Watercliffe Meadow
Encyclopedia
Watercliffe Meadow, also known as Watercliffe Meadow Primary School, is a primary school in Sheffield
, South Yorkshire
, England
. It is notable for changing its name from a "School" to "A place of learning" in January 2009, with staff at Watercliffe Meadow claiming that this was because, "the word school may have negative connotations for pupils and parents." The change was attacked for being too politically correct
.
The name on the sign was criticised, with people arguing that the change is too politically correct. Whilst this was exaggerated by dint of the fact that the tabloid media reported, inaccurately, that the word school had been banned (and in fact it merely didn't appear on the sign and continues to be used daily by staff, parents and pupils) the slogan itself opened the school up to ridicule. There was also press emphasis on the name "change", when in fact the subtitle to the School (Watercliffe Meadow) has been fixed since before the material completion or opening of the premises. Further to this misrepresentation, Sheffield Star contacted Marie Clair from Plain English Campaign
who said: "It's laughable. Do they think by changing the name they will change the environment? We all know what the building is. There is this whole political correctness agenda. Using unfamiliar words instead of a simple one, like 'school', will get in the way of children's ability to learn."
Richard Caborn
, the Member of Parliament
for Sheffield Central commented that: "I'm always open to new ideas, but the reality is education is about preparing young people to live in the real world. I just don't think the case has been made to drop the word school to a place of learning. I don't know why they have done it."
Andrew Sangar, Sheffield city council's cabinet member for children's services and lifelong learning said that, "It's a school, we consider it a school and that's how we refer to it. How a school chooses to manage and refer to itself is a matter for the board of governors and the community it serves and we're relaxed about that."
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It has a population of 1.29 million. It consists of four metropolitan boroughs: Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham, and City of Sheffield...
, England
Education in the United Kingdom
Education in the United Kingdom is a devolved matter with each of the countries of the United Kingdom having separate systems under separate governments: the UK Government is responsible for England, and the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Executive are...
. It is notable for changing its name from a "School" to "A place of learning" in January 2009, with staff at Watercliffe Meadow claiming that this was because, "the word school may have negative connotations for pupils and parents." The change was attacked for being too politically correct
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
.
Name change
The criticised "change" of name from "School" to "A place for learning" was reported with varying degrees of inaccuracy as being an early decision when the new school was formed as a merge between three former primary schools: Shirecliffe, Busk Meadow and Watermead infant and junior schools, at a cost of £4.7 million. Linda Kingdon, the head teacher said: "This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school. Instead, we want this to a be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to deinstitutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."The name on the sign was criticised, with people arguing that the change is too politically correct. Whilst this was exaggerated by dint of the fact that the tabloid media reported, inaccurately, that the word school had been banned (and in fact it merely didn't appear on the sign and continues to be used daily by staff, parents and pupils) the slogan itself opened the school up to ridicule. There was also press emphasis on the name "change", when in fact the subtitle to the School (Watercliffe Meadow) has been fixed since before the material completion or opening of the premises. Further to this misrepresentation, Sheffield Star contacted Marie Clair from Plain English Campaign
Plain English Campaign
The Plain English Campaign is a commercial editing and training firm based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1979 by Chrissie Maher, the company positions itself as a leader in plain-language advocacy, working to persuade organisations in the UK and abroad to communicate with the public in plain...
who said: "It's laughable. Do they think by changing the name they will change the environment? We all know what the building is. There is this whole political correctness agenda. Using unfamiliar words instead of a simple one, like 'school', will get in the way of children's ability to learn."
Richard Caborn
Richard Caborn
Richard George Caborn PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Central from 1983 to 2010...
, the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Sheffield Central commented that: "I'm always open to new ideas, but the reality is education is about preparing young people to live in the real world. I just don't think the case has been made to drop the word school to a place of learning. I don't know why they have done it."
Andrew Sangar, Sheffield city council's cabinet member for children's services and lifelong learning said that, "It's a school, we consider it a school and that's how we refer to it. How a school chooses to manage and refer to itself is a matter for the board of governors and the community it serves and we're relaxed about that."