How do I classify myself? - notes to help schools help families decide

Our ethnic background describes how we think of ourselves. This may be based on many things, including, for example, our skin colour, language, culture, ancestry or family history. Ethnic background is not the same as nationality or country of birth.

These descriptions may help to define the ethnic backgrounds which are being used in the data collection by Hampshire Local Authority. This document is available in MS Word format (23KB).

White

British - a white person who was born in, or whose forebears originated in the United Kingdom (Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland)

Irish - A white person whose forebears originated in Eire (Southern Ireland)

Traveller of Irish Heritage - a traveller whose forebears originated in Eire.

Gypsy/Roma - a person with a Gypsy Roma descent only.

Any other White background - a white person whose forebears originated in countries other than Britain such as other European countries, Australia, Canada etc

Mixed

White and Black Caribbean - a person whose forebears originated in the categories defined as White and categories defined as Black Caribbean.

White and Black African - a person whose forebears originated in categories such as White and categories defined as Black African.

White and Asian - a person whose forebears originated in categories defined as White and categories defined as Asian.

Any other mixed background - a person whose forebears are from any two distinct ethnic groups not previously identified in the 'Mixed' category.

Asian or Asian British

Indian - a person whose forebears originated in India.

Pakistani - a person whose forebears originated in Pakistan.

Bangladeshi - a person whose forebears originated in Bangladesh.

Any other Asian background - a person whose forebears originated in any 'Asian' background not previously identified above.

Black or Black British

Caribbean - a Black person whose forebears originated in a Caribbean country such as Jamaica, St Vincent or Trinidad.

African - A Black person whose forebears originated in an African country.

Any other Black background - a black person whose forebears originated in any 'Black or Black British' background other than 'Caribbean' or 'African'.

Chinese

Chinese - a person whose forebears originated in China or Hong Kong

Any Other Ethnic Background

Any other ethnic background - a person who feels the above categories do not adequately define their ethnic origin.

I do not wish an ethnic background category to be recorded

This category is for parents/pupils who do not wish to have their ethnic backgound category recorded.

There is an extended code set  64kb which may help inform decisions about the ethnic code to use.  It maps the extended codes onto the main code sets used by Hampshire schools.