WHAT IS ASCRIPTION?
By law, schools are required to collect information about pupils’ ethnic backgrounds. When your child starts school, you will be asked to complete admission forms which will ask which ethnic group best matches your family. Sometimes you will be asked to do this by choosing a box to tick on a form. The decision of which box to tick is yours to make and school cannot tick a box for you without you knowing.
Ethnicity is a personal awareness of a common cultural identity and relates to how a person feels and not how they are perceived by others. It is not the same as nationality.
WHICH ETHNICITY CODE SHOULD I USE?
- WROM: Gypsy/Roma
- WROG: Gypsy
- WROR: Roma
- WROO: Other Gypsy/Roma
- WIRT: Traveller or Irish Heritage
- WBRI or WOTH: Fairground/Showman/Show-woman/Circus (write “Showman” on the form)
You should also know that you don’t have to give the information to school at all. There is another box to tick if you refuse:
- REFU Refuse
WHY SHOULD I ASCRIBE?
- Schools and families can access additional support for issues relating to your child’s education from services such as Traveller Education Services (TES) / Race Equality & Minority Achievement Services (REMA) / Ethnic Minority & Traveller Achievement Services (EMTAS).
- Schools can use the ‘T code’ to authorise your absences but only when you are travelling for work purposes.
- You can dual register your child or children at another school while you are away or staying on another area.