We give our heartfelt gratitude to the children, parents/carers and other members of our community, past, present and future, who have raised concerns with us and helped us start our journey to address these issues. Your courage enables us to continuously develop and grow and together, we can strive for a better future for everyone.
We have a zero-tolerance commitment to anti-racism and discrimination at Herne. From the academic year 2024/25, we will further build upon this by imbedding anti-racism and discrimination into our polices and developing our practice.
There will also be information on our display board near the front entrance and in our weekly communications.
In September 2024, all staff will have training through Everyday Racism:
What this course covers
What we understand by racism today.
‘But our school doesn’t have a problem with racism!’
What our role and responsibilities are as educators in tackling racism.
As educators and caregivers, we want to ensure the young people we teach and look after, are treated fairly and given the best chances to succeed. Students who experience racism need to be confident that the staff around them are aware of the issues they may face.
Racism is not an easy or comfortable subject to discuss and there has been a tendency for institutions to shy away from the topic, in the hope that it will then not be an issue. However, we know this is not a useful or acceptable strategy and will undoubtedly lead to long term problems.
As our students become increasingly aware of how disparities impact them, we will find that they begin to speak out more and challenge problematic teaching or comments (and rightly so).
This course will help us start to address and uncover some of the ways in which students have been overlooked and interrogate our own behaviours, which may be challenging at first, but ultimately lead to a more honest and inclusive environment.
Increased understanding of terminology associated with anti-racist practice.
Greater awareness of how racism manifests in our educational setting.
Targets for updating our curriculum, to reflect a diverse range of voices.
How we can help
We are an open school and we will provide a safe place for you to discuss your concerns.
Guide you to other sources of help, advice and support.
