The Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boaters’ Pledge for Schools

The Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen and Boaters’ in Education group have created a Pledge for schools to show their commitment to improving access, retention and outcomes in education for their communities. It is designed to support best practice in ensuring monitoring of data, inclusive practice and the development of widening participation practice to support GTRSB pupils, potential pupils and their families. The Pledge sets out to deliver effective practice and also create an open and welcoming environment where members of the communities know their culture and learning needs are understood by the school which they attend, or which they are interested in attending.

The Pledge consists of a few minimum commitments that your school must agree to and work towards prior to taking the Pledge.

Your school must commit to working towards creating the most appropriate and welcoming environment and conditions in which GTRSB pupils can stay resilient and thrive academically and personally.

• The school will establish a named contact point for GTRSB pupils and potential pupils 
• The school will clearly identify and publicise the support for GTRSB pupils already in place which engage the key areas of the Pledge: 
  • data monitoring of GTRSB pupils and staff numbers; 
  • building a supportive and welcoming culture for GTRSB pupils;
  • outreach & engagement to local GTRSB communities and 
  • inclusion, celebration and commemoration of GTRSB cultures and communities. 
• To facilitate this, the school will develop processes to identify GTRSB pupils and monitor their progress, as well as supporting the professional and personal development of staff members who self-identify as members of the communities. 
• The school will ensure that staff and pupils across departments are aware of the support available to GTRSB pupils in the school. 
• The school commits to ensuring that staff development exists raising awareness of the barriers GTRSB pupils face accessing education, and broadly in society.

As the SEN statistics show that the Traveller population are more likely to be identified as SEN it is important that schools engage with the community and work together to improve outcomes.