Terry Lewis, headteacher of Mildenhall College of Technology, said the community should work together to make those from ethnic minorities feel welcome, after some pupils told Ofsted inspectors other children had made racist comments towards them. Mr Lewis, whose school was judged as 'good' during an inspection in January, said he was concerned by the comments but was trying to resolve the issue.
He said: "We have had an influx of pupils from eastern Europe, who we arranged to speak to the inspectors. They said some children had given them a hard time when they first arrived because they could not speak English.
"But the inspectors agreed they have settled in – many are in the sports teams,
the school play and the majority are staying on with us into sixth form.
"We do, however, appreciate the comments and have already talked to the heads of the primary and middle schools in Mildenhall to come up with ways of tackling this."
Pupils will be taking part in many race awareness events this year and will stay in contact with a Polish school, with which the college is twinned.
Ofsted inspectors praised the 'polite and friendly' attitude of pupils and the school's varied curriculum, due to its specialist technology and vocational
status.
The range of courses on offer means pupils can choose subjects which best match their abilities, leading to them progressing well throughout their time at school, said the report.
However, while most teachers were praised for being 'very talented and inspirational', the report also said some lessons were unchallenging for pupils.
Mr Lewis said improvements in the consistency of teaching would be made, but the fact the school's GCSE pass rates continued to rise every year was a sign of overall good teaching.
He added that improvements in communication between the school and parents would also take place after inspectors reported some parents found staff difficult to contact or 'unresponsive'.
A questionnaire has already been sent to parents asking for their views on the
issue.
March 14, 2008