0:00:02 > 0:00:07The traditional ways of Gypsy life and traditional ways of education
0:00:07 > 0:00:10have been at odds for hundreds of years.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14I want my children to go to school. They have got to get an education and go to school,
0:00:14 > 0:00:18but we should be allowed to have our culture the way we used to live it.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23When my grandparents were little, travelling for work,
0:00:23 > 0:00:29get the income in for the family, school was unrealistic for Travellers.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32For centuries,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36Gypsy traditions have been stigmatised and criminalised.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42The Gypsy sites remind you of an Indian reservation.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46Catch them and put them in one place and leave them there.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50The children of Welsh Gypsies and Travellers are more likely
0:00:50 > 0:00:54to encounter racist abuse in school than any other minority group.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00There was one girl and she was calling us like, you Gypsy rat.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07How is that a privileged situation? They're pulled out of a class because of their race.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Welsh Gypsy traditions are at risk.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Formal education may help or hinder its survival.
0:01:27 > 0:01:29Have you ever been to school before?
0:01:29 > 0:01:32How about you, tucked away in the back there?
0:01:32 > 0:01:35The children of Welsh Gypsies and Travellers
0:01:35 > 0:01:39have historically had the lowest performance in reading
0:01:39 > 0:01:44and writing skills of any minority group monitored by school authorities.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47A proud tradition of travelling has a downside.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51A child's formal education is disrupted at best,
0:01:51 > 0:01:53or bypassed altogether.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56At the moment, we don't know nothing. Just run and play.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00A past government initiative used a caravan to bring education
0:02:00 > 0:02:03to Gypsy children who had never been to school.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Close to 50 years on from this black and white film,
0:02:07 > 0:02:10just how far have things come?
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Some Welsh Romany Gypsy families
0:02:15 > 0:02:18in South Wales have left the travelling tradition behind
0:02:18 > 0:02:22for the sake of their children's education.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26I want my children to have the best education they can.
0:02:26 > 0:02:28An education that I never had.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32I used to like travelling, I'd like to do that now,
0:02:32 > 0:02:36to be honest with you, but I don't.
0:02:36 > 0:02:41Because I want my children to have their education and go to school.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47Leighton Price is a Welsh Romany Gypsy living in Llanelli.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50Behind Leighton, his wife Rebecca and their children,
0:02:50 > 0:02:53is the pile of bricks and mortar they now call home.
0:02:53 > 0:02:58Travelling these days is mostly the school run.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03It is a pretty good school, to be honest with you.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06The people are really friendly.
0:03:06 > 0:03:11And all my children's cousins are in here. People that they play with.
0:03:11 > 0:03:16I never had the opportunity to go to somewhere like this.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18I've never been to school.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21I've always wondered what could have happened,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25what sort of qualification I would have had if I'd been to school.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30But, like I said, I never had that opportunity. So we'll never know.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35Leighton Jr and his sister, Amber,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39attend Bryn Teg primary school in Llanelli.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41According to the Prices,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44their kids and the non-Gypsy kids all get along.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Fresh Gypsy cake remains a Price family tradition.
0:03:52 > 0:03:55Leighton's dad, Nelson, is over for a visit.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58That's what we used to do.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01Go away for a month and then come back, you see.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04That's me and Leighton on a tractor, doing the hops.
0:04:04 > 0:04:08When young Leighton was helping his dad to harvest hops
0:04:08 > 0:04:12when he should have been at school, it wasn't truancy,
0:04:12 > 0:04:14it was a matter of family survival.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17It was rearing the children up in a different environment.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20I'd like them reared up the way we was.
0:04:20 > 0:04:22The children are not free these days.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26I won't let them outside to play for too long without I'm there.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28Leighton's dad is the family historian
0:04:28 > 0:04:32when it comes to memories of a past way of life on the road.
0:04:32 > 0:04:36And he takes every opportunity to remind his grandchildren
0:04:36 > 0:04:37of their heritage.
0:04:37 > 0:04:41Now see by there, in them scrambles by there,
0:04:41 > 0:04:44say about 30, 40 feet from here,
0:04:44 > 0:04:48that's where the horses and wagons was pulled.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52Right by there. That's where we used to stay.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56And live. Five months, ten months, 12 months.
