Page 2 | Bloody hell, my local school had an open letter about institutional racism signed by over 900 pupils

IzzyLeng · 30/09/2026 07:03

DidoAndAeneasWereInLove · 30/09/2026 06:56

I’m not white. I wouldn’t jump to the assumption of racism there. People can make a genuine mistake calling people the wrong name when they teach lots of kids. I’ve done this (and I actually did it yesterday with 2 red-headed girls). Touching hair is totally inappropriate but it doesn’t mean you’re racist.

The examples given by the OP are appalling and paint a damning picture. I wouldn’t be sending my child there.

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I agree about the name incident. I’m a lecturer and once called one black pupil by the name of another. She had her back to me and in my defence I did realise when she turned round. I was mortified and she was fine about it.

ironically I usually know the names of the black students better than the white students as we have a smaller number of them. I have one group of students where there’s a large group who are white, with blonde hair, identical hairstyles, loads of makeup…..I can’t tell them apart.

The list of incidents which the OP has listed is racist and awful. If I was considering this school for my child I’d want to know if it’s changed.

RoniaCheetah · 30/09/2026 07:05

Blackandyellow65 · 30/09/2026 06:58

I think this is probably why teachers are leaving !the profession in droves and there’s now becoming a national shortage. Imagine being up before a panel as you accidentally called a pupil the wrong name once? I do it to my own children more than once a week. Yesterday I called our new cat my dogs name that died over 10 years ago. It’s called being human. And having a petition signed by hoards of angry students and being printed in the papers because you touched someone’s hair and told them it looked lovely? Taking into consideration that white students in our school are in the minority, the majority being black and Asian. But if a black teacher had done that to a white student..

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The hair touching is definitely not ok and the problem is that people DON'T go around touching the hair of white children.

Have a read. (Edited because the link looked dodgy and I removed it but it was just an Amazon link to Emma Daibri's book Don't Touch My Hair)

scienceteachersarefun · 30/09/2026 07:05

Rootsofgrey · 30/09/2026 06:22

They are awful. The letter doesn’t separate out which ones are historic and which ones are more recent, so I don’t know how far back some examples go.

The school seems inclusive in the policies I’ve looked at and I assume the concerns have been addressed in some way, with teachers being aware too, which may have forced a review and change in the day to day. However, that’s an assumption as I can’t find an official response. The school is very autocratic and from what I have gauged, this paragraph from the letter still seems true.

I didn’t ask about racism. I thought when it arose, it just wouldn’t be tolerated by a school. I’m not from an ethnic minority, so this was perhaps naive. It’s been a multicultural area for decades, but racist incidents have increased sharply in recent years. I hate this (and optimistically hope most others feel the same) and think schools should be taking a really tough stance on racism and not enable it in any way.

In a school with a highly punitive style and a focus on hypercompliance, there is obviously more scope for insidious forms of racism, such as punishing for “perceived” misdemeanours.

So, if you're on a school leadership team, how do you manage behaviour of 1,800 teenagers (or thereabouts)? Do you have many suspensions and are your equality and your behaviour management programmes successful?.

Munchie1965 · 30/09/2026 07:11

Rootsofgrey · 30/09/2026 04:45

This is a cut and paste of some examples:

A friendship group comprised of Black girls were told by a staff member that they ‘couldn’t walk in groups of more than three’ because they ‘looked like a gang’ and were ‘scaring teachers’.

In an A-Level Politics class, the teacher said ‘perhaps stereotypes are true. Maybe Black people are just more violent’. The teacher did not challenge this assumption for the remainder of the class.

A form tutor would often police the way Black students spoke to one another saying “you’re not in the ghetto anymore. Speak proper”.

In a PSCHE class on terrorism, a student wearing a hoodie was told by the teacher “keep that hoodie on, and you’ll be mixing chemicals and wearing a headscarf”.

