Chronicle January 2021

10 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

The Equality and Diversity Programme Last year, the Warden received a thoughtful and persuasive email from former pupils Alice Owen-Lloyd and Miriam Kremer. They attached a petition, signed by over 300 OSE and current pupils, calling for Teddies to review the curriculum to ensure that it is robustly anti-racist. Many discussions ensued, some including Alice and Miriam, and some within the Teddies community. The Warden and Governors subsequently appointed Margaret Lloyd, one of the School’s Deputy Heads, to coordinate a major and long-term evaluation of equality and diversity in all areas of school life. Below, she underlines the imperative need for this programme in 21st-century Britain and brings us up to date with progress made last term.

The George Floyd killing has prompted many demands for action and much public soul- searching. The UK has been complacent about racism – many older people will say that things have improved significantly, and in many respects that is correct, compared to the 1970s; but that does not mean that racism is “solved”. Many public figures are now openly talking about their own experiences, and there is clearly much still to do. Public schools have a very particular and potentially problematic position here – they must address their own history and traditions as part of the infrastructure of Empire as well as looking carefully at what happens within their communities now. I would like to stress that we embark on this journey with an open mind, but with a strong sense that St Edward’s faces no greater or lesser challenge in this area than any other school – or indeed wider society. When the Warden asked me to take the project on, my starting point was to look at

Harrison Wells and Alexander Barrington Brown, Social Justice Prefects