Press release

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday 24 September 2014

Free Schools failing black and Asian children, new research shows

Free Schools were supposed to put power into the hands of local communities but they are failing children from Black, Asian and minority Ethnic communities (BAME) and increasing inequality, according to a new report.

Building on previous reports by ROTA and NASUWT this new Report again finds that a substantial proportion of free schools are not operating fair and inclusive admissions policies....Read more

NASUWT PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Monday 15 September 2014

Free Schools failing to demonstrate they are advancing racial equality, new report finds

The Coalition Government’s free schools programme, contrary to its stated aims to address educational disadvantage and attainment gaps, is failing to do so, concludes a report commissioned by the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK.

The...Read more

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday 7 November 2013

Free schools failing on equalities, new research shows

Race on the Agenda (ROTA) has published new research that shows that free schools are failing to comply with statutory requirements on equality.

The research appears soon after the recent Ofsted inspection of the Al-Madinah free school in Derby, which found that statutory requirements, including those on equality, were not being met.

The Equality Act 2010 requires all schools, including free schools,...Read more

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 20 December 2012

In a response to Mrs Lawrence and Dr Richard Stone’s letter about the review of the Public Sector Equality Duty the Welsh Government clearly sets out their position. Read the response letter here .

Ends. Read more

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 November 2012

Doreen Lawrence OBE and Dr Richard Stone OBE, supported by ROTA and other members of the BME VXS coalition sent this open letter detailing their concerns about the Governments early review of the Public Sector Equality Duty. Read the open letter here .

Ends Read more

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6 November 2012

The Coalition Government has widely promoted free schools as part of a process to eradicate unequal opportunities. Findings from Race on the Agenda (ROTA) suggest that participation from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities (BAME), who are amongst some of the most acutely disadvantaged in education, is notably lacking.

Free schools opening in deprived urban areas are not enrolling pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds at the same rate as other local schools. Although BAME...Read more

ROTA PRESS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 14 February 2012

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a grant to Race on the Agenda (ROTA), in partnership with the Tamil Community Centre (Hounslow), to carry out an innovative one-year oral history project with the Tamil community in London. The project, called ‘Through the generations: untold stories of Tamil migration’, will give different generations of Sri Lankan Tamils in London the opportunity to contribute to the first ever oral history of its kind.

Little has been done to...Read more

Press Release: 5 September 2011

The free schools agenda is coming at a high price to many communities that already face educational disadvantage, says Race on the Agenda (ROTA). There are worrying signs that local communities are losing out.

These include 20 voluntary organisations that will be displaced by the West London Free School, whose choice of premises, Palingswick House, is the building from which they have provided services to vulnerable groups including refugees and homeless people for the past 30 years. Additionally...Read more