Romani students from Czech Republic excelling at British school

News server Aktuálně.cz has run a photo-essay on Babington Community College in the English town of Leicester. At first glance it seems no different from other English schools, but it is actually a facility serving a very specific population. More than half of its pupils (54 %) are children whose mother tongue is not English. They are the children of the local immigrants who comprise a significant proportion of the town’s population.

Since the 1990s, the numbers of such children have been gradually increasing through the addition of Romani people from the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. Romani children have found sanctuary at Babington in particular.

Currently 82 Romani children are attending the school, which features an inclusive education system, and no one at Babington is bothered by the fact that they are Romani. Teachers work with them the same way they work with all the other pupils, and it seems the children are benefiting from the approach. While in the Czech Republic and Slovakia many of these Romani children attended the so-called “practical primary schools”, which are basically “special schools”, at Babington they are mastering the normal curriculum and managing to learn English as well.

The photo essay (in Czech only) can be seen at:

http://aktualne.centrum.cz/zahranici/evropa/fotogalerie/2013/05/10/romove-britanie-skola/?fb_action_ids=10201266009839230&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=photogallery-top&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%2210201266009839230%22%3A169070316587282}&action_type_map={%2210201266009839230%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map={%2210201266009839230%22%3A%22photogallery-top%22}