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Schoolgirl arrested for refusing to study with non-English pupils
Last updated at 10:37am on 13.10.06
Codie Stott: The 14-year-old schoolgirl was arrested for racism and spent three-and-a-half hours in police custody
A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English.
Codie Stott's family claim she was forced to spend three-and-a-half hours in a police cell after she was reported by her teachers.
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The 14-year-old - who was released without charge - said it had been a simple matter of commonsense and accused the school and police of an over-the-top reaction.
The incident happened in the same local education authority where a ten-year-old boy was prosecuted earlier this year for calling a schoolfriend racist names in the playground, a move branded by a judge "political correctness gone mad."
Codie was attending a GCSE science class at Harrop Fold High School in Worsley, Greater Manchester, when the incident happened.
The teenager had not been in school the day before due to a hospital appointment and had missed the start of a project, so the teacher allocated her a group to sit with.
"She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils," said Codie yesterday.
"Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said 'Discuss'."
According to Codie, the five - four boys and a girl - then began talking in a language she didn't understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
"I said 'I'm not being funny, but can I change groups because I can't understand them?' But she started shouting and screaming, saying 'It's racist, you're going to get done by the police'."
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
"They told me to take my laces out of my shoes and remove my jewellery, and I had my fingerprints and photograph taken," said Codie. "It was awful."
After questioning on suspicion of committing a section five racial public order offence, her mother Nicola says she was placed in a bare cell for three-and-a-half hours then released without charge.
She only returned to lessons this week and has been put in a different science class.
Yesterday Miss Stott, 37, a cleaner, said: "Codie was not being racist." "The reaction from the school and police is totally over the top and I am furious my daughter had to go through this trauma when all she was saying was common sense. "
"She'd have been better off not saying anything and getting into trouble for not being able to do the work."
Miss Stott, who is separated from Codie and her 18-year-old brother Ashley's father, lives with her partner Keith Seanor, a 36-year-old cable layer, in Walkden.
School insiders acknowledge that at least three of the students Codie refused to sit with had recently arrived in this country and spoke little English.
But they say her comments afterwards raised further concerns, for example allegedly referring to the students as "blacks" - something she denied yesterday.
The school is now investigating exactly what happened before deciding what action - if any - to take against Codie.
Headteacher Dr Antony Edkins said: "An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark by one student towards a group of Asian students new to the school and new to the country."
"We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards people and pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form."
Fewer than two per cent of pupils at Harrop Fold come from an ethnic minority.
It had the worst GCSE results in the entire Salford LEA last year with just 15 per cent of pupils achieving five good passes including English and maths, a third of the national average.
Since being placed in special measures, Ofsted inspectors say it has improved, not least as a result of Dr Edkins's "outstanding" leadership.
Salford was at the centre of a storm last April after a ten-year-old boy was hauled before a court for allegedly calling an 11-year-old mixed race pupil a 'Paki' and 'Bin Laden' in a playground argument at a primary school in Irlam.
When the case came before District Judge Jonathan Finestein he said the decision to prosecute showed "how stupid the whole system is getting".
But was himself fiercely attacked by teaching union leaders for "feeding a pernicious agenda" that aided the BNP.
The prosecution was eventually dropped.
Last night Robert Whelan, deputy director of the Civitas think-tank, said: "It's obviously common sense that pupils who don't speak English cause problems for other pupils and for teachers."
"I'm sure this sort of thing happens all the time, but it's a sad reflection on the school if they can't deal with it without involving the police."
"A lot of these arrests don't result in prosecutions - they aim is to frighten us into self-censorship until we watch everything we say."
Greater Manchester Police denied Codie had been kept in a cell but would not comment further.
Reader views (21)
Yet more evidence of the marxist infiltrated state police controlled education system. Brain washed moronic teachers, lead by the treacherous house of treason. Free speech? Not in England anymore.
Vote for change in this years elections, fail to do so will result in more anti English laws happily enforced by the Quislings in the authorities!
- Andrew Mcbride, Bracknell Berks, England
This is child abuse at the hands of a school and the police. If you like what happened, keep voting Lab/Con/Lib. They totally oppose turning the UK into some northern mirror image of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. This girl has the human right to a quality education. These multicultural beasts are doing their best to prevent it.
- John King, indiana, usa
Disgraceful. What a waste of police time and energy.
- Mo, rochdale
The so-called teachers and policemen involved in this dispicable abuse of a child in the name of political correctness; i.e. insanity, should be sacked
- Donald Ward, South Australia
In what way is wanting to discuss a topic in English, in England, racist? The teachers involved and the police should apologise immediately.
- Ashley, Reading, UK
This is Political Correctness gone mad! I'm sure there a far worse crimes than a schoolgirl not wanting to associate with her fellow pupils - and imprisoning the young girl for three and a half hours is simply a disgrace.