0:04:56 > 0:04:58Well, the last time I was here,
0:04:58 > 0:05:01on this piece of ground, was that time,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04when I was ten years old and I'm 67 now.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09That's me and my brother and my sister and my mother and father.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12My mother could read. My father couldn't.
0:05:12 > 0:05:15I think Linda could read but out of all of them,
0:05:15 > 0:05:20it's only my mother that could read and write. We never went to school.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22And that was the wagon.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25This wagon is a show wagon, that's a barrel top.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28We had horses and everything to pull them about.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32And that was our lifestyle. People can't understand it.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37It was the most brilliant life. Couldn't ask for no better. We didn't want to go anywhere.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40- Are they still here today?- Yeah. - No, I mean them.
0:05:40 > 0:05:44Oh. They're gone, years ago.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50But it's not only grandparents that have caravan memories.
0:05:54 > 0:05:58Shannon Treharne is a 16-year-old Welsh Romany Gypsy.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02She also grew up on a caravan site in Llanelli,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05and attended the same primary school as the Price children,
0:06:05 > 0:06:07while living in a caravan.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09I'm performing tonight.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11Hopefully!
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It'll be one of the scariest nights in Shannon's life.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18She's rehearsing with her school choir
0:06:18 > 0:06:21from Coed Cae Comprehensive in Llanelli,
0:06:21 > 0:06:24and will sing a solo at tonight's performance.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26Shannon is about to finish secondary school
0:06:26 > 0:06:30and will go on to a college for performing arts.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33She'll be going further in her education
0:06:33 > 0:06:37than any of her Gypsy ancestors over the past 250 years.
0:06:40 > 0:06:42Shannon has defied the odds.
0:06:42 > 0:06:46While most Gypsy and Traveller children now start school,
0:06:46 > 0:06:51in Wales, up to 75% of Gypsy and Traveller pupils do not go on to secondary school.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02At 11 months old, I moved into a Gypsy site,
0:07:02 > 0:07:04made especially for my family.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11My family's lived in Llanelli for like 250 years.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Until the 1960s, they mostly lived in wagons.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30Then after that, then, they moved on to modern caravans or trailers.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Shannon's family moved out of the Gypsy site
0:07:33 > 0:07:38and into a conventional house when she started comprehensive.
0:07:38 > 0:07:40I loved living on the site.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45It's like you see all your family there, you can go over for a chat.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49The animals surrounded us on the site.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Every family had five or six horses. Three or four dogs. Birds.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00A musical streak among Shannon's Welsh Gypsy ancestors
0:08:00 > 0:08:02has inspired her career dreams.
0:08:04 > 0:08:06My family did go busking.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09My family would have a go at anything.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10Spoons.
0:08:10 > 0:08:12Violin.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Accordion.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19Every type of instrument, they'll have a go at.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I learned from my family the love of music,
0:08:22 > 0:08:25from the age of three until now.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29But I wanted to do something with my life
0:08:29 > 0:08:33and my love of music is the top priority.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36The schools offer more than the family will
0:08:36 > 0:08:41because the school's got more equipment to progress through life.
0:08:41 > 0:08:45I'm the first one in the family to actually read music.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Shannon has made the transition to being a house dweller,
0:08:50 > 0:08:52from living in a caravan.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58'Up and down Wales, councils were faced with angry demonstrations,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02'particularly in Clwyd and West Glamorgan.'
0:09:02 > 0:09:05In spite of a legacy of hostility from settled communities
0:09:05 > 0:09:10across Wales, not all Welsh Romany Gypsies have given up travelling.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17A caravan site near Builth Wells accommodates dozens of Gypsy
0:09:17 > 0:09:20and Traveller families on their annual pilgrimage
0:09:20 > 0:09:23to Mid Wales to take in the Royal Welsh Show.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26For about a week each year,
0:09:26 > 0:09:31the site is like a home to one large extended family.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35When you're moving about like we are doing here now, you don't know
0:09:35 > 0:09:40whether it's going to be a week, two weeks, then the bailiffs come and move you straight on.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43But as it is now, when we go back to the sites,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46we can stay there as long as we want.
