Shaping a more equal future

During the summer, in response to the increase in awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement I received a letter from a group of FPs, current pupils and some parents.

Rector, Lise Hudson

In their words, “We believe education is one of the greatest ways to fight inequality and implore you to use the unique position of the High School of Dundee to help shape a more equal future.”

As a result the group asked us to look at 5 areas in particular – a review of the curriculum to make it more diversified and inclusive; a review of hiring practices to ensure a process which encourage diverse applications; ensuring a culture in which no pupil should have to go into school in fear of judgement or comment about their personal identity; implementing a system to ensure the school is held accountable for upholding its responsibility to be an inclusive institution; and an invitation to continue the dialogue and inform the group of what the school has already done and will be doing going forwards.”

I wanted to be able to give a full and considered response to the group, and having now done that I would like to share the steps the school has taken, and is taking, to work towards our shared goal of ensuring the best future for all.

Lise Hudson, Rector


Thank you for the open letter which you sent on behalf of the signatories on 3 July 2020. I would be most grateful if you could you share my response here with them all.

I have heard both the collective and individual voice of those who had the courage to share their personal experiences and lend their support to challenging me to make a difference. I want to thank all the signatories of the letter for your positive and supportive approach in raising these important issues with me. Your letter clearly acknowledges that in many ways, things have changed for the better here at HSD and offers us positive support in working together towards a more inclusive future.

I hope you will understand why I have taken time to reply to you and why now, I would like to share with you what we have been doing to address the issues that you raise. I wanted to be able to give you a full and considered response and I hope that my response will reassure you that we are finding better ways of listening to our community and engaging them in designing a better future for us all. This is very much a work in progress but with your support and a shared goal I believe that together we can make a real difference.

Since March 2020, we have been faced with the unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic. This has required us to adapt almost all aspects of school life to do all that we can to keep all our people safe whilst also continuing to offer the very best education. This has been both an immense challenge and a wonderful opportunity. We have been compelled to consider new approaches and ways of doing things and alongside this, events which have prompted us to evaluate our own attitudes, behaviour and responsibility within a human context.

I have been faced with the realisation that, although we have made many important steps forward in recent years, we can and must do more, more urgently and more collaboratively. COVID-19 has also demonstrated that the same shared humanity has also prompted amazing acts of kindness, care, community, selflessness and warmth. It is this that brings us hope that we can do things better, take responsibility for our words and actions and each take a lead.
As I highlighted in June in my Reflections, having worked for many years as a History and Guidance Teacher, the belief that I carry the responsibility for challenging fixed and bigoted thinking and approaching issues with empathy and compassion, has underpinned my own career. Now is the time to challenge what we teach and, just as importantly, how we teach. Great teachers have an impact far beyond their subject, or role. Often, they push us to consider a different view, one which challenges our preconceptions and highlights the minority. They can inspire. This is particularly important in the setting of an independent school, where our privileged position demands that we never take this for granted.

We have an obligation to expose the aspects which detract from and undermine this and champion the best that we can do. My determination is that we apply the same commitment to action on diversity, equality and genuine respect for all, that we have traditionally applied to achieving the best academic outcomes for all our pupils. I believe that this will allow us to work together to continue to actively review our curriculum so that it meets the diverse needs of all our learners.

I stand by the statement I made in June 2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement: “I want to make a commitment to you all that I will make this a key strategic priority. To engage the whole community in challenging ourselves to examine our views of the world and to live our Core Values. To respect all those around us, to listen to the experiences of all, to add our voices and actions to those demanding change and to act with compassion, confidence and kindness.”

What we’re doing

Connect Futures Course

A group of teachers are undertaking a blended learning programme on Race, Privilege and Justice: understanding concepts to support anti-racism. This has been arranged by SCIS (Scottish Council of Independent Schools) in partnership with ConnectFutures – an organisation that provides national and global training. It involves 6 staff (including me) as follows:

Mrs Lise Hudson (Rector), Mr Gordon Fyall (Head of History and Modern Studies), Mrs Louise Baxter (PT Guidance and PE), Mrs Mandy Tevendale (Head of English), Miss Lisa Carrie (L6 Teacher and Rights Respecting School Staff Lead) and Karlene Douglas (Charities and Community Outreach Coordinator/ History and Modern Studies Teacher). Our intention is then to cascade our learning across the school.

