'Curry up': Former Saddleworth pupil remembers racism

Zoe Cummins has recounted experiences where a student said he did not want to sit next to her in case she "blew him up", while others told her to "curry up" rather than "hurry up" in the school halls.

The school has said it is now reviewing its policies, with the council stepping in to ensure the school is taking the issue seriously.

It comes following two different stories surrounding racism allegations at the school.

In early June, accusations of monkey chants and Nazi salutes in the school led to a police investigation.

Afterwards, an ex-student, who wished to remain anonymous, spoke of her experience of targeted racism at the school to The Oldham Times.

Now, another ex-student has gone public with her story.

Zoe, 18, told The Oldham Times of the "casual racism" she says she experienced at the school.

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During her time at the school, Zoe, who describes herself as thick-skinned, says she received racist comments regularly.

While she found the comments exhausting to begin with, she chose to try to take no notice of them, as she found it easier.

Zoe said: “In Year 9, a boy refused to sit next to me because he said I was a Muslim that was going to blow him up.

“It was just so casual, I’d walk into a lesson, and it was usually the same group of people, and they’d say ‘oh is someone cooking curry in here, it smells of curry’.

“My mum’s lived in India since I was four years old, I live with my dad who’s also white, I’m hardly in touch with my culture at all.”

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Saddleworth School

She added: “Aside from a few instances it was a lot more casual, I remember in the same year I played on the rounders team and there was a girl in the year above who, every time I went up to bat, would start singing the Dora the Explorer theme song, despite the fact I look nothing like Dora the Explorer.

“I asked her why she was doing it and she just said ‘oh it’s just banter, it’s funny, you have the same colour skin as her and the same colour hair.’

“The character is Hispanic, that’s not even close to where I’m from.”

Zoe says she decided to put up with the racism rather than take it further, as she didn’t feel anything would be done.

She said instances of racism would be punished if teachers heard them, but not any more severely than other sorts of class disruption.

Zoe said: “You’d get the same punishment for acting out in class as you would for being racist to someone, which I think is completely wrong. There are different levels of severity, and it’s clear that just giving a kid a detention or putting them in isolation isn’t helping to tackle this problem.”

Now she is at a sixth form in Manchester, Zoe says she has not received a single comment about her race, which she thinks points to an issue in Saddleworth.

Saddleworth School is located in the council ward with the highest proportion of white people in the borough.

According to Census data, 97 per cent of people living in Saddleworth North are white, compared to 68.1 per cent across the entire borough.

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Zoe said: “It comes from us living in such a white area where it’s always been like that historically.

"A lot of people in Saddleworth make jokes about Oldham like ‘ooh it’s practically Pakistan’ and things like that.

“If children are being exposed to this from a young age, it’s completely understandable that they would hold the same beliefs themselves.

“The school perpetuates this as it’s so lacking in diversity. They don’t really do much to encourage students from other races and other ethnicities from closer to Oldham to come really.”

Headteacher responds

Mike Anderson, headteacher at Saddleworth School, said: “Our school takes any accusations of racism or discrimination incredibly seriously.

"That’s why we’re working with Oldham Council’s community safety Team to review our policies and practices to ensure our school and our school community is an inclusive and welcoming place for all our students.

“We will of course be looking into this matter thoroughly as we do with any and all reports of behaviour of this kind and I want to assure the staff and students at Saddleworth School that equality and inclusivity are at the heart of what we do, and our school community is one where everyone is treated with respect and with dignity.”

Council leader responds

Council leader, Cllr Arooj Shah, said "I'm genuinely really horrified to hear that another former student has had similar experiences with racism whilst at Saddleworth School.

Cllr Arooj Shah

“No child should ever have to go through that, and they should never feel unable to report racist abuse thinking that those taking part in this vile behaviour would get away with just a minor telling off.

“The council's community safety team will be going into the school to work with the school and underline that racism or discrimination in any form is not tolerated, so that the school is a place of safety for all students.

“I've asked our director of education to set up an urgent meeting between the council and the head so we can make sure they are taking this as seriously as we take it.

"In the meantime, if anyone else has had similar experiences at any of Oldham’s schools please reach out to my office.”