiable and should be allowed to re-convene ... there’s a real feeling that something fundamentally wrong happened ten years ago when the Act was brought in.’

Yesterday, the Mail reported how hunt supporters are plotting to use the drive to introduce English votes for English laws to push through a repeal of the foxhunting ban after the next election.
Thousands of people turned out for The Ledbury Hunt
A young jockey concentrates as the Berkeley Hunt makes its way though the High Street in Thornbury, south Gloucestershire yesterday
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A young jockey concentrates as the Berkeley Hunt makes its way though the High Street in Thornbury, south Gloucestershire yesterday
The Countryside Alliance claimed the sport has attracted increasing numbers of children since the 2004 Hunting Act, which banned hunting foxes with a pack of hounds
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The Countryside Alliance claimed the sport has attracted increasing numbers of children since the 2004 Hunting Act, which banned hunting foxes with a pack of hounds

A Tory pledge to hold a free vote in the Commons on scrapping the law was quietly shelved after ministers realised it would be lost.

But the Countryside Alliance said the result could be very different if Scottish MPs – who are largely Labour – were barred from voting on the issue as it is devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

It said English and Welsh MPs would vote by a majority of 22 to scrap the ban if a vote were held now.

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