The marginalization of the Romany community in Spain, as elsewhere in the world, has its roots in a centuries-old history of ethnic segregation. In response, the Romany community has come to feel intimidated and rejected. This has led to the establishment of communities on the outskirts of cities, generally with very poor living standards. In this paper I shall describe the social integration process of Romanies in one particular state school, presenting ethnographic information gathered in the course of fieldwork carried out within a project funded by the European Union on disruptive behaviour in contemporary schooling. A key focus in the project was the creation of a safe learning environment in schools, a matter of concern for all involved in education. Using participant observation and in-depth interviews I was able to gather abundant ethnographic information on the school relating to the perceptions of students, families and teachers. Where informative, I also relate our findings to the existing anthropological literature on cultural differences and schooling. (Contains 1 table and 1 note.)