Home Office Using School Records to Target 1500 Children Each Month

A picture of a sign at the Home Office

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed that the DfE have an agreement to share the personal details of up to 1500 schoolchildren a month with the Home Office to “create a hostile environment” in schools for migrants. As The Guardian reports, the agreement is detailed in a memorandum of understanding between the Department for Education (DfE) and the Home Office, in place since June 2015. The DfE also confirmed to SchoolsWeek that it had agreed to share children’s nationality data with the Home Office until a u-turn was made in October.

Campaign coordinator, Gracie Mae Bradley said: ‘This newly released MoU makes clear in chilling detail that the DfE still plans to collaborate with the Home Office to share the personal details on over 1000 children every single month, including name, address, and school details. Using school records to track down and deport migrant children and families is totally indefensible. Schools should be a place where all children feel safe.”

If your school asks for your child’s nationality and country of birth, please use your legal right to decline answering those questions. Or, if they have already got those details, you can tell the school to delete this information using our template letters.

If your school hasn’t asked you then they have either presumed your child’s nationality or are yet to ask. Don’t wait, use our template letters to #BoycottSchoolCensus today.

Join our conference on Saturday 14th of January to learn more about our campaign and find out how you can get involved.

Everyday Borders: An Exhibition – 6th – 10th December 2016

Crossing borders at a young age is never easy. Borders manifest themselves not only as physical entities, but in cultural, economic and psychological terms as well. The young women of Sin Fronteras – a youth project that is part of the Latin American Womens Rights Service – present an exhibition of photographs, films and zines that reflect upon their identities, experiences and perspectives as migrants in the UK.
This exhibition will run from December 6th – 10th 2016 at the Marnier Gallery in London, opening with a private view on the 6th December between 6 and 8.30pm. There will be guided tours of the exhibition – led by the young artist – running Saturday 10th December between 11am – 2pm (one beginning every hour).

Address:
Menier Gallery
Southwark Street
London
SE1 1RU

Opening Hours
Private View (6th December): 6pm – 8.30pm
7th – 10th December: 11am – 6pm