Transcript
SARAH BEAGLEY
Good morning, all. Good morning. Our community is drawn from our local environment. And we live in London. And London brings with it huge benefits, but also challenges. And our young people have to navigate that. So they do live in communities where they deal with violence, they deal with racism. So we very clearly set out to say that in this school, and in this place, and in this community, something will be different.
Now, I can’t change what happens, once they set foot outside, to them, but I can change and help to give them the skills so that when those things do happen, they have a language, they have a vocabulary, they have a confidence to know that actually they are right, and what’s happening to them is wrong, and they know what to do.
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
Today, we want to be able to think about what things make us unique as people, which things we do as people that are kind of special to us, how things make us feel included, what things make us feel like we belong.
SARAH BEAGLEY
These workshops are absolutely important in helping young people shape and form who they are and knowing that whatever their choices are, which can change, that is valid, and that is to be respected, and that is to be celebrated. And sometimes they don’t know that. They can walk into a room, they can do a workshop, they can have conversations with their friends, and they can walk out transformed, feeling really powerful and empowered by the experience.
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
OK, so first thing we are going to do is look at the words in which we are using across the school, so words like race, ethnicity, gender, sex and class. What do you think these words mean?
PUPIL 3
Higher class.
PUPIL 4
Yeah, higher class.
PUPIL 3
Yeah. You’re in higher class, and you’re really rich. You have a lot of money.
PUPIL 5
Say, me, compared to Janai, just because Janai is light-skinned don’t mean she’s not Black.
PUPIL 3
I think sex is the thing that we’re like, born with.
PUPIL 6
For gender, it’s who you say you feel you are, that’s who you identify as.
PUPIL 5
On paper, that’s the thing. It’s like, say your ethnicity, African-British female. I don’t know what it means, but I’m pretty sure that’s what ethnicity means.
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
OK, interesting. So we’re thinking about maybe when you have to tick on a census form. In terms of our definitions, these are not fixed terms. Like we always say, language is something that changes over time. Socially, it will change what the words mean and how we use them. But for us, these are what we think best fits for our definition as a school now.
PUPIL 6
A lot of people who are more privileged than others don’t really think about what other people might go through. So this puts it into perspective that not everybody has it the same as you. And you need to realise and understand that you have certain privileges that some people don’t. And it just lets everybody know and creates like an unjudgmental space for everyone.
[CROWD CHATTER]
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
This person works in a socially respected job. They have dyslexia. Their parents are immigrants. And English is their second language. In your head, you should be thinking, what kind of person is that, that presents in your mind? They have three degrees, including a master’s.
PUPIL 3
At first, I was thinking, it’s definitely a White man. Because in society, females are always portrayed as people that are not supposed to be higher than men.
PUPIL 7
I feel like it was a teacher because I think the master’s employee hours is how much a teacher works. And they have three degrees, including a master’s. And you need a high education to be a teacher.
PUPIL 8
But what came to my mind was non-White because, like, socially respected made me think they were Brown. Because I felt like in our culture, like, I’m Brown, and I can, my culture, I feel like socially respected is very key.
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
The point of this exercise is obviously to think about the assumptions we make subconsciously. Because we were talking about education on that table. And then we were talking about the information we had on there because I’ve done the same amount of degrees. But I don’t know if I would say I’m middle class, even though that education is there.
I was raised in a working class family. I would still call myself working class. So that was a question mark. Religion, I was on, I think these tables, we were talking about religion a little bit. I was born Catholic, but then my mom’s Muslim, my brother’s Muslim. And I believe in a lot of things.
With these kinds of conversations, it takes a level of vulnerability for the staff engaged in these kinds of conversations. Because you put yourselves at the scrutiny of the students. It takes a lot for a staff member to offer up those character bits of information, which is about them letting a roomful of people assume things about them and be shocked.
PUPIL 9
I’m 12. I’m a girl with she/her pronouns. I’m straight.
PUPIL 7
Over here, I’m middle class. But in my home country, I’m wealthy. I speak English and Dari, which is my home language. This has made me really confident about myself. And there are many things I never thought that I could share with other people. And I always kept my opinions to myself. And I always like feared judgment. But from today, I really feel like this was really my chance to open up.
NIQUELLE LATOUCHE
If you don’t feel like your race or gender have enough representation in the media, put your finger down. If someone has made an uncomfortable joke relating to your race, gender, or class, and you have stayed silent, put your finger down. If you have ever been diagnosed as having a disability, mental health, or mental health concern, put your finger down.
SARAH BEAGLEY
For our young people, they have to see themselves in the curriculum. They have to see themselves represented positively. And you will see that all around the school building, in the displays, in the choices of texts, in the people that we hold up, to aspire to, in the people that come into the school building to talk.
All of those things are hugely important. But I don’t think, and I think what’s quite interesting is the culture is now established to such a degree that the young people would not allow us not to engage in this work. And I think that is really powerful, in and of itself.