An Iranian student told the head of Sixth Form that her parents did not attend university. The teacher said “it’s not uncommon from your heritage. Uni isn’t for everyone. Clearly not for you or your brother”

In an incident involving unidentifiable students, every Black girl in the year group was forced to write a statement stating their whereabouts at the time. One student wrote she was working on her art project and was ridiculed and not believed by teachers, though there were many who could validate her statement.

Black boys were repeatedly stopped and searched for possessing items such as cookies.

A group of friends were chastised for speaking Iranian to one another. Their Head of Year made an announcement in assembly saying ‘this is England, speak English’.

In a GCSE class, two Chinese students were repeatedly referred to as ‘China 1’ and ‘China 2’ by the teacher. In the same class, a Black girl was teased by the teacher for being dark-skinned.

Black students were not allowed to have certain hairstyles, and afro combs were repeatedly confiscated and criminalised. One student was told ‘the school is not a gang meetup’ when his afro comb was confiscated.

In English Literature classes, when texts contained the N word, teachers insisted on students saying it aloud on their time to read, despite the students’ discomfort. White teachers would say the N word without thinking about how this might affect Black students.

In an incident involving a white student and a Black student, the Black student was expelled, whilst the white student was separated from the group by being moved up a set.

An Indian student was wearing a cultural thread around her wrist. Her teacher cut it off in front of the whole class, stating ‘we’re a Christian school’.

A white student was called out of class by a teacher she did not know as she had the same name as a student in trouble. She states, ‘as soon as he saw I was white there was a look of surprise’ and when the student said she wasn’t involved, the teacher said “I thought so”. The student states ‘I have no doubt that if I was a Black student, I would not have been believed so easily’.

Please note: there were many more incidents reported. Further, our concerns are not of ‘a few bad apples’. The problem is systemic and self-perpetuating.

[school] adopts an autocratic style of leadership that produces a culture of fear and belittlement, instead of one that strives to restoratively understand the child and meet their needs.

As one white [school] alumna stated:

“In Set 4, I repeatedly saw the Black students in my class be met by teachers with suspicion and immediate assumptions of desire to cause trouble. This was in response to either nothing at all or "behaviours" as small as not having "correct equipment", standing in literally any certain way or (often) perceived disrespectful tone.

These were “behaviours” that would not even solicit a reaction if committed by white students. Black students’ education was repeatedly interrupted by needless and damaging reports to IER, being sent out of class and petty arguments initiated by the teachers. In sum, Black students were not given a fair chance by those who were meant to do right by them. “

Amazing!

When I was at school in the 1970s it seemed to me that the teachers would give much more leeway to black students compared to white students.

It was like they were not expected to behave that well.

Blackandyellow65 · 30/09/2026 07:13

RoniaCheetah · 30/09/2026 07:05

The hair touching is definitely not ok and the problem is that people DON'T go around touching the hair of white children.

Have a read. (Edited because the link looked dodgy and I removed it but it was just an Amazon link to Emma Daibri's book Don't Touch My Hair)

Edited

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Sorry but can you back up your first statement with some evidence please? As my (white) daughter goes to that school, and as soon as she hit 6th form and was allowed to dye her hair, which she did platinum blonde on top and hot pink underneath, it was touched by her form tutor who then nick named her gwen stefani? Don’t make up nonsense sweeping statements to prove a false point. If these pupils actually felt that this was racist or the teachers had any racist intent there, then why did not a single one of them officially report it or file a complaint when literally formally invited to? Bearing in mind one of the teachers accused is head of humanities so clearly isn’t blind to racism, she teaches it!

Mymanyellow · 30/09/2026 07:15

RoniaCheetah · 30/09/2026 07:05

The hair touching is definitely not ok and the problem is that people DON'T go around touching the hair of white children.

Have a read. (Edited because the link looked dodgy and I removed it but it was just an Amazon link to Emma Daibri's book Don't Touch My Hair)

Edited

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People do touch white girls hair if it’s red.

