 | "I
worry about it at night. I dream that I've moved and I'm in a different school
and I don't know where to go." Shannon Scarrott | Shannon
Scarrott studying at her caravan home |
Educating ShannonTraveller
children have the worst records when it comes to school attendance, literacy and
attainment. Twelve thousand of them in the UK aren't even registered with
a school. Travelling showman Shady Scarrott can barely sign his own name
- and is determined that his daughter Shannon avoids the same fate. But
the uncertainties of the travelling lifestyle, including life on illegal sites
and the threat of eviction leaves her future at a Gloucestershire school in doubt.
Inside Out asks whether traveller children are being forgotten by the education
system. And if they are, who's to blame? Shannon's storyNine-year-old
Shannon Scarrott attends Grangefield Primary School in Bishop's Cleeve, Gloucestershire.
She has been there for four years.  | | Staying
in one school is Shannon's dream |
For the last six years her
traveller family has lived on illegal sites during the winter. They were
unable to find a legal site anywhere in the country, let alone in the school's
catchment area.
There is a shortage of legal travellers sites nationally,
and Gloucestershire mirrors the national picture. The prospect of having
to leave her school haunts Shannon and her family, as she explains: "I
worry about it at night. I dream that I've moved and I'm in a different school
and I don't know where to go. "Sometimes it's a nightmare, sometimes
it's a day dream. And then I wake up."
Her father Shady
Scarrott says that won't give up travelling despite the uncertainty it places
over his daughter's education. However he is concerned that Shannon and
the other travelling children receive proper schooling:
"We're
quite determined they're going to get an education. "The teachers
are determined that our children will get one. "But how long we can
keep them at those schools I don't know. "I want them to have a fair
crack at the whip. The day and age (which) we're in people's got to have an education."
 | | Homework
- studying back home at the family caravan |
He is anxious about
what to do for the best: "It puts me and my wife in a big difficulty
because where do my children get an education if we haven't got a base and we
haven't got anywhere to live?"
"Why should I live in a house?
I was born in a wagon like this one. "My father was born in a wagon
and his father too and generations before." Until recently the family
lived on an illegal site, and chose to move on before they were evicted. Now
they're living on a farmer's land, with his blessing. But unless the council
grants planning permission, there's no guarantee they'll be able to stay. Fears
for the futureFact
file | There are approx 15,000 traveller caravans
in the UK - 72 per cent of these are on authorised sites.
Twenty eight
per cent are on unauthorised developments or encampments. Twelve per cent are
on unauthorised developments (where Gypsies and Irish Travellers own the land
but do not have planning permission) and 16% on unauthorised encampments (where
Gypsies and Irish Travellers do not own the land and planning consent has not
been given for use as a site). Gypsy and Irish Traveller pupils in England
are the group most at risk of failure in the education system. In 2003 Roma
Gypsy pupils and 42% of Irish Traveller pupils in England obtained five or more
A*-C GCSEs, compared with the national overall average of 51%. In the same
year 22% of Roma Gypsy pupils and 17% of Irish Traveller pupils obtained no passes,
compared with 6% the overall average.
Source: CRE and DFE |
We
meet Shannon's headteacher who fears for her future, and that of other traveller's
children, unless more is done to include them in the education system. Lynne
Mitchell from Head Teacher Grangefield Primary School says: "We have
children on this site who are used to being here and are good learners. "If
they are moved from pillar to post, they may become non-attenders. "The
same pattern that occurred with their parents could reoccur. "They're
not wanted, they don't get an education, they stop going to school. "And
if they have no more education after 10, you won't have the average education
adults should have in these times and that's criminal." Some Gypsies
and Travellers feel that the planning system is weighted against them. Inside
Out spoke to Tewkesbury Council which believes that it is doing enough to accommodate
the travellers' needs, as Chris Shaw explains:  | | Chris
Shaw says the council is doing everything to help |
"Education
may suffer. And I think that's regrettable. But the responsibility falls on the
travelling show people. "It's their responsibility to comply with
planning laws like it's everybody else. "We have 70 per cent of the
County's gypsies and travellers. "This borough has three public sites
and a number of private sites so many people in the borough say we have done our
bit and it's time for other districts to take their share of making accommodation
available for families such as these."
But Sarah Spencer
from the Commission for Racial Equality believes that more could be done by local
authorities: "There is a constant cycle of evictions that's
estimated to cost around £18 million so it would be much more sensible to
provide legal sites for people to live in."
Since our
filming the family has been granted permission to live on the site until Spring
2008. So for now at least, Shannon's education is secure. Links
relating to this story:The Â鶹Éç is not responsible for the
content of external websites | 
ÌýÌýInside
Out - West Midlands: Friday January 26, 2007