Recruitment

I recognise that your letter also highlights that BAME are currently under-represented in the High School of Dundee’s Staff. We believe that we have fair and transparent recruitment practices and processes in place, but I give my personal assurance that these will be reviewed and adapted to ensure that our policies and procedures encourage diverse applications for all staff roles, both within Teaching and Support.

Summer Reading Challenge and Discussion Groups

As you also acknowledge, one of the actions from my Reflection was to set up a Rector’s Summer Reading Challenge. Please see below the rationale and communication that was shared with the whole community and personally by me to all Senior Years Pupils in June 2020.

The Black Lives Matter Movement has challenged us all to take responsibility for becoming better informed out with our own comfort zones and spheres. With the help of Mrs Tevendale and the school Librarian Ms Lloyd Wiggins, we have put together a Summer Reading list which focuses on the writing and experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Groups.

I would like to ask the HSD community to take on the challenge of building a better understanding of experiences other than our own by reading some of the recommended titles. There is a specific challenge for our older pupils, staff, parents and FPs to read at least five of the books on the list over the summer break. These titles will form the focus of discussion groups next session. The list is aimed at senior pupils, staff, parents and any FPs who would like to get involved. We plan to extend this into the younger years with recommended reading from early years through to upper primary in the course of next session.

It is a starting point to challenge fixed thinking, to question versions of history and culture and to drive forward positive change.

As a reminder, you can find the reading list here.

The first of these sessions was held on Wednesday 4th November 2020 and focused on the first text; Red Dust Road by Jackie Kay. We ran this as a Webinar (via Zoom) and it took the form of a panel discussion on key issues from the book and then questions and comments from 'the floor'.

All members of the High School community were invited to register to attend the webinar. Invitations were sent to all current Senior Years’ pupils, all staff and Directors and all current parents. The external relations department also sent invitations to all Former Pupils on our database.

I chaired the Webinar, putting questions to the panel for discussion. I was assisted by Mrs Mandy Tevendale (Head of English) and Ms Sian Lloyd Wiggins (Librarian). The Panel of six consisted of two current Pupils (F4 and F6) one Former Pupil, two current Parents and one member of Senior School Teaching Staff. In addition, two pupils and Mrs Lindsay Drummond (Head of Drama) contributed by reading out extracts to spark the discussion.

Although there was a modest number of attendees, the discussion was open, honest and highly engaging. All panellists indicated that they felt that the webinar had been an extremely worthwhile event and were keen to be included in future discussion groups. The Webinar was recorded and links to this can be requested via mdoig@highschoolofdundee.org.uk 

The pupils in attendance were very keen to work to find a way of encouraging more pupils to join in the next webinar. As a consequence, the decision was taken to postpone the second discussion webinar, to allow sufficient time to plan and take steps to raise more awareness within the whole school community.

Pupil Group:

In September I emailed the current pupils who had signed the Open Letter as follows:

I am writing to you as you are all current pupils who countersigned the Open Letter that I received in July 2020. I attach a copy of it for your reference.
As I hope you are aware, there are a number of initiatives and actions that we are working on across the school and I want to ask for your help (if you feel you would like to give it) in being part of us moving forward as a community together.
The letter that you signed highlights the vital role that education plays and your desire to be part of a community action:
“We believe education is one of the greatest ways to fight inequality and implore you to use the unique position of the High School of Dundee to help shape a more equal future”
In a recent survey sent to all pupils (F1-F6) asking for suggestions as to topics for PSHE, more information/discussion and exploration of BLM was identified as a top priority by pupils in every year group.
Rather than staff working to develop the best response to this alone, we would like to bring together a group of interested and motivated pupils, representative of the whole school community to have an input into this.
I have asked Mr Welsh to engage with those of you who would be willing to be involved in this important first step via email in the first instance.
I would be delighted to hear from any of you directly too. I hope that you will continue to engage in this very important issue and encourage others to get involved.