AtlasPine · 30/09/2026 07:26

Touching hair because it is a different texture to that of a white person, however friendly you are about it, is a micro aggression. As is calling one Black student by the name of another. Even if the intention wasn’t to harm, it’s lazy, presumptive and thoughtless.

We really do need to learn to recognise these and stop being defensive when called on them. Say sorry, don’t do it again, recognise and acknowledge it for what it is.

Original poster

Rootsofgrey · 30/09/2026 07:28

The head has been there 7 years, but I don’t know how many comments precede him.

How do I find out how much it’s changed or get a true picture?

Do people have more than a lip service choice of local schools?

OP posts:

Enko · 30/09/2026 07:33

Mymanyellow · 30/09/2026 07:15

People do touch white girls hair if it’s red.

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The wrong name calling is a mistake if it happens once. If part of a repeated problem with only one type of skin colour then it can be racially motivated.

The hair touching is inappropriate but not necessarily racist. The issue here is more if consent was given. Many years ago I had my hair braided in tiny braids at the time I worked in a shop and I had a couple of people ask if they could touch it. (I am white scandinavian btw) I think because the braids look different and many people are tactile beings.

Now if said teacher didn't seek consent (and as its not mentioned we can't know) that is a problem and something that should be dealt with. However the racism part is harder to prove as if teacher would do similar to other students of different colours then she likely isn't doing it to be racist but because she is rather clueless about social standards. If she only does so to a specific colour skin then there is likely some rasism behind it. Neither are ok but the 2 examples there are not the sort of clear examples as the OPs school is showing in the letter. That would concern me.

scienceteachersarefun · 30/09/2026 07:36

Rootsofgrey · 30/09/2026 07:28

The head has been there 7 years, but I don’t know how many comments precede him.

How do I find out how much it’s changed or get a true picture?

Do people have more than a lip service choice of local schools?

You could look at outcomes, Progress 7, exam results local ranking.
You could read the last Ofsted. You could look at the website for details about their policies

Enko · 30/09/2026 07:37

Black Lives Matter Statement - St Michael's Catholic Grammar School - Love one another, as I have loved you https://share.google/PpfFJhKMUKeoZifxp

Op here is the schools response.

There is also an action plan made with a former head girls involvement Moving Forward with BLM - St Michael's Catholic Grammar School - Love one another, as I have loved you https://share.google/Bza0oinOS6sCzcIU4

Specialagentblond · 30/09/2026 07:39

Bring it up and ask how the school responded.

DeftGoldHedgehog · 30/09/2026 07:40

[school] adopts an autocratic style of leadership that produces a culture of fear and belittlement, instead of one that strives to restoratively understand the child and meet their needs.

Hard to find a secondary school that isn't like that these days.

scienceteachersarefun · 30/09/2026 07:42

DeftGoldHedgehog · 30/09/2026 07:40

[school] adopts an autocratic style of leadership that produces a culture of fear and belittlement, instead of one that strives to restoratively understand the child and meet their needs.

Hard to find a secondary school that isn't like that these days.

The second part is unfair. Many schools actively work to understand and build relationships with students.

DeftGoldHedgehog · 30/09/2026 07:45

That's not my experience nor that of almost any parent of a child with SEN or anxiety about school/EBSA. Schools are punitive and one size fits all.

ArcangelaTarabotti · 30/09/2026 07:47

HeddaGarbled · 29/09/2026 19:37

I’d take it with a pinch of salt myself: teenagers do love a bit of self-righteous drama.

This

scienceteachersarefun · 30/09/2026 07:47

DeftGoldHedgehog · 30/09/2026 07:45

That's not my experience nor that of almost any parent of a child with SEN or anxiety about school/EBSA. Schools are punitive and one size fits all.

I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I can only speak of my own school which was recently judged by Ofsted to be exemplary.

Enko · 30/09/2026 07:51

ArcangelaTarabotti · 30/09/2026 07:47

This

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Considering the response from the school and the fact the school had to implement a new teaching curriculum I think its safe to say that in this case it was not "self-righteous drama" sad to see more than 1 poster dismissing it outhand simply because they are students.

