This is a petition requesting that Saffron Walden County High School (SWCHS) takes further action to update and expand the curriculum to include more BAME histories and perspectives, including but not limited expansion of its teaching of colonialism, the slave trade and its legacy, and the civil rights movement.

These topics have been instrumental not only in shaping our collective history but also in the world we see around us today. It is alarming that many people first seriously engaged with the history of the slave trade in the wake of the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol. This is testament to the structural inequalities that permeates the national curriculum. Whilst SWCHS has already taken steps to diversify aspects of its curriculum, we feel that more could still be done across a range of subject areas. 

The selective curriculum, across a range of subject areas, by virtue of partially erasing the contributions and talents of BAME individuals and their history, is lacking and white-washed. SWCHS is an institution with a responsibility to educate and prepare students for later life. The omission of topics integral to British society is a falling short of this responsibility. As expressed by The Black Curriculum, ‘learning black history should not be a choice but should be mandatory.’

Implementing a more inclusive, diverse and comprehensive curriculum will contribute towards building a more welcoming environment, encouraging respect and understanding within both the school and the wider community. We acknowledge that significant steps have already been taken by the school, in particular the history department, to diversify the curriculum. Hopefully, this will reduce incidents of racist abuse and bullying on school grounds, which are prevalent and often unreported. Outrooting racial prejudice at school prevents these hateful attitudes becoming engrained in adult life.

We also recognise that recently, there have been appreciated efforts by the school to improve upon this, including the introduction of Diversity Champions and Anti-Hate Ambassadors who have begun to implement significant changes.

As the founder of the Saffron Academy Trust (SAT) and as a National Teaching School, SWCHS has the opportunity to set a positive example for a more accepting society.. Moreover, we recognise this is neither an issue exclusive to nor predominantly the fault of SWCHS as a school, and thus encourage individuals supporting this petition to also support similar petitions aimed at the Department for Education relating to the national curriculum.

Below are some comments from recent SWCHS alumni on the effects of the white-washed curriculum:

‘Secondary school is often a period where you understand who you are. But when no-one looks like you in the curriculum you’re taught, you are essentially erased. Silenced. Removed.

To not acknowledge the British colonies that fought with Britain in the war is shameful. To not acknowledge the Windrush Generation’s efforts to rebuild post-war Britain is shameful. To glorify British history with a ‘white saviour’ sentiment is not only grossly ignorant but shameful. Churchill, who we know as the ‘Greatest Briton’ that led us to victory in the Second World War, was also responsible for sanctioning the Bengal Famine of 1943 among other crimes against humanity. But are these not taught because the victims are not white? Are these victims not important enough? For an adolescent BAME pupil, the failure to recognise us in history imposes an ideology of ‘white is right’; we are not worth learning about. A 15-minute assembly once a year during Black History Month is not good enough.’ – Rebecca Hayn.