“Adolescence” has been very much in the news this week. I watched it with interest and was horrified at how things, in the TV show, played out on social media. Not even in secret - in the open and how parents missed the online bullying going on with disastrous consequences. I couldn’t help but reflect on my message from last week about the children’s use of social media. The family in the show had missed it - and if you haven’t seen it I urge you to watch it to see how easy it is for children to misuse social media and how quickly lives can be ruined because of this misuse.

Also last week I had to take steps to tackle words used towards one of our children that I considered to be racist. It appears that some feel the response was over the top. It appears the seriousness of the situation is lost on some of our school community, with some making a false equivalence with the behaviour of other learners in the class.

It’s 2025. We need to work in partnership with our families to understand how this feels if you are in a group with protected characteristics. As a white male I can have no experience of our learner felt when the racist language was used - but I can protect that learner as best I caan.

To that end, I would like you to read the impact statement from the child’s parents “It was extremely upsetting, shocking and disappointing to hear that such words had been used, completely unprovoked, against another child in this day and age in school - a place where all children should feel happy and safe. If it was your child that was subjected to such words, how would it make you feel and how would it make your child feel?”

Finally, I will leave you with the child’s words themselves.

“I felt angry because you shouldn’t be judging people by skin colour”

Regards,

Mr Redgrave