ABSTRACT
Several lower schools may feed a middle school, and parental choice may result in children from one lower school moving on to different middle schools. Discussion with pupils, parents, and teachers suggested that one group with particular difficulties was that of girls from ethnic minorities. This chapter, therefore, provides information about another point of pupil transfer, to complement those studies at ages 7, 11, and 12, while highlighting the particular concerns of a certain group. The largest number of the girls interviewed had gone to the same middle school. The expressed fears of the ethnic minority girls seemed as much to do with a lack of cultural knowledge, and understanding of the way the school system works, as with the language to express this. Described as a 'vulnerable minority', they enjoy school less than other children, their attendance is more erratic, they do not like having different teachers, and generally do not join in the recreational side of school life.
