A project helping schools to teach learners about how to challenge racism is playing a key role in the Welsh Government’s aim to being an anti-racist nation by 2030.
Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed in Newport is one of the schools involved in the Diversity and Anti-racist Professional Learning project (DARPL), a key part of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP). A refresh of the plan was launched earlier this week.
DARPL has provided resources, professional learning, and guidance for thousands of educators across Wales, which is having a positive impact on learners. Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed has benefited from the project with teachers and learners developing a deeper understanding of racism and what it means to be an anti-racist school.
The school has introduced a pupil-led audit which includes an action plan to address racism. To support anti-racism week, the school has encouraged activity across all subject areas including food tasting and assemblies.
The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan was launched by the Welsh Government in 2022 to address and eliminate systemic racism and racial inequalities in Wales.
The Plan has achieved several key milestones since it was launched and expansion of the DARPL project has been key to that.
The refreshed plan reflects the progress made over the past two years, addresses any barriers or challenges encountered, and has been shaped by feedback from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people about the issues that affect them.
The refresh also introduces several changes, including new actions and timelines, and enhanced roles for lead and delivery partners. The leadership chapter, for example, has been significantly strengthened to emphasise the importance of anti-racist leadership. There is also a greater focus on addressing the specific needs of groups such as Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller people.
Deputy headteacher at Ysgol Gyfun Gwent Is Coed, who leads on the DARPL initiative, Abigail Williams said:
As a school we have developed an understanding of institutional racism and what it means to be an anti-racist school. We are creating a genuinely anti-racist setting where learners feel safe to disclose, where they have the confidence that they will be listened to and believed so that their daily experience is a better one.
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Jane Hutt said:
Our bold and ambitious Anti-racist Wales Action Plan marks our commitment as a government to tackle systemic and structural race inequality and take an actively anti-racist approach.
We have made progress in several areas since the plan was launched in 2022, and the Diversity and Anti-racist Professional Learning project is an excellent example of this, but we also know we have a long way to go in achieving our goals.
Inequality and racism continue to be felt very deeply by ethnic minority communities in Wales. We know there have been many incidents of racial hatred and threats following the recent violent disorder in England and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people are therefore seeking reassurance that we remain committed to an anti-racist Wales and that they will see improvements in their everyday lives. The refreshed plan is an important part of providing this reassurance.
We cannot do this alone. Everyone, right across Wales, has an important role to play. Working together we can embed anti-racism in everything we do, to create a truly anti-racist Wales, a Wales in which we can all be proud to belong, and in which each of us can thrive.
If you or someone you know has experienced hate crime you can report it to the police or to the Wales Hate Support Centre which is run by Victim Support. Call 0300 3031 982 or email hate.crimewales@victimsupport.org.uk
The refreshed Anti-Racism Wales Action Plan can be found at An anti racist Wales.