MY school days began in 1949, at Haxby Primary School, which was then housed in the Memorial Hall. Shortly afterwards we moved to Ralph Butterfield School.
I am forever grateful for the great start its teachers gave me. Without them I would not have gone to grammar school and on to university – no mean feat for a working class girl in those days.
Recently I was sent a photograph taken by The Press, of Ralph Butterfield’s two new reception classes. I did not see one child from an ethnic minority – so in case the school is expecting an Ofsted inspection, I felt I should warn the headteacher, that however brilliant it’s results may be, the school might be denied an “outstanding” rating because its pupils are “too English”.
This has been Ofsted’s judgement on two equally “white” primary schools – Market Rasen in Lincolnshire and Payenbury in Devon. Unfortunately they were unable to sacrifice at the altar of diversity, because there are no ethnic minorities living in their areas.
The idiocy, intolerance and politically-correct obsessive bullying of the educational establishment never ceases to amaze me. I wonder what my superb teachers of the 1950s would have made of it all.
Carole Tucker, Hillside Gardens, Highgate, London.
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