0:09:46 > 0:09:51Henry Price, his wife Rosie and their 14 children have been
0:09:51 > 0:09:55travelling to the Royal Welsh Show all their lives.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59They are very distant relations of the Price family in Llanelli.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03When not travelling, this Price family is based at a caravan site in Cardiff.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10Official sites are an historic compromise.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Gypsy and Traveller families escape constant harassment,
0:10:16 > 0:10:21but retain only a semblance of their traditional, nomadic way of life.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25They're settled down in one place, they go to school every day,
0:10:25 > 0:10:29they've got running hot water, electric, they've got everything
0:10:29 > 0:10:33what they've never had when they were on the roads.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36The children of Mr Price and other Gypsy children
0:10:36 > 0:10:39are more likely to attend local schools
0:10:39 > 0:10:43and have a better chance of getting an uninterrupted education.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47They learn to read and write, that's the most important thing.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Most of us can't read and write. But our kids can today.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52And that's a big help.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55In a Gypsy culture that traditionally survived
0:10:55 > 0:11:01by its wits, higher education was either unobtainable or considered less relevant.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07You've got to show kids how to survive.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12When we were growing up, we had to be put to work. We were workers.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15We had to work for our living.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18We were never in one place long enough to go to school.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The question of education has become all the more critical
0:11:22 > 0:11:26as the traditional means of Gypsy survival disappear.
0:11:26 > 0:11:28Horse breeding,
0:11:28 > 0:11:32seasonal jobs in agriculture, are replaced by machines,
0:11:32 > 0:11:38and even scrap metal has become scarce, as metal prices soar.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Our family have come from West Wales, Pembrokeshire.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49They used to pick potatoes in the summer,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52a bit of scrap metal around the houses
0:11:52 > 0:11:57in the winter, but that's how we was reared up.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00And that's how it goes from there.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03This is our currant pudding now going in for our tea for tonight.
0:12:03 > 0:12:06There it goes in.
0:12:06 > 0:12:08And that's it.
0:12:08 > 0:12:11We show them the life that we had.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14If they want to go to high school, perhaps they will go to high school,
0:12:14 > 0:12:19but when they get old enough then, they'll perhaps find a job.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20It's up to them.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28This metal tripod, called a chitty, with its crafted horses on top
0:12:28 > 0:12:32has been in the Price family for close to 200 years.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34To us, that's our microwave.
0:12:34 > 0:12:36That's the modern microwave today,
0:12:36 > 0:12:40that's the way we used to cook food like that.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43All we got, rabbit, anything we could get our hands on,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46would go in that pot to feed these children.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50This chitty has seen a lot of cooked rabbits
0:12:50 > 0:12:52and a lot of Gypsy currant puddings.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58Learning to read and write may be a milestone for some Gypsy families,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02but in today's high-tech culture it may no longer
0:13:02 > 0:13:06be sufficient to ensure economic survival.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16Shannon Evans is an 18-year-old Welsh Romany Gypsy.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19She is a cousin of the Price family
0:13:19 > 0:13:22and a regular at this Royal Welsh Show caravan site.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Like Shannon Treharne of Llanelli, she's defied the odds.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30She completed secondary school and took courses at college
0:13:30 > 0:13:34and she has experience on her CV, dealing with bailiffs.
0:13:34 > 0:13:39When they come to move us, the they will give us a week or a few days.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42Some will give us hours. They say, "Get off, we'll get the bailiffs."
0:13:42 > 0:13:47Then we've got to pack everything down and get away within that hour, really.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54You'd live in your house and that would be your home.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58This is our home, but we're just not permanently living in one place.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01Our home is wherever this caravan is.
0:14:06 > 0:14:13And it is hard. But, yeah, it is something we've got to do, really.
0:14:14 > 0:14:16This is the bedroom.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19This is the bathroom.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24This is the kitchen where we produce all the lovely,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27lovely, wonderful meals.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29I'd want my children to go to school.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32They have got to get an education, they've got to go to school.
0:14:32 > 0:14:36But we should be allowed to have our culture the way we used to live it.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Gypsies and Travellers still encounter bailiffs
0:14:40 > 0:14:42and prejudice in Wales.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48At school, they are the most likely students to encounter racist abuse.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52When we was going to high school and we were all there, and there
0:14:52 > 0:14:57was this one girl, and she was calling us, like, you gypsy rat.