Following this, PT Guidance Mr Ryan Welsh, invited all of these pupils to a lunchtime meeting just prior to the October break. Two pupils attended and were joined by the two pupils from the discussion Panel. They have now formed a working group and as a result of the discussions at the meeting, the following actions are now being taken:

1. We are looking to deliver lessons to all year groups in the Senior Years through PSHE
2. We are going to focus on the background issues/historical perspective, personal experiences of inequality and the modern-day issues that affect BAME communities
3. We are going to devise the lessons with support from Mr Ryan Welsh – the lessons will be age appropriate and grouped F1&F2/F3&F4/F5&F6
4. We will then attend a Guidance Team meeting to discuss how we would like the Team to deliver these lessons

The next step will be to arrange another meeting to approach other pupils who might like to be involved.

Guidance and PSHE

Your letter also calls for action to prevent oppression of religion, gender and sexuality alongside race. We share your conviction that no pupil should have to go into school in fear of judgement or comment about their personal identity. The importance of building a Guidance Team and staff who are expertly trained, and the central importance of PSHE to the curriculum cannot be understated. Over the last three years we have undertaken a fundamental review of our PSHE programme from L1-F6. At its core is the recognition of the need to provide relevant and up to date support for our pupils and to equip them with the skills that they need to thrive in an ever-changing world. Designed around six core strands (Academic Life, Citizenship, Online Safety, Personal Safety, Relationships and Wellbeing), it is designed to be flexible and responsive to need from L1 to F6. Our PTs Guidance take responsibility for updating lessons regularly and, at the start of this session, all Senior Years pupils were asked to respond to a questionnaire to say what they wished to see included in the PSHE programme moving forward. While, understandably, the responses differed slightly from year group to year group, the most common requests were enhanced content on BLM and Racism, Drugs and Alcohol, Mental Health (particularly coping with stress and approaches to mindfulness and meditation), Study Skills, Relationships and, in Form 6, Applications and Life beyond school.

We have identified individual members of the Guidance Team who take responsibility for key strands of the PSHE programme and associated initiatives.

I include below the response of Mrs Louise Baxter (PT Guidance) to outline the approaches that we have taken so far and how we intend to step forward.

Guidance Teacher training/knowledge

From a Guidance staff training perspective, I have become the Guidance rep for LGBTQ+ issues/development. I have attended 3 specific LGBTQ+ inclusion conferences/events since joining the school. Two years ago, I went to a national conference and at the end of February 2020, I attended the Rainbow Connections event (along with another member of the teaching staff and a group of Form 4 pupils) at the V&A. I was also asked to contribute to the event and speak about HSD LGBTQ+ approaches and learning. We are now part of a group of Dundee schools who are working together – staff and pupils – to design a Dundee Schools LGBTQ+ network. I also attended the Youth area at Dundee Pride to gain an insight into this event and enhance my understanding of the diversity of this community and the support that is available.

I am in contact with Barry Jordan who is the Youth Work Manager (The Corner) for Central and North (which includes Dundee) and he informs us of any upcoming events we can get involved with. He was also due to come into school to meet with our Q+ group but this has had to be postponed due to COVID. We intend to run this event as soon as we can.

I have also attended a Respect Me (anti-bullying) training day and I am qualified to deliver this course to others. LGBT Youth Scotland is a partner of Respect Me in addressing bullying issues within Scotland.

I am passionate about sharing all the learning and follow-up actions regularly with the Guidance Team in order that we can take this forward across the wider school community.

Q+

Our Q+ group (named by our pupils) is now established and is nearly two years old. We have identified a LGBTQ+ safe space for any pupil who identifies as LGBTQ+ or is an ally of the LGBTQ+ community. This space is available every break and lunch time although we also have a more formal meeting once a week during lunchtime. The classroom displays are a work in progress, and we have a general information board which provides signposting to support groups out with school. We also have an LGBTQ+ wall of fame with photos of high-profile celebrities who have been activists for LGBTQ+ rights. In addition, two of our members liaise with the School Librarian as we develop an LGBTQ+ section in the School Library.

