Promoting Race Equality

Education is our Future

Unity within Diversity conference success

Bexley Council for Racial Equality held a groundbreaking conference for the young people of Bexley in November 2006.

The aims of the conference included finding out the causes and remedies for racial tension among young people, reducing youth disorder in the racist context and evoking young people to engage in more productive activates.

The 'Unity within Diversity' conference invited young people to take part in a range of workshops designed to get them talking about the issue of racism in the borough. The workshop themes included, 'Gang Culture', 'Combating Racism in an Educational Setting' and 'Anti-Social Behaviour'.

Bexley Council's former Chief Executive, Nick Johnson, addresses the BCRE conference.

The young people got into the spirit of the conference, sparking lively debates and raising useful ideas and suggestions. The young people, that included secondary schools students and youth centre members, were given the opportunity to get together to compare experiences and talk about possible solutions.

Bexley Council's former Chief Executive, Nick Johnson, chaired the conference, Superintendent Martin Bagg from Bexley Police gave the police perspective and Cabinet Member for Community Affairs, Cllr Katie Perrior gave the keynote speech.

St Catherine's student Amar Amayo, 13, gave a thought provoking speech

Amar Amayo a student from St Catherine's RC School in Bexleyheath provided the audience with an articulate speech outlining a young person's viewpoint.

BBC London came along to the conference and footage from the day can be seen at www.bbc.co.uk/london. Realplayer will be needed to view this, more information on this can be found on the page.

What young people said about the conference -

"Helped you understand why gang culture exists and ways to tackle it productively."

Young people at the BCRE conference

"It has given me a different perspective and I understand more"

"It showed us views from different cultures and how they feel"

"It showed us what the police know and what the council was doing to stamp out racism."

"It really opened my mind and I found out lots of new things."

"It helped to show how diverse a community can be."

"It was a way to talk about racism openly to every race."

Photos courtesy of News Shopper newspaper.

Strategy for Supporting Schools and Other Educational Settings in Combating Racism

The Council has devised a strategy for providing support and guidance for schools and other educational settings, including youth centres and nurseries in Bexley, on combating racism. It was constructed in close liaison with schools and others who work with children and young people in Bexley.

Click here to view the strategy (387KB, PDF file)

Guidance for Schools and other educational settings

At the same time as developing its strategy, the Council revised its guidelines for schools on good practice regarding racial incidents and equal opportunities in general. These provide practical help in ensuring policies are translated into practice, with tangible and visible results.

The guidelines include a model school policy in a downloadable Word format; procedures for dealing with racist incidents; methods of recording and reporting incidents; training; and a list of useful contacts.