In light of recent events, we would like to send our heartfelt sadness and profound solidarity and support to our friends, colleagues and the wider community in the USA. The murder of George Floyd, alongside countless other black Americans, has once again highlighted to the world that racism is deeply rooted in all our institutions and communities. In light of this murder and other unnecessary acts of grievous and unconscionable violence, we are resolved to do more, as educators, to fight prejudice in all its forms, question our role in this and be determined to bring about positive change to eradicate racism and prejudice in all its forms.
Our curriculum is deeply rooted in developing community and building social equity and we have never shied away from facing and challenging what is unacceptable in our global, national and local community. We believe that the knowledge we acquire becomes powerful only when it is used to bring about positive social change so that we become better people and our world becomes a better place. As such, as a Trust, we feel it our responsibility to do more; not just to speak out against prejudice and injustice but be determined to do more to actively change the way we work, how we work, what we learn and how we affect positive change.
Our students already learn about racial inequality by studying the role of the British in the formulation of the slave trade and their part in the triangular trading of humans in the 18th century. We link this to the inhumane treatment of black communities in the USA in the 19th and 20th Centuries and their suffering at the hands of perverse attitudes and laws during this time. We study and celebrate the Civil Rights movement in the USA and the significant role it played, and continues to play, in fighting for equality and justice. Also, in Crew sessions across our Trust, there is a strong focus on equity justice and we constantly promote respect and tolerance.
However, we feel that we could do much more to highlight and change the systemic and institutional racism that exists in our own country by focusing more on how and why black people have been historically and more recently let down by our institutions and systems in the UK.
Therefore, today we pledge to review our curriculum at all phases, as well as our own understanding of racism, to integrate more consciously opportunities to educate our students about racial injustice. We will use experts to support us to challenge and confront racism and through this learning act to bring about more equity in our communities.
We stand with our friends who are fighting this injustice in the USA, in the UK and the wider world.
We stand with our friends and we pledge to act and do more to reflect on the history and actions of our own communities and institutions in the UK and how we can actively make them more socially equitable and more just for all.