Around school, we also have a number of Q+ posters as well as Respect Me/LGBT Youth Scotland inclusion posters displayed. Three members of staff have been identified as “go to” members of staff if anyone would like to discuss any LGBTQ+ issues. Given my involvement with our whole school Anti-Bullying initiatives/improvement planning, one of these members of staff has taken on more of a lead role with Q+ and she is fantastic! I am so grateful to her.

Throughout the first two terms of session 2019-20, Q+ made some excellent progress as a group, culminating in their assembly in February 2020 which tied in with LGBT History month. This year’s theme marked 20 years since the repeal of Section 28. The aim of the assembly was to break down misconceptions and stigma and inform our pupils about LGBTQ+ terminology, publicise the work and aims of Q+ and to share future priorities and aspirations. Most powerfully, pupils shared their personal experiences of “coming out”, including both what made this process more difficult and what helped to make this more positive.

These assemblies were followed up within Form 3 PSHE where we used the LGBT Youth Scotland lesson resources to continue to talk about Section 28 – what this meant and the impact this had on young people growing up whilst Section 28 was law, as well as the longer term effects of this on society. We also completed a timeline activity in which our pupils were most surprised by the fact that same sex marriages were only legalised as recently as 2014.
Q+ have also reviewed and provided feedback on our PSHE curriculum for the Senior Years.

Now that we have returned to School, the Q+ group continues to work hard and were able to share their progress at Assembly in late October. Specifically, they promoted pupil involvement in the group and encouraged new members to attend and have created a pupil-led Firefly (our VLE) page which signposts support resources and recommends a variety of films, TV shows and books that may be of interest. They have also launched a pupil-run Q+ email account which provides our young people with a confidential means of accessing support from their peers. Next steps include working closely with our Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, continued involvement in the development of our PSHE programme, awareness-raising events and an LGBTQ+ Short Film discussion group.

Anti-Bullying

As I mentioned, there is also a strong link between LGBT Youth Scotland and Respect Me so there is clear overlap with the work of our Diana Award Anti-Bullying Ambassadors (ABAs). Q+ has a rep in one of our F5 pupils and within our ABA group too. In advance of Anti-Bullying Week in November 2019, our ABAs led powerful assemblies to introduce the Diana Award Anti-Bullying programme to our pupils and to promote that year’s campaign ‘Change Starts with Us’, encouraging pupils to be upstanders. The 2019 Anti-Bullying Week culminated in ‘Feel Good Friday’ where all pupils were encouraged to dress in clothes to express themselves with confidence, without fear of judgement – we celebrated difference and respect for all.

Lorraine Glass from Respect Me also visited the school. She met with our ABAs and members of Q+ and wider LGBTQ+ community to discuss issues both personal and school-related and discussed ideas to address these to bring about positive change. Deputy Rector, Mrs Sam Watson and I also met with Lorraine and we discussed our Anti-Bullying initiatives and priorities.

We were well on track with our timescale of priorities having collated the results of our pupil and staff Anti-Bullying surveys. COVID-19 forced us to put this on hold temporarily, but we have now been able to renew our efforts. In the week beginning 18th November 2020, our pupils led an assembly to tie in with Anti-Bullying Week 2020 and to celebrate the range of events that are taking place in school under the banner of ‘United Against Bullying’. You can find a rundown of the activities which took place here.

Last session, we surveyed pupils, parents and staff on the subject of bullying, and we have a timeline in place to review and rewrite our school’s Anti-Bullying Policy. We have completed our review of all results and have been able to identify 3 key priorities:

• The need for clarity in sharing our rationale behind, and the detail of, our anti-bullying procedures and policy with the whole school community
• The need for a consistent approach in dealing with all incidents of bullying
• The need for clear and timely communication with all involved – pupils, parents and staff

The next stage is to invite parents and any other interested individuals to join our Anti-Bullying Working Group along with Sam Watson, me (Louise Baxter) and our ABA reps to review our current Anti-Bullying policy. This is due to be presented to the Senior Leadership team in December. Feedback from pupils, parents and staff tells us clearly that our Policy must be consistently applied, and that rigorous communication is a critical part of any response to bullying.

