SOCIAL INCLUSION

Emanuel School is committed to ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion are at the very heart of our culture and community. We are committed to ensuring that every member of the Emanuel community – our students, staff, alumni and wider community –feels welcomed, respected, valued and supported.

Archer Advisory Group

The Archer Advisory Group (named in honour of John Richard Archer, former Mayor of Battersea and the first black person to hold a senior public office in London) is an important voice within Emanuel School. The group is made up of school staff – from across all employee positions – and pupils of different ages and backgrounds. Its task is to review the school’s curriculum, structures and population, through the lenses of the diverse members of the Emanuel community.

Establishing this new group was one way in which Emanuel School responded to events in the USA and around the world in 2020, following the killing of George Floyd by a member of the State Police Force.

The group seeks out pupil, parent, governor and external voices on all matters of race and inequality – recognising that there are wider issues of inequality and intersectionality that must also be identified, discussed and addressed.

The advisory group’s audit has resulted in changes within the school. Moving forward, the group will continue to devise and advise on new approaches with a specific focus on the ways in which we provide education regarding race, anti-racism and forms of inequality and representation in society.

These events have reinforced the need for us all to genuinely care for each other, stand up for others and be honestly educated in matters of race, anti-racism, inequality and human rights. George Floyd’s killing follows similar deaths of other black Americans. It was not an isolated event. It is also not only an American matter. Britain has a similar list of black Britons killed or rendered disabled through acts of atrocity.