0:14:57 > 0:15:01It's very hurtful when someone is saying, you gypsy rat.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04And they calling you like Pikey. Why would you say that?
0:15:04 > 0:15:08You're on this earth for a reason and that's not to be called names
0:15:08 > 0:15:11and it's not to be called spiteful and hurtful sayings.
0:15:11 > 0:15:12Cos it do hurt.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16But in spite of racism,
0:15:16 > 0:15:20Shannon finished school with her dreams intact.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24I went on then to do a course in college for hair and beauty.
0:15:24 > 0:15:28I did it for two years and got all the qualifications that I needed.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30From there, I just got married
0:15:30 > 0:15:34and then I haven't had an education since.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39I always wanted to get married. I found the right boy.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44And I thought, the timing was right, and I just done it.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47I was 16 when I started going out with him
0:15:47 > 0:15:50and I was 17 when I married him, and I'm 18 now.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54It is common to get married at a young age
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and to give up all your dreams, whatever you want to do in life.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02For some Welsh Romany Gypsy women,
0:16:02 > 0:16:07strictly-defined gender roles also contribute to leaving school early.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Chantelle, Leona and Montana Price have been travelling
0:16:13 > 0:16:16to the Builth Wells caravan site all their lives.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19They are nieces of Henry Price.
0:16:19 > 0:16:21This one's name is called Trigger.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24He is five years old. And he's a stallion.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27I'm a gypsy, so I don't believe in going to high school.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30No-one's ever did, so I'm not going to start now.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32I left school when I was 14.
0:16:32 > 0:16:33I left school at the age of 11.
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I left school when I was about 16.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Then I wanted to come home and do the cleaning.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Cleaning. Just clean, clean, clean, clean.
0:16:42 > 0:16:47For Gypsy women, maintaining strict cleanliness is a tradition of some Romany families.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51Some parents don't want their kids to go on and get educated.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54They just want them to be housewives really.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57Wait for the husband, to cook and clean.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Distrust of the non-Gypsy culture is another factor
0:17:04 > 0:17:06why some do not go on to secondary school.
0:17:08 > 0:17:14In the Romany language, a Gorja is a non-traveller, a non-Gypsy.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19The schools are like seen as supervised by the parents.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21They want their children out at an early age,
0:17:21 > 0:17:25so they don't pick up so much of the Gorja culture.
0:17:28 > 0:17:34Parents don't want their children to grow up so fast, as in,
0:17:34 > 0:17:3814, 15, have a boyfriend, have a child at 16-year-old.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Compared to 50 years ago,
0:17:43 > 0:17:48more Welsh Gypsy children go to primary school than ever before.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51But they are also the most likely to drop out early.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56Back in Llanelli, Leighton Price is joined by his sister, Tracey,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59also a former traveller.
0:17:59 > 0:18:01You have seen a photograph of me as a baby, have you?
0:18:01 > 0:18:04Would you like to see a photo of me as a baby?
0:18:04 > 0:18:07Their main concern isn't about school attendance,
0:18:07 > 0:18:11but that as Gypsy children, they be treated equally to all the others.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13Now this is my little brother, Leighton.
0:18:13 > 0:18:18Three of Tracey's kids also attend Bryn Teg Primary School in Llanelli
0:18:18 > 0:18:20with two of Leighton's kids.
0:18:20 > 0:18:25Tracey's kids came home one day with some unexpected news.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30I love that school.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34Leighton and Tracey discovered that for brief periods
0:18:34 > 0:18:38during the week, their kids were being taken out of their regular
0:18:38 > 0:18:41class and placed in a special reading and writing workshop.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46It happens to be a workshop intended for Gypsy pupils,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49who are assessed to need additional support.
0:18:49 > 0:18:54When you start the school, they'll ask you what culture, and I put down Gypsies.
0:18:54 > 0:19:00We hadn't heard nothing about this until Tracy's children come back and told us.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02They'd been pulled out of class because their Gypsy children.
0:19:02 > 0:19:08- Why do we have to go to that reading and writing class?- Oh, my God!
0:19:08 > 0:19:13Cos were flippin' Gypsies, duh! I said that just now.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17She had a book, she made us read, and made us right.
