“The conversations around school have been incredible and the students are already looking at how they can help to challenge racism in and out of school.

Please thank Stephen and Afrika for their honesty and candor which had a significantly bigger impact than anything I could have said to the children.

We are looking forward to continuing to work with you and linking up with Westley and County to ensure that the work done has a lasting impact for all of our pupils.

Thank you again”

Matt

Mr M Hyndman

Head of School

This letter is the perfect example to why the work Bse4bl does is so very much needed.

“Good afternoon,
I’ve heard that your organisation has made positive changes in some local schools recently, so I’m writing to you in the hope that you will be able to offer some of that support, expertise and guidance at …………………….school.
Over the last few years, I have had countless incidents of my children coming home, having been victims of racism, and gone back and forth with the head teacher more times than I can remember. She has always reassured me that it is something she is very serious about tackling, says all the things a parent wants to hear in the moment… yet I have come to the realisation that it is just all talk and have given up trying to correspond any further. Nothing is changing. Nothing is ever really put in place as a deterrent. The black children, who are victims of these incidents, are pulled out of class in the same way that the children being racist are. My children said “Anti-Racism isn’t trending anymore Mum, it’s pointless, they don’t care.”
They have told me that some of their fellow black students will defend their white friends if they are confronted about using racial slurs, saying it is just banter. There is apparently such thing as an “N-Word pass?!” that gives white children free reign to use derogatory terms, so long as they have a black friend who is “giving them permission.”
I honestly don’t think the head teacher knows the half of how bad it really is at that school for the black children, because they’re in survival mode now, so they’re not speaking up anymore. They’re accepting their fate and using whatever coping strategies they see fit.
The staff are in desperate need of training. On the odd occasion that a black child does confront racism, they are immediately seen to be acting in an intimidating or aggressive way, without any acknowledgment of the fact that they are merely voicing their frustration at the unfairness of things.
I have seen concerning posts on social media recently, regarding the issues within …………. of racist graffiti popping up all over town. I’m under no delusions that the problem is just an “in-school” issue. However, I feel that as such a huge part of the community, they have a responsibility to do everything they can to tackle these issues and admit that they are not qualified to do so without help from outside agencies - which is why I have come to you.
There was a BAME group set up last year, it fizzled out quite quickly after not being the sort of group that the black children really wanted/needed it to be. They need a safe space. the head teacher needs to allow them to have their voice, to hear how her black pupils really feel and what they have to face EVERY day. I feel that she knows it will be like opening a can of worms. She knows that some of her staff are just as guilty of holding certain biases as that of a vast majority of the pupils. I’m hoping that by asking your group to help, she will gladly accept your knowledge and expertise as something that can help move her school in the right direction.
My children are defeated by it all now, and I’m exhausted from going round in circles for years and getting no where.
The black children at …………… need your help.”

Kind regards

A concerned parent