Key Point: Schools can enter “not yet obtained”, “not known” or “refused”.

What can I do?

Almost a million people have already been reached through the #BoycottSchoolCensus hashtag, but we still need your help. You can:

  1. Write to MPs and local councillors.
  2. Contact the Against Borders for Children (ABC) campaign to get support in your local area.
  3. Use our leaflets try to ensure that all parents and carers are informed of their right to not comply with the nationality data request.
  4. Share our FAQs with other staff, and encourage them to also inform parents, guardians and carers of their rights.
  5. Pass a motion at your local union branch to affiliate and support the ABC campaign.
  6. Contact your union representative at your workplace or your local union office to share concerns and information from the ABC campaign.

Won’t this get me or my school in trouble?

Pages 63-67 of the Government’s own guidelines explain that schools can record that a child’s immigration data is either “not yet obtained”, “not known” or  has been “refused”. The lack of immigration data will have no impact on school funding so there are no repercussions for following Department of Education guidelines. It was confirmed in the Lords on Wednesday October 12th 2016 by the government spokesperson that there is no sanction for parents or schools who choose not to provide country of birth and nationality data in the census.

The National Union of Teachers has also called for this use of pupil data to end, emphasising that “schools are not part of policing immigration”.

Some points for raising the issue with other staff members

Have you heard about these new changes to the school census asking our school to record your pupil’s immigration details?

We aren’t actually legally required to do this, I am planning to advise pupils and their parents not to comply.

Did you know the data we provide is designed to create a hostile environment for migrant children and that the home office will use it for immigration enforcement?

Not just that, anyone can get hold of this information – including journalists, commercial businesses and the police. I am worried that might mean that our school is targeted by anti-immigration campaigners. There has already been a rise in this kind of activity in the past few months.