Thursday, May 22, 2014



School inspection abandoned after angry parents confront Ofsted staff for asking children as young as NINE about their attitude towards homosexuality

A school inspection was forced to be abandoned yesterday after angry parents confronted Ofsted staff over claims children as young as nine were asked about their attitude to homosexuality.

A review of the Olive Tree Primary School in Luton, a Muslim faith school, had to be halted after parents said they would withdraw their pupils from the school if the inspectors remained.

Parents were said to be concerned that the Ofsted staff were discussing sex with the children, without their consent.

A scheduled meeting between parents and inspectors saw the appropriateness of the questioning raised and after discussions the inspectors withdrew from the school a day early.

The chair of the school trust that runs the school, Farast Latif, said that the meeting between the parents and inspectors was largely amicable.  But added when the inspectors realised the parents were serious about pulling their children out of the school, they left.

Mr Latif told the Guardian's Richard Adam: ‘One of the parents said to them, and all of us agreed, this is a safeguarding issue, we are not comfortable about adults speaking to our children about issues of sexuality.

‘When they realised we were serious about that, they left. This is about sexualising young children.’

The Olive Tree primary does not come under the Independent Schools Council and is therefore inspected by OFSTED.

Their standards require pupils are taught tolerance of different groups within society.

A spokesman for OFSTED confirmed that inspectors withdrew from the school but that sufficient evidence was gathered to complete the inspection.

They also added that inspectors were left to their own discretion when asking pupils questions about sexuality.

The news that inspectors withdrew from the school comes following reports a similar line of questioning was used on Muslim pupils into an investigation into schools in Birmingham over the alleged Trojan Horse plot.

However, an OFSTED spokesman added that questions about sexuality weren’t restricted to predominantly Muslim schools.

A spokesman told the newspaper: ‘As part of any school inspection, inspectors will ask pupils about the effectiveness of the school’s actions to prevent and tackle discriminatory and derogatory language.’

The Trojan Horse plot involves the alleged ousting of headteachers, mainly in and around the Birmingham area, by Islamic extremists attempting to take over several top schools in a bid to target vulnerable young people.

Whistleblowers at Park View School in the city have claimed the school is in the hands of a group of extremists who infiltrated the governing body.

SOURCE






Headteacher bans fish from school dinners and lunchboxes because just ONE girl is allergic to them

Parents at a primary school have slammed a decision to take all fish off the menu and ban it from packed lunches - because one pupil is allergic.

Robert Le Kyng Primary School in Swindon, Wiltshire, sent the letter explaining the new pupil suffers severe reactions to haddock and tuna and a blanket ban was needed to avoid any risks.

The ban means fish and chips is now off the menu as well as all other dishes, such as fish finger sandwiches.

It also means that all children must refrain from having fish in their lunchboxes.

Headteacher Susan Smith said the menu change was necessary to protect the unnamed girl at the school, but parents slammed the move as 'over the top'.

In a letter sent to the school's 415 pupils, she said: 'This decision was not reached without seeking advice from the relevant medical professionals involved with this child.

'In this case, the child in question will be joining us full-time in September, but is coming in part-time until then as part of an extended induction.

'She has had severe reactions, not just to the smell of cooking fish, but also when her mother touched her after eating a tuna sandwich'

She added: 'This is about the life-threatening nature of the reaction.

'The school nurse has said it is a balance between a dietary change and a life-threatening issue, and we have to protect the children under our care.

'That is why we have asked for lots more detail so we can make a more informed decision.

'We can't completely avoid the risk, and that is why we have done additional training, and we are constantly reviewing the situation.

'We appreciate this is quite a large response but at the moment it is necessary. She has had quite severe reactions, and has been in hospital as a result.

'The reactions so far have been to haddock, tuna and one other fish. It is very unusual.

SOURCE






A Joint Statement Expressing Serious Concern About the UCLA Chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine

 Dear Chancellor Block, President Napolitano and UC Board of Regents:

We are deeply concerned about the behavior of a registered student group at UCLA, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

In an attempt to target, harass and intimidate pro-Israel Jewish students at UCLA, SJP members recently launched a campaign calling for a Judicial Board investigation of student council members who have taken trips to Israel sponsored by Jewish organizations. The SJP also demanded that candidates for student government positions sign a statement pledging that they will not go on any trip to Israel sponsored by three Jewish organizations.

The SJP has targeted only Israel.  And it has targeted three Jewish organizations that sponsor trips to Israel.  Not a single church or mosque that pays for or sponsors Israel trips was singled out.

This is an outrageous and impermissible violation of students’ right to free expression, their right to free association, and their fundamental right to travel and move freely.  The SJP cannot be permitted to infringe on any student’s personal liberties and freedoms, or to bully students into not associating with certain Jewish groups that are dedicated to building love and support for Israel.

The SJP’s motive is clear:  to manipulate the composition of the student government so that it is filled with anti-Israel activists who support the SJP’s hateful agenda.  This is the SJP’s latest effort to harass, intimidate and bully pro-Israel Jewish students.  The group’s shenanigans plainly follow from the SJP’s failed attempt to get the student government to endorse an anti-Israel divestment resolution last February

Since the ASUC rejected the SJP’s divestment resolution, members of the SJP have engaged in what one Jewish student leader has described as a campaign of hatred and bullying directed "toward both the Jewish community and council members that voted against the resolution." Some students who opposed the anti-Israel divestment resolution reportedly feel uncomfortable even walking on campus because of the hate mail they have received.  According to the Jewish student leader, "Rather than dealing with their frustrations as a result of the failure of the resolution, members of SJP continue to target their anger at the Jewish community."

The SJP is the only university-funded student organization at UCLA whose very mission targets an ethnic minority for hatred and vilification and whose activities routinely harass, intimidate, threaten and seek to silence members of that ethnic minority on campus.

The SJP’s conduct violates the UCLA Principles of Community which state:

"We do not tolerate acts of discrimination, harassment, profiling or other conduct causing harm to individuals on the basis of expression of race, color, ethnicity, gender, age, disability, religious beliefs, political preference, sexual orientation, gender identity, citizenship, or national origin among other personal characteristics. Such conduct violates UCLA’s Principles of Community and may result in imposition of sanctions according to campus policies governing the conduct of students, staff and faculty."

The SJP’s conduct also violates Section 102.11 of UCLA’s Student Conduct Code, which prohibits harassment, defined as “conduct that is so severe and/or pervasive, and objectively offensive, and that so substantially impairs a person’s access to University programs or activities that the person is effectively denied equal access to the University’s resources and opportunities.”

The SJP’s scheme to prevent pro-Israel Jewish students from having equal access to positions in the student government is a disgraceful violation of the Code.

UCLA’s Code of Conduct and its Principles of Community are more than just words; they demand action.  Indeed, UCLA’s standards of conduct may be higher than what the law would require.  According to the Code, the regulations it contains were “developed to create and maintain a safe, supportive, and inclusive campus community” – values that the SJP is completely indifferent to and does not support.

As leaders of UCLA, you have a duty to stop to the SJP's acts of wanton discrimination, harassment and bullying, and its deliberate interference with students’ rights and freedoms.  We call on you to protect the safety and well-being of Jewish students at UCLA and hold SJP members accountable for their shameful misconduct.

Thank you, AMCHA Initiative Institute for Black Solidarity With Israel; The Lawfare Project; Scholars for Peace in the Middle East; Simon Wiesenthal Center; Campus Outreach; Stand With Us; Zionist Organization of America

SOURCE

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