Bullying because of LGBTQ+ issues came high on the list in terms of why our young people experience bullying behaviour so our support of our LGBTQ+ community is very much part of our wider approach towards addressing/dealing with bullying in HSD.

PSHE

In terms of PSHE, LGBTQ+ matters are addressed and discussed organically/naturally within lessons relating to:

• Anti-Bullying
• Mental Health (discrimination/effects of negative attitudes towards LGBTQ+ community/individuals on mental health)
• Positive/healthy relationships
• Sex Education
• Respect for All
• Prejudice/stereotyping
• National Programmes/Awareness Days/Months

As far as possible, classes are not divided by gender. However, we made the decision that puberty lessons are much more effective, positive and beneficial to pupils being split boy/girl. We were due to teach F1 sex education in co-ed classes last term for the first time. This was postponed because of COVID but we plan to deliver this later this session.

Gender Neutral/PE

As you may know, this session we have Heads and Deputies of School and Houses without gendered titles and we are keeping this under review to ensure fairness for all. Our uniform is gender neutral and, in addition to our male and female toilets and changing rooms for pupils, we also have gender neutral toilets in school and gender-neutral changing rooms with cubicles at Mayfield too.* 

*In response to an enquiry on toilet and changing provisions at the school which was received in September 2023, the following words have been added in to the sentence above to provide clarity: in addition to our male and female toilets and changing rooms for pupils.

Work in Progress/Areas for Development

Whilst we have made significant progress in recent years, we recognise that we are still very much on an LGBTQ+ inclusion journey and we still have some way to go.

As previously mentioned, prior to Christmas 2019, Q+ reviewed our PSHE curriculum within the Senior Years to identify gaps with LGBTQ+ issues. Whilst we have made important progress with our PSHE curriculum in this regard, this is work in progress. Our intention is for members of Q+ to help create/produce relevant content for lessons to fill these gaps. We can use LGBT awareness days to help with this and there are some very good resources on the LGBT Youth Scotland website. Some existing lessons need to be updated.

Our Q+ group is established but we need to work on opening this up to a wider age range of pupils. It would be fantastic to encourage pupils from all year groups to join. However, I am aware that we have other pupils who identify as LGBTQ+ but cannot attend or do not feel the need to attend as they feel happy and well supported by their peers/families/external groups.

Further assemblies are being planned to continue to inform pupils and challenge negative attitudes with consequences where appropriate. Some Former Pupils have already spoken to me and volunteered to come back to lead LGBTQ+ assemblies too. I wonder if any other FPs who identify as LGBTQ+ would be keen to return to speak?

Q+ are also keen to deliver Junior Years assemblies. Junior Years lessons may need updated to include age appropriate LGBTQ+ matters. Members of the Q+ group feel strongly that it is important to inform pupils when they are younger and before negative attitudes/views are formed.

Ongoing development of the LGBTQ+ area on Firefly to include terminology, information, current issues, forthcoming events/awareness days (in and out of school), celebrity profiles, Q+, FAQs, signposting etc.

Continued engagement with LGBT Youth Scotland and the Dundee Schools LGBTQ+ Network/Hub to share good practice. Potentially host/visit other local schools’ LGBTQ+ groups.

I and other members of the Guidance and whole staff Team will attend future LGBTQ+ CPD events.

This list of areas for development is not exhaustive. However, I hope you will agree that as a school we have made significant progress and are committed to continuing to improve our support of our LGBTQ+ community through raising awareness and talking openly about these matters.

Louise Baxter (Principal Teacher of Guidance)

I would like to thank you for your letter and for your patience in awaiting my response which, as I say, I wanted to ensure was full and considered. I believe that this positive and open dialogue that has begun will be central to us moving forward in the best way to ensure the wellbeing and happiness of all members of the HSD Family.

We would always wish to hear any ideas or initiatives that you might have moving forward. I hope that you feel confident to get in touch and I am always happy to talk to any member of the HSD Family who would wish to speak to me in person.

Best wishes,

Lise Hudson
Rector