0:19:17 > 0:19:21And she said, "I only work with Gypsies."
0:19:21 > 0:19:23We had to go to a different session.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon.
0:19:26 > 0:19:30I was expecting the teacher to say that basically the children had it wrong,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32which I thought they did, to be honest.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35When we went in, she said, "Yeah, we got a course
0:19:35 > 0:19:39"going for the Gypsy children because of Traveller illiteracy."
0:19:39 > 0:19:44They keep saying constantly that our children is in a privileged situation.
0:19:44 > 0:19:49How is that a privileged situation? They're being pulled out of a class because of their race.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Leighton's view of having his kids put into a class
0:19:52 > 0:19:56solely for Gypsy children, even when intended to provide extra help,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00stoked a deep-seated fear they might be stigmatised.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04We didn't want to be taken from our friends.
0:20:04 > 0:20:09And if they take us away from our friends,
0:20:09 > 0:20:11we won't have any left.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14You know, they see them getting pulled out of class
0:20:14 > 0:20:16because they're Gypsies.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21Some of the children's going to make fun of them. How does that make that child feel?
0:20:23 > 0:20:26We've been here all our lives.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29That's exactly what we don't want our children.
0:20:29 > 0:20:33The Price family children have been in continuous education
0:20:33 > 0:20:35since they were three.
0:20:35 > 0:20:38The special support was historically motivated for Gypsy children
0:20:38 > 0:20:43whose education was disrupted by being on the road.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46The Welsh Assembly and local authorities established the criteria
0:20:46 > 0:20:50by which Gypsy children are assessed for this extra support,
0:20:50 > 0:20:52based on attainment.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Back at the Builth Wells caravan site,
0:20:56 > 0:21:00are Gypsy elders with first-hand experience of fragmented education.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06When we had to move from the one camp to the other, they'd have to go to a fresh school and start over again.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08I couldn't see how you could ever learn.
0:21:08 > 0:21:12Whatever you learned going to school for about two or three months,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15it was six months before you got into another school, maybe 12 months.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Whatever bits you learned, it was gone.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20It was like one stupid move after another.
0:21:20 > 0:21:26The Welsh Assembly has set aside £900,000 to improve the reading
0:21:26 > 0:21:29and writing skills of the children of Travellers.
0:21:32 > 0:21:37A programme which exists with the best of intentions appears
0:21:37 > 0:21:41to have backfired, specifically in the case of the Price family.
0:21:41 > 0:21:46- Don't like being split up. - Give me some of this, OK?
0:21:46 > 0:21:49And any special programmes targeting the needs of specific groups
0:21:49 > 0:21:54of Welsh schoolchildren must be handled with care.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03# I want to be a good teacher. #
0:22:03 > 0:22:06At the Adamsdown Primary School in Cardiff,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10not the school attended by the Price children in Llanelli, there is
0:22:10 > 0:22:15a special two-day workshop intended only for its Romany Gypsy children.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18The headteacher is keenly aware of the potential hazards
0:22:18 > 0:22:22of separating the Romany children from the rest of the students.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25These are Czech Romany Gypsies.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27I was a little bit like,
0:22:27 > 0:22:30"I don't know, really take them out on their own?
0:22:30 > 0:22:32"Is that going to actually help?"
0:22:32 > 0:22:35Why don't we do a Somali day? Why don't we do an Arabic day?
0:22:35 > 0:22:36Why don't we do a Bengali day?
0:22:36 > 0:22:40And why would we do that when our actual vision for our school
0:22:40 > 0:22:43is that everybody should be integrated together?
0:22:43 > 0:22:47When we actually worked on the whole workshop together, the two days,
0:22:47 > 0:22:51the Czech children came together very strongly as a group on the first day.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55They create something and then that is their something to give back
0:22:55 > 0:22:58to the other group of children and to the rest of the school.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05For these Gypsy children, English is not their first language.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10And the workshop is also intended to improve their writing skills,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13but they would not be in this separate class if their parents
0:23:13 > 0:23:16had not explicitly given the school their permission,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20which for the Price family is a big issue.
