What preventative strategies and preventative action should schools take ?

The school is an important part of the fabric of any community, and most communities in Britain nowadays have people living and working from a range of different ethnic and national backgrounds. It is therefore important to recognize that racist incidents might occur and ensure that the school has taken actions to minimize such incidents.

The types of action should think about could include

· Strong, well published polices and procedures
· Training for all employees
· Informing students, parents and community members about what constitutes racist and harassment, the consequence for harassment, and support available for victims.
· Classroom and curricular strategies for establishing and reinforcing attitudes and action, which are based on respect and equality
· Creating a coalition of teachers and students to guide and implement the approach
· Forming relationships with community groups such as the Monitoring Group or other community groups to make presentations and conduct workshops for teachers and students.
· Developing a handbook for parents with the schools policy, community contacts and victim support. This is important to gain parental support and reduce any concern.