24 Sep Our Anti-Racism Commitment
Dear Parents and Carers,
I am writing to you to explain our commitment to being actively anti-racist. Coleridge community is diverse in many ways, and this brings us strength and opportunity. There is a need to initiate more discussion about tolerance, awareness and the importance of understanding a range of experiences, which needs to happen at home as well as at school. Recent events around the world serve as a reminder of the urgency of working together to defeat racial injustice. It is our goal and responsibility to work together to prevent prejudice forming or stereotypes being reinforced. In line with our vision and values, we want to build children’s resilience by equipping them to recognise and tackle injustice and better care for one another.
Curriculum
We have observed that the current National Curriculum does not adequately represent Black, Asian and minority ethnic history or the achievements of people from these backgrounds. We can address this through our teaching and learning by reviewing our curriculum to ensure it is anti-racist and inclusive. This process will be overseen by our governing body’s Child and Community committee and via named staff and governors who lead on the topic, and they have already been attending relevant training and conferences. Some parents and carers have also shared resources and have been helping to improve the range of books in our libraries and classrooms with donations.
Next steps in our journey:
- An action plan has been created detailing how we aim to more actively listen to our school community and invite broader participation. We will be continuing to meet with our staff and governors to review our current provision and processes, and some more initiatives have been proposed. However, we are aware that we do not have all the answers; our staff team, governing body and Coleridge Families committee is often not representative enough of our community and so it would be wrong for us to think that we can resolve this in meetings or over email.
- There will be a survey in October to ask parents and carers to share their opinions about our current provision and other areas of school life. The survey will ask if you would like to get more involved and contribute to the conversation.
- We will also be inviting parents and carers who would be interested in joining a ‘working party’ as a forum to meet with some staff and governors once we have analysed the survey feedback.
- An in-depth analysis of the curriculum with an aim to improving representation across the curriculum including re-examining how certain subjects are taught through a western or colonial lens, and re-framing this, as well as teaching more explicitly about racism and anti-racism (past and present).
Black History Month
During October, we are aiming to have a meaningful celebration and exploration of the contribution and achievements of Black people in the UK and around the world. We aim to teach about how our culture has been enriched and our society has been made stronger because of the people who arrived in the UK from other parts of the world at different times, as well as the achievements and contributions of their descendants and those born here. There will be an introduction to Black History Month, lessons about historical, cultural and political figures from British Black history and year groups will focus on a variety of Black and minority ethnic authors and artists. There will be lessons including poetry, songs and music, all of which will support conversations on race and diversity.
Please look out for information about the survey in coming weeks. Please also get in touch with your child’s class teacher if you are interested in participating in Black History Month, we really appreciate your support and participation.
Yours sincerely,
Leon Choueke