0:23:22 > 0:23:28The school said it was due to hold meetings yesterday with concerned parents to discuss the issue.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32If the papers printed that, we've obviously spoken to the school.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35We want them to have the best they can possibly have.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38And if they need help, we're more than happy for them to have it.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41But they don't just get help because they're Gypsies.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Leighton and Rebecca's kitchen has become a campaign command post,
0:23:45 > 0:23:48which may end up challenging national policies.
0:23:48 > 0:23:52Everything that we've got here, we've had to find out for ourselves
0:23:52 > 0:23:54because we can't get no help from anybody.
0:23:54 > 0:23:58The solicitors we speak to, they keep putting us over to somebody else.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02They want more information about a reading improvement programme
0:24:02 > 0:24:04they feel can do more harm than good.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07And possibly to challenge it.
0:24:07 > 0:24:10They have taken their children out of the special programme.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13They want the school to formally apologise.
0:24:13 > 0:24:18And their research revealed the scale of Welsh Assembly funding.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21There's £900,000 in a pot. And they're getting money
0:24:21 > 0:24:26for doing this with the children. But still, we could have said no.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28We never got asked that question.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34You have to have parental permission for that. You get offered it.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36You ask the parents, would they like it,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39and if the parents say yes, then you provide it.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42If the parents say no, but I've never had a parent say no.
0:24:42 > 0:24:45They've always said, "Yes, please. We'd like some extra lessons."
0:24:45 > 0:24:48We did ask the teacher why she never asked us
0:24:48 > 0:24:50about the children going into this class.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54We weren't aware of anything going on.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57To try and get answers, and in search of an ally,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01they visit Llanelli Assembly Member Keith Davies.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10If extra support is available, I think,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13parents should take advantage of it.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16If you're not a Gypsy or a Traveller, you don't get this extra support.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21There are Gypsy children who need that support because they have interrupted education.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26- And it should be given to them. - And that's fair.- We want that.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30There's been a grant, right, I don't know how long it's been,
0:25:30 > 0:25:3315 months, more than that,
0:25:33 > 0:25:39but they're normally for Travellers' children who travel. Right?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42And that's the reason the grants have been given so that when
0:25:42 > 0:25:48they move from school to school, they can have the additional support because obviously, when you are
0:25:48 > 0:25:52starting a new school, you are almost starting from scratch again.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55The Government's made sure of it that we cannot go travelling any more.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00If I went into like a caravan park and I go there with my children,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03I think I was doing something wrong, by pulling in there.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Even when we do something right, we feel we're doing wrong,
0:26:06 > 0:26:11when we're doing right. We don't know where to go. They keep saying we are in a privileged situation.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14These children are not in a privileged situation.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18They're took out of class, they're being segregated in that way.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23And you should be given the opportunity of saying, we don't want it done.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Guidelines, which accompany this Gypsy and Traveller initiative,
0:26:27 > 0:26:31stress the importance of involving Gypsy parents beforehand
0:26:31 > 0:26:35and point out the hazards of any perception of segregation.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39We feel like we're getting fobbed off. We want answers.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44We want these LEAs to explain about what they have done and why this have happened in this school.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48And this money is not for our children
0:26:48 > 0:26:53because our children haven't had any sort of interrupted schooling.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56We're on our own again. We need to stand alone.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59We need to do more research and we need to contact people ourselves.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Carmarthenshire local authority has stated that the children...
0:27:42 > 0:27:45APPLAUSE
0:27:47 > 0:27:50# Tell me it's not true... #
0:27:50 > 0:27:55I had wanted to have a job but you do something else.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57You go with your head instead of your heart.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00A lot of Gypsies do that. They don't follow their heart.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03They should just follow their heart, really.
0:28:05 > 0:28:08# Tell me it's not true... #
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Perhaps the next generation now, the next 50 years,
0:28:12 > 0:28:16God knows how they'll be. Perhaps there might be a Prime Minister!
0:28:17 > 0:28:20# Say it's just a dream
0:28:20 > 0:28:23# Say it's just a scene... #
0:28:23 > 0:28:26When I'm older, I would love to move back onto the site.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31My family may not have. But I want to go back to my roots.
0:28:31 > 0:28:34# Oh!
0:28:34 > 0:28:38# Oh. #
0:28:38 > 0:28:42APPLAUSE
0:28:42 > 0:28:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd