#SRtRCSpotlight: A Ripple Effect of Change – Anti-Racism Work Across the Horizon Trust
Four schools, four teacher training programmes, five assemblies, ten workshops and a restorative programme!
Over the course of the past 12 months, the North East Education Team have been working with four of the nine settings that make up the Horizon Specialist Academy Trust in Teesside, delivering a variety of anti-racism interventions to young people and teachers across the four sites.
Horizon Specialist Academy Trust provide high quality educational and learning experiences which aim to develop:
- confident individuals who are positive about who they are and what they can achieve
- successful, enthusiastic and motivated learners
- positive participants in their local and wider communities
Whilst it is not unusual for Show Racism the Red Card to work across Academy Trust networks, something that was particularly positive in this case was that each new school we worked with was engaged via recommendations from other settings within the network, based on the positive experiences of their young people, staff teams and senior leadership.
In September 2024, the North East Education Team were contacted by Vice Principal Thomas Maitland at Hollis Academy who was proactively seeking support to help highlight best practice approaches to tackling racism after a small number of incidents in the school.
That month, we delivered a two-part teacher training programme to the entire staff cohort, with the first session focusing on a reflection on self – helping teachers to explore the impact of unconscious bias, privilege, microaggressions and the influence of the media that have an impact on everyone, irrespective of their background or personal experience.
The second session was centred around a focus on school and used scenario-based activities to support reflections from staff on the approach taken by the school, it’s current strengths and areas for development.
Speaking about the training, Vice Principal Thomas Maitland said
“Richie (Education worker and Teacher Training Lead) was great, the staff really enjoyed his presentations. I have shared your email with other schools in our trust.”
The training highlighted that a more intensive approach was required to support a small cohort of young people who had previous displayed some more challenging attitudes and behaviours, therefore the team returned to the school in June 2025 to deliver a four-week Restorative Programme to 8-10 young people.
Show Racism the Red Card’s Restorative Programme is a four-week programme for pupils who have been involved in a racist incident or may be vulnerable to racist thinking, with dedicated sessions on Identity and World View, The Wider World and Experiences, Online, A History of Racism and Harmful Language and the Impact and Consequences of Hate.
In early 2025, the North East Education Team were approached by a second Trust school, Mo Mowlam Academy, Redcar whose Assistant Vice Principal Andrew Horsley said:
“We would appreciate some training for our colleagues on how to reduce/stop racism from some of our students. I have heard that the training is amazing from our sister academy Hollis in Middlesbrough”
A two-part teacher training programme was then delivered to 17 staff in March, mirroring the support provided to Hollis earlier in the academic year.
When asked what the most useful elements of the teacher training programme was, participants said:
- The explanation of unconscious bias
- Language. I will use mixed heritage instead of mixed-race
- The delivery of the courses making it informative and encouraging
- Richey was amazing – thank you!
This was followed by the delivery of anti-racism assemblies in June 2025 to the entire school cohort reaching all year groups from year 7 to 11, a total of 57 pupils.
We were then approached third setting from within the Academy Network following another recommendation from Mo Mowlam. The two-part teacher training programme was then delivered to staff at Archway Academy, Middlesbrough in May 2025.
When asked what the most useful elements of the teacher training programme was, participants said:
It was all so relevant to our kids and also to life outside of school
The activities prompted really value discussions between colleagues
As we embark on the new academic year, the North East Education Team are working with a fourth Trust setting – Westlands Academy, Thornaby.
PSHE Lead Jamie Butler contacted Show Racism the Red Card with the following endorsement:
“There are a number of schools within our trust that have received training from your organisation. Every school has provided positive feedback which has influenced our decision to also take part in staff training and the use of student workshops.”
Later this month, the team will re-visit Westlands Academy to deliver an additional workshop to years 7-11.
Huge thanks go to all of the leaders within the Horizon Specialist Academy Trust for their proactive approach to ensure that the staff and the young people in their care have received anti-racism support, at a time when it is more important than ever to reject racist ideas and behaviours.
We are also grateful to all settings for making recommendations and helping to spread the message.
To find out more about the opportunities to engage Show Racism the Red Card in the North East with services to support your school or Academy Trust, please click the button below and use our enquiry form to provide us with your requirements.