#SRtRCSpotlight: Building Tomorrow’s Leaders – Primary School Ambassadors Pilot in Action

This year, the SRtRC Wales team ran our first pilot of a young anti-racist ambassador’s project targeted at primary school pupils. The trial followed the very successful Leaders of Now Ambassadors project that has been undertaken for the last 3 years in North Wales with secondary students.

The pilot was designed to work with two primary schools across different local authorities.

The schools were selected based on their interest in further developing an anti-racism culture within their settings.

Fairwater Primary School in Cardiff and All Saints Church in Wales Primary School in the Vale of Glamorgan were chosen to participate.

Both schools selected ten pupils from Y5 and Y6 to form an anti-racism action group within their schools. The group worked with SRtRC staff to examine what they thought anti racism should look like in their school, the good practice going on already in school and what they would aim to complete over the project period and longer term following from SRtRC engagement.

Over a ten-week period, each group undertook a variety of activities, largely self-initiated with both school and SRtRC staff facilitating. Both schools, agreed a name for the group, created a mission statement and logo, conducted a whole school survey to audit how anti racism was reflected in the resources and created questions to ask staff and students about their understanding and thoughts about anti-racism. The results proved to be very enlightening to the students and there was a sense of purpose once they were able to understand the way in which their own school presented as an anti-racist school. The groups used the findings to refine their ideas and prioritise the actions into short- and longer-term goals.

At the end of the project, the group completed a presentation to the school community comprising of pupils, parents, teachers and governors on what the group has been working on and the future plans.

All Saints were first and presented their work to the whole school, invited governors, and SRtRC staff to an assembly, entirely created by the students. The children were so excited by their work, they wanted to have a separate assembly to invite all the parents celebrating and sharing their stance as an anti-racist school. So far, the pupils have delivered 3 different assemblies to showcase the work that they have undertaken this term!

George Ashworth, Deputy Headteacher at All Saints commented:

“On behalf of our Pupil Voice Group, the Red to Racism Group, I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for your incredible support during the Leaders of Now Project. It has been an inspiring and empowering experience for our learners, and we are truly grateful for the guidance and dedication shown by the team: Roxanne and Tanya.

Their passion and expertise have been instrumental in creating a safe and engaging space for our pupils to explore important topics surrounding equality, inclusion, leadership and anti-racism. Through their workshops and discussions, our students have not only gained a deeper understanding of anti-racism but have also felt empowered to become proactive agents of change within our school and wider community.

The thoughtful approach Roxanne and Tanya took in engaging with our pupils made a lasting impression. Their encouragement and genuine care helped every voice to feel valued and heard, fostering an increased sense of confidence and purpose among our young leaders.

As a school, we are committed to sustaining the momentum of this project and ensuring that the lessons learned continue to influence our community positively. Your work is making a profound difference, and we are proud to have been part of this initiative”

The Fairwater Primary pupils presented their groups aims, objectives, successes and future plans to the governors, teachers, parents and pupils in the school with plans to present to community members in the future. The have supported the creation of the Cynefin magazine presenting the work the pupils and school are doing on equalities and anti-racism to the wider school community that were unable to attend the presentation.

Dean Pymble, Campaign Manager for Wales added:

“The leaders of Now Primary anti-racism ambassadors pilot project has been a huge success, having pupils involved in creating the school they want to see will only empower these pupils to stand up for what is right and continue with their anti-racism activism as they progress into secondary school. We need everyone to play their part to achieve Welsh Governments vision of creating an anti-racist Wales by 2030. We’re looking for future funders for this project and would love to roll it out to primary schools across Wales”

If you’re interested in running the project, please contact Dean Pymble at Dean@theredcardwales.org