- Andrew Peterson, Sydney, Australia
It is very disappointing to see that we are so concerned with ‘fostering’ multiculturalism that a teenage girl cannot raise an issue regarding her education for fear of being sent to the police. In my opinion a ‘tolerant’ society would listen to the concerns of a 14-year old girl who was finding it difficult to undertake discussion work with students that speak very little English. How can this be racist? She had every right to feel uncomfortable and confused. Does the concept of racism now encapsulate raising any concern about immigration and how it will affect aspects of our society (e.g. our education system)? I think it is absolutely ridiculous how the school behaved and they have nothing to be proud of. They should have dealt with the issue internally.
- Justin O'Farrell, London
The police will have a record of whether their victim was placed in a police cell - or should have.
Is the hysterical teacher being sent to on anger management course, has she been informed of her breaches of the Human Rights legisation and her responsibilities as a teacher to her pupils?
- David, UK
Common Sense, Nil - Political Correctness, One. Bad result.
- Ted Knight, Shetland
I think Chris, London has got it right. Why should our children suffer because of this government's out of control immigration policies? At the very least non-English speaking students should go to a special language school to learn English before they even come to this country, let alone becoming part of the general schooling system, its not really fair on anyone - the foreign students too.
- Isabel, Woking, Surrey
Lets make Urdu the national language, force everyone to convert to Islam. Make Christianity illegal, completely banish our own culture all together, then BINGO! The perfect world.
- Vincent Mckenzie, Conwy Wales
Without knowing the full story it is difficult to know whether the teacher's, school's and police's actions were justified. But it does raise some wider issues.
School is meant to be about providing the best possible education to every child and something is clearly going wrong if instead of learning about the subject, a child is instead asked to take on the role of an unpaid teaching asssistant to help other children learn English.
University's have language tests to make sure all students are able to participate equally in a class and it sounds like schools, now need this too.
I know that in the past foriegn children would just turn up at school and be expected to pick up the language, as they go along, but there are now far more non english speaking students at schools. If, as in this case, they are all talking to each other in a foreign language they are clearly not benefiting fully from the lessons and are also having a negative impact on the other children's education.
- Chris, London
Seems we would be better off teaching our children at home.
- John Latty, London
Though I disagree with the treatment of Codie Stott, there are two sides to every story. So far the comments made here seem to make the assumption that this young lady is telling the truth about the incident, what her complaint was and how she actually went about making it. I'd like to hear what the school has to say before making the same mistake as other posters...
- Cat, Cheshire
To be a good teacher requires maturity and good judgement in stressful situations. Many teachers take years to achieve such standards. This is one reason why head teachers are required to provide wise counsel before the law formally intervenes. One wonders what actually happened here. I would hope that the girl's teacher was not the sole judge and jury on this matter.
- Jim Mcilroy, Towcester, Northamptonshire
It looks like the lunatics are in charge of the asylum now.
- Stephen Durr, London England
Political Correctness means that I too am frightened into self censorship.
I have therefore deleted everything from my comment except "Poor Codie" and "I congratulate the fine Headteacher and our brave Manchester Police force for devoting their valuable time and resources to dealing with this crimewave."
Is this enough to save me from a knock on the door at midnight?
- John Y, Oxford. UK
What exactly are schoolchildren with no knowledge of English doing in an English school.......???
Would it not be better to send them to a language class first, so that they can least communicate with the inhabitants of the country they are staying in?
I thoroughly hope that an action group will be formed, a formal complaint be made to Police Complaints Authority and the teachers/police officers involved be sacked.
- Weddigen, London
Thank goodness for people like District Judge Jonathan Finestein.
- Terry Pelz, Houston, Texas, USA
This is a blatant case of child abuse. It amazes me that the teacher involved in this incident has not been removed from her post and the police officers suspended. Make no mistake - if these monsters were to find their careers on the line every time they behaved like this then they'd think twice about doing it. To protect our kids we should adopt a policy of zero tolerance towards these lunatics. They shouldn't be allowed anywhere near schoolkids. I hope that someone somewhere is organizing a campaign to this end.
- D Michael, Western Isles, UK
What do you mean "The Police denied that she had been kept in a cell" either she was or she was not, surely a matter that can easily be proven one way or the other . If she was kept in a cell then this is an outrage and needs to be confronted head on.
If the fact is that the child had to join non English speaking children in a discussion on a science project, surely common sense tells any rational thinking person that this is simply wrong and can only hinder the progress of the English speaking pupil. Have we gone mad, somebody tell me I am wrong? We are an English speaking nation, how on earth can any child hope to progress in their education if they are literally forced to study and debate subjects with children who have little to no grasp of our mother language?
- Paul Minter, St Louis USA
