All Cumbrian schools urged to become anti-racist
A new campaign started today to challenge racism and encourage all Cumbrian schools to be actively anti-racist and celebrate Black and Global Majority voices throughout the curriculum. The organisation Anti Racist Cumbria have invited the Heads of over 374 Cumbrian schools and educational institutions to a unique online event where they will hear from the acclaimed Lavinya Stennett CEO of The Black Curriculum and Dr Adam Elliott Cooper of University of Greenwich who will be speaking alongside Cumbrian pupils both past and present, Black and white. The idea is to engage schools in challenging, inspiring and forward-thinking discussions and create a platform from which ongoing training, resources and support can be provided for schools.
Racism is still an issue in Cumbrian schools and just last year pupils were excluded more than thirty times for racist behaviour, but far more behaviour goes unchallenged and unreported. The following are just some of the many stories that have been shared with Anti Racist Cumbria, names and schools have been removed to protect the children from further discrimination. A current eight-year-old Black pupil spoke about how they have been left out and pushed in the playground specifically because of the colour of their skin. Another young Black pupil was called racist names which were overheard by the lunchtime supervisors but when they got upset the child in question was told they were being oversensitive. As recently as this week another eight year old child of South Asian descent explained how they were told “I don’t like you because your face is brown”. A past pupil explained how at five years old his teacher didn’t believe he had read the necessary books at home needed to move up a reading level which would take him beyond his white class mates, and made him re-read every book in the classroom, his white classmates weren’t asked to do the same.
Beyond stamping out the behaviours that lead to harrowing personal stories of racist abuse Anti Racist Cumbria are keen to address the bias within the curriculum itself and support schools with resources and training that enriches the existing curriculum. Director of Cumbria Development Education Centre and Education Lead at Anti Racist Cumbria Laura Goad explained more;
“‘We understand that our teachers are hardworking, passionate professionals who believe in children and young people but there are things that schools can do better when it comes to tackling systemic racism and we believe there is an opportunity for the whole county to work together on this and become the UK’s first actively anti-racist county. There are simple and achievable things such as sharing stories of Black and Global Majority excellence which don’t take huge changes to timetables but have a huge impact. For example when we talk about George Stephenson we could also talk about Elijah McCoy whose invention was so popular that it inspired the term the Real McCoy! When we talk about Thomas Edison we could also discuss Lewis Latimer. This kind of representation doesn’t just help Black and Brown kids ‘see themselves’ but also helps white children by better preparing them for our multicultural global society where anyone can succeed. In a region like Cumbria where 98% of the population is white British it’s even more important that we prepare our children here to be global citizens.”
Chair of Anti Racist Cumbria, Janett Walker explained about the response to the campaign so far;
“The response has been phenomenal already, it’s apparent that schools need and want this support. However there are still a number of schools who have not yet signed up and we urge them to do so. It’s imperative that all Cumbrian schools attend not only to hear the reality of the Black and Brown experience of children in Cumbria some of whom will attend their particular schools but to find out how improvements can be made too. Even schools where all pupils are white should attend, not just because a Black kid could start there next term but because we owe it to all Cumbrian children to be actively anti-racist. The event takes place during Black History Month but we want to see more representation in education throughout the year, not just during Black History Month. I am humbled and grateful to our keynote speakers but particularly our Cumbrian voices for being so honest and brave about their experiences, all our schools need to hear them.”
Parents are being urged to ask the heads of their childrens’ schools to attend and to sign a petition that supports the letter and invitation sent to schools. Momentum has already been gathering from the youth of the county as this new petition brings together the hard work of pupils at three different schools; Cockermouth School, Queen Elizabeth Grammar School Penrith and The Lakes School. Their individual petitions asking the school to include more representation in the curriculum had already attracted over six hundred signatures between them.
