Tufnell Park and Black Lives Matter

At Tufnell Park we are committed to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people.

We celebrate our differences. We strive to build opportunities to create an understanding and respect between all our children and communities.

We have taken time to reflect, to listen, and to learn from each other and our community. This included the parent survey in the summer term seeking your views on the Black Lives Matter movement and the school’s approach to equality and diversity.  As a result, we are making change.

As a specific response to the issues of social injustice we have witnessed recently, culminating in the Black Lives Matter demonstrations all over the globe, we feel it is our responsibility to explore our curriculum in greater depth, and through the lens of diversity and inclusion.

After listening to the views of parents, we have decided to prioritise the following initiatives this year:

• We will be including and recognising Black History as an integral part of the all year-round curriculum, starting now.  This will mean that Black History isn’t just a focus during Black History Month; it will become a core part of our curriculum on an ongoing basis.

• We will teach our children to recognise and understand the cultural relevance of past events and how they influence present day communities, in London and further afield.

• All of our topics will be taught through the filter of social justice (race, gender and all other protected characteristics).

We will continue to provide updates regarding our review of the curriculum, and all associated initiatives.

Wheels are already in motion with a staff and parent ‘Working Group’ on diversity and inclusion which will feed into these changes.  This Working Group will seek to make our school a more inclusive environment for learning and ensuring we are future fit.

A cross-borough team (The Conolly Project, named after Yvonne Conolly, Islington resident and the UK’s first female black headteacher) is also in place which is working to provide a strategic overview and develop the curriculum changes across schools, with Tufnell Park represented at all levels.

There is so much that can be done to eliminate racial discrimination and we are excited to be making plans for impactful change.