Llanwern High School in Newport award-winning equality project

In a spirit of real collaboration, staff at Llanwern High School have turned to students to lead the way in shaping the school’s attitudes to learning and to dealing with the problem of racism.

Such discrimination is “widespread” in education in Wales, according to a 2020 report by Show Racism the Red Card, which found nearly 80 per cent of pupils said they believed racism existed in their schools.

The changes at Llanwern came after students challenged the school’s approach to dealing with these incidents.

“They said sanctions don’t work,” deputy headteacher Sian Smith told the Argus. If a racist incident occurred, typical consequences, such as sending the perpetrator home, felt to other students like a hollow punishment, and one that failed to address the underlying issues.

Pupils suggested a more reform-based, educational approach to such incidents, and from this it became clear to the school leadership that staff could learn a lot from their students about the best way to address issues of inequality – by understanding what pupils felt was missing from current learning, adapting the curriculum to be more representative, and creating a positive environment in which students felt heard and valued.

“Ultimately we live in a world where racism exists,” deputy head prefect Poppy Stowell-Evans said. “School should be a place where students don't just feel accepted but [also] celebrated, and teachers and pupils have a responsibility to make the choice to create that environment. 

“All students should feel like they can live their truth and be their full selves, but that can only happen when the school makes an active effort to ensure all aspects of diversity are recognised and amplified through the curriculum and in everyday school life.”

The school’s approach ties in with the recommendations set out by ministers in the new Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, which concedes there are sharp inequalities in students’ experiences and outcomes at school.

Educators are required to take a “whole-institution approach”, not just to rooting out racism and discrimination, but also to what is taught in the classroom.

The mandatory teaching of BAME histories and experiences will be rolled out in some schools from September, meaning Llanwern is already leading the way in its approach.

File photo of Llanwern High School in Newport. (Image: File photo)

And where the school has excelled is in putting pupils at the centre of the anti-racism work. Senior students created a Diversity Club, initially a place where pupils could share their feelings and concerns about any discrimination they had suffered or witnessed. With the support of the school leadership, it soon grew into a powerful bridge between students and teachers that could effect major shifts in policies, including sweeping changes to everyday learning.

Whereas such programmes have previously tended to lean towards history - and possibly English - classes, Llanwern has made sure BAME contributions are recognised and taught across the curriculum.

Students have learned about the diverse, global history of mathematics and celebrated pioneers like Katherine Johnson, whose calculations played a key role in the first NASA missions.

In science, the school has teamed up with another in Nigeria for a collaborative project on hydroponics and food production.

A similar collaboration, this time with a school in Georgia, has given Llanwern art students a valuable exchange of ideas on street art, and in music pupils have been engaging with local artists to create their own hip-hop tracks.

The inaugural Llanwern Food Festival was a chance for pupils to research ingredients and prepare and try diverse dishes from around the world.

Food Festival 2022
What a fun experience this was for our pupils, with food from around the world being cooked fresh and handed out to pupils who were keen to taste test and expand their food palates and world food knowledge!@tqpepiada @cosmoskitchenuk@roguewelshcakes pic.twitter.com/S24moxqafb

— Llanwern High School (@Llanwern_High) July 20, 2022

But these changes didn’t take place in a vacuum. Head prefect David Mazoya said pupils had long complained about classrooms and lessons being “too white” and that in history “the only time we learn of black history is through a racism lens”.

As David put it, senior pupils worked with staff to “tackle the fact that other cultures aren't celebrated and sometimes even noticed”.

The aim, then, was to raise the profile of all cultures through positive experiences, and make sure everyone at the school felt their background and identity was represented and valued.

Visibility was key. Sixth-formers created a board showing all the cultures and nationalities of their group members, and the idea was soon adopted by teachers, who made their own “family tree” celebrating the global roots of the school’s staff.

“Being from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, I put up a Dashiki - a traditional piece of clothing in most of central Africa,” said David of the sixth-formers’ project. “We did this as a nice way of opening the conversations about these other cultures.”

The new approach means students have taken a prominent role in suggesting themes and devising approaches to what can be a complex issue. Teachers still set the agenda, but listen to pupil voices before doing so.

Based on peer feedback, the Diversity Club started creating their own videos with learning resources and teaching aids, which were sent to staff to help them better understand the issues BAME pupils at Llanwern were facing.

For Ms Smith, this pupil-led teacher training was an eye-opening and rewarding experience, culminating in the school’s “celebrating diversity conference” which involved all school staff and formed the basis of the changes to each subject area.

Added to this, the school has brought in other organisations, such as Race Council Cymru, to lead workshops for staff and students.

“We didn’t want to lecture our teacher and students - we wanted to celebrate the positives,” Ms Smith said.

“It changed hearts and minds, and staff feel a bit more confident about taking risks in the classroom.”

David said the new approach at Llanwern should become the norm in schools.

“I think it's important that everyone in school can feel as if they are safe and welcomed,” he said. “When joining Year 7 you are not even a teenager yet, and when there is no clear guidance of how they should deal with racism they tend to bottle it up, and instead of a child being able to reach out to someone they have to keep it to themselves.

“I think it's incredibly important for schools to make these sort of changes, not only for the wellbeing of students but also so that schools can stay as safe spaces for whoever needs them to be.”

The family of Betty Campbell unveil the bronze sculpture of her during the unveiling of the statue in Central Square, Cardiff, of Betty Campbell, Wales' first black headteacher. Picture: PA

The changes at Llanwern have been palpable for everyone, and so successful that it was awarded the inaugural Betty Campbell MBE Award, named after Wales’ first black headteacher.

“There’s a different feel to the school,” Ms Smith said, adding that Llanwern was “keen to share and improve” what it had done so far.

“We feel we are just at the start but have made significant progress,” she said. “Through securing funding from academic grants such as the British Educational Research Association, as well as independent fundraising, we feel we are in an excellent position to be able to do bigger and better things as we can plan for the longer term and continue to evaluate, refine and improve our work.”

For Maham Aziz, another head prefect, the school’s recent strides forward can create a lasting legacy for future students at Llanwern.

“The way our school has changed was mostly through the active voices of the pupils here at Llanwern,” she said. “I feel these voices, opinions and experiences play a crucial role towards the positive changes and are a great learning opportunities to further improve the school environment.

“We as a school have just started our journey and I am glad to be a part of [it], and I hope this journey continues to offer better opportunities and a safer place for everyone.”