Since July 2020, Chigwell have been pleased to collaborate with Flair – an independent consultancy specialising in racial awareness and inclusion. As one of the first schools to pioneer research with Flair, our results can now be benchmarked against more than 60 other schools who have subsequently taken part.
Sparked by the inequality protests in the US and in alignment with our school values, which include ‘Community of Kindness’ and ‘Courageous and Resilient’, we felt it was important to take deeper inquiry and identify how we could build upon our school’s supportive framework for equality, diversity and inclusion (E,D&I).
What we did
Wholeheartedly supported by the Governors, our journey began with an online engagement session to introduce Flair to staff and stakeholders including alumni and parent representatives who had expressed specific interest.
In October 2020, staff and students in Year 7 and above, had the opportunity to take part in an anonymous survey. The survey included situational judgement questions to gauge how aligned people were in their responses to real-life scenarios. The questions covered:
• Racial Inclusion-Barriers
• Racial Awareness
• Racist Behaviours
• Racial Diversity.
It also covered topics such as micro-aggression, systemic racism and discrimination. Supported by a video introduction from Flair, as well as dedicated tutor time, and assemblies, we were pleased with the response.
We have recently shared the outcomes of the survey in an online session with staff and stakeholders, and we are now looking to roll this out to pupils and parents.
In particular, we would like to give parents the opportunity to be involved. If you are keen to be participate, please contact Miss Burton at jburton@chigwell-school.org
Outcomes and next steps
In summary, the feedback was balanced and there were positive common threads, including a good understanding of race related concepts, a diverse student body (in relation to the School’s geographical location – though we recognise there are minority groups), and incidents of malicious racial discrimination is rare.
However, there are improvement areas which we are seeking to address.
Our focus areas:
1. Give clarity on how to respond to incidents of racism and combat racist ‘jokes’. We are involving our new Student Equality Ambassadors, who are creating their own Equality Code of Conduct which they will share with staff the June INSET day
2. Support ethnic minority students and staff in feeling included at school and able to be themselves (“Free to be me”).
3. Review and diversify the School’s curriculum and enhancement offering. While good progress has already been made in this area, we are committed to ongoing and iterative development
4. Amplify the School’s communication to the outside world on how it approaches racism and race-related education (keep an eye on our social feeds, website and newsletters for updates)
5. Increase the number of relatable role models for students by diversifying of the staff body at all levels
Chigwell School Student
Our school’s mission is to be a nurturing and safe community for all. We strive to ensure that everyone is the very best they can be; independent in spirit, adventurous in approach and empathetic in how they treat others.
At Chigwell, we believe that diverse environments enhance creativity, problem solving and interpersonal skills. We hope that these endeavours, which are just the beginning, will enable our pupils to forge successful paths in the world, become excellent role models for others and make a positive contribution, to the school community and beyond.
Chigwell School Staff
We look forward to sharing more of our action plan over the coming months and value the contribution of parents, students, staff, alumni and friends of the School, as our journey continues. Please feel free to get in touch with the Headmaster at mpunt@chigwell-school.org or the Director of Marketing at jburton@chigwell-school.org
"It has been a pleasure to see pupils, staff, Old Chigwellians and Governors engaging with Flair with such commitment. Their determination to make things better, in School and beyond, is inspirational and whilst, as Flair have shown, there is plenty to celebrate, there are certainly areas for further development. Issues will not all be resolved overnight, but the community needs to keep working to ensure that all can be themselves, have an overwhelming positive experience here and recognise that diversity is a strength." - Michael Punt, Headmaster
Related news: Chigwell School Equality Ambassadors Launch April 2021