Constantrunner · 30/09/2026 08:10

AtlasPine · 30/09/2026 07:26

Touching hair because it is a different texture to that of a white person, however friendly you are about it, is a micro aggression. As is calling one Black student by the name of another. Even if the intention wasn’t to harm, it’s lazy, presumptive and thoughtless.

We really do need to learn to recognise these and stop being defensive when called on them. Say sorry, don’t do it again, recognise and acknowledge it for what it is.

The using a wrong name used to scare me when I worked with kids. I am not great with names, so just used to avoid using names of black and brown kids at all.

scienceteachersarefun · 30/09/2026 08:13

Constantrunner · 30/09/2026 08:10

The using a wrong name used to scare me when I worked with kids. I am not great with names, so just used to avoid using names of black and brown kids at all.

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What?! You didn't use their names?.

Original poster

Rootsofgrey · 30/09/2026 08:16

Enko · 30/09/2026 07:37

Black Lives Matter Statement - St Michael's Catholic Grammar School - Love one another, as I have loved you https://share.google/PpfFJhKMUKeoZifxp

Op here is the schools response.

There is also an action plan made with a former head girls involvement Moving Forward with BLM - St Michael's Catholic Grammar School - Love one another, as I have loved you https://share.google/Bza0oinOS6sCzcIU4

Edited

Thanks. That’s not too far from this school.

OP posts:

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 30/09/2026 08:17

Rootsofgrey · 29/09/2026 18:35

I was looking online for reviews for local secondary schools and found an open letter signed by over 900 pupils, listing examples of racism. The 900 comprised current and former pupils, but it was from a few years ago, so most are probably former now. That is a huge number. Do you think the school would have changed its spots by now? It was addressed to the current head.

Is your concern: a) that they weren't doing enough to tackle racism, or b) that they're Left Wing Band Wagon-ers?

< haven't read the links below >

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 30/09/2026 08:18

HeddaGarbled · 29/09/2026 19:37

I’d take it with a pinch of salt myself: teenagers do love a bit of self-righteous drama.

God forbid our future generation care about things that matter and want to do something about it

Iocanepowder · 30/09/2026 08:20

These are terrible. I would say except for the example about the 2 pupils speaking Iranian to eachother in class. I’ve actually seen this raised a couple of times in customer-facing work environments where staff members are speaking a foreign language to eachother. On one occasion it was when a white person and black person were speaking French to eachother to badmouth another colleague.

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 30/09/2026 08:24

Blackandyellow65 · 29/09/2026 20:22

This happened at my school a couple of years ago, and that’s exactly what happened. A huge number of pupils jumped on the bandwagon and accused a couple of lovely teachers of racism, it was in the local papers. Bearing in mind they were trying to as dramatic as possible, the two actual examples of racism that were given included one teacher calling a black girl the wrong name, it happened to be the name of another black girl in the school and she said it was racist because in her words ‘it’s like they feel like they don’t even have to learn our right names, any name will do if we’re black’. It was an honest mistake and happened once. Another teacher made the mistake of telling a black pupil that her hair looked lovely and she touched it. The girl was quoted saying ‘don’t touch our hair, we’re not in a petting zoo’. I mean maybe they did feel that way at the time, it was not meant as racist or malicious and they are treated the same as any other student, though I guess the teachers have to be more careful around them now. Anyway a similar petition was created signed by hundreds of pupils, the school took it all very seriously and organised a day when all students/parents with complaints could meet with a panel with the head/governors etc and file and discuss individual complaints against these teachers. No one turned up.

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OMFG - the hair touching 🤦‍♀️.

Bloody awesome response by child. Good to see her parents are being her up with coping strategies.

And seems like there's now educational materials for black children subject to having their 'exotic' hair fetishised and stroked

< images under review >

Bloody hell, my local school had an open letter about institutional racism signed by over 900 pupils

Bloody hell, my local school had an open letter about institutional racism signed by over 900 pupils

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