Students in Year 9 have been taking part in sessions to promote positivity, safety and inclusion in our local community delivered by Stephen Waddington from Durham Constabulary.

Stephen is the Positive Action, Cohesion and Engagement Officer in the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Department, and the vision for this department is to create neighbourhoods that are fair, inclusive, tolerant and without crime. Education is the first step.

The objective of the sessions was for pupils to think more deeply about their identities and differences, and to be aware of what the school protocols are for acting if they see unkind behaviour. Pupils need to be able to define hate crime and hate incidents based on race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity, and understand the different types of hate crime and the negative impact upon victims.

In teen-friendly sessions, students learned about protected characteristics and how the damaging effects of prejudice and bullying in society affects us all; they also learned about the potential consequences of unkind behaviour both inside and outside of school. Raising awareness in sessions like these leads to an environment that is more accepting of the differences that make us all unique.