Bournemouth Borough Council has been named by Stonewall as the one of the best local authorities in Britain for tackling homophobic and biphobic bullying and celebrating difference in its schools. Stonewall today publishes theEducation Equality Index 2015, listing the Top 10 local authorities in Britain, with Bournemouth Council coming in seventh place.
The Index measures practice and policy at all of the participating local authorities with 47 local authorities submitting entries to the 2015 Index, the most competitive to date.
Bournemouth Council provides guidance on tackling homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language in schools called Stop and Think – Words Can Hurt. Recently Bournemouth ran a ‘Wellbeing for All’ workshop with Stonewall, focusing on meeting the SRE needs of LGBT young people. Bournemouth has also developed a series of lesson plans for Key Stage 3 as part of the Kaleidoscope LGBT inclusive curriculum, including modules on relationships, family and social diversity, which builds upon the Rainbow curriculum for Key Stage 1 and 2.
The Teachers’ Report 2014 found that over 90 per cent of primary school staff – and eight in ten secondary school teachers – say they haven’t received specific training on how to tackle homophobic and biphobic bullying.
Full results of the 2015 Stonewall Top 10 local authorities list will be announced during a ceremony at the charity’s annual Education for All Conference held today (10 July) at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London.
Councillor Lawrence Williams, Cabinet Member for Culture and Equality, said: ‘Homophobic and biphobic bullying in schools unfortunately is a very real problem and it’s one we take incredibly seriously. This ranking is great recognition that in Bournemouth we are doing the right things. It is vital that every child has the opportunity to learn in an environment they feel comfortable in.
‘We have worked in consultation with schools to educate staff on how to deal with this issue and having spoken to many of them, they are now more confident in knowing how to remove this problem from our schools.’
Sarah Rose, Senior Account Manager, Stonewall: ‘We have seen phenomenal work from all of those local authorities that have participated in this year’s Education Equality Index – in particular our Top 10 and our award winners. We’d like to extend huge congratulations to Bournemouth Council for all of their achievements in continuing to fight against bullying and discrimination.’
The Education Equality Index 2015 is available from www.stonewall.org.uk/educationequalityindex
