BSA Courageous Conversations: Anti-racism

• Date: December 5, 2022
• Time: 11:00 – 12:00
• Cost: BSA Members – FULLY BOOKED
• Audience: Heads, SLT, Inclusion Leads, SENCos, Head of Boarding, Boarding Staff, Teachers
• Platform: Zoom (online)

Course outline

To provide the opportunity to learn more about effective anti-racism work and to support schools with this. In this one-hour ‘meeting format’ session we will hear from boarding school Alumni, school staff and anti-racism practitioners. Through examples of lived experience and strategies that are being used, speakers will offer insights and examples of effective anti-racism approaches. As well as the opportunity to ask questions, there will be break out room time to meet with other staff from different schools to discuss anti-racism work.

Learning outcomes:

Increased understanding of anti-racism work through hearing from different voices – from boarding school alumni, current school staff to anti-racism trainers; and by having the opportunity to discuss with staff in other schools.

FULLY BOOKED

Speakers:

Sandra White, Director of Programmes, Royal Springboard

Sandra has over 30 years of management experience that spans the corporate, public, and charitable sectors. She is an advocate for youth leadership and has always been passionate about supporting young people to overcome any barriers so they can achieve their full potential. With experience managing the Metropolitan Black Police Association’s accredited VOYAGE programme, a highly successful Youth Leadership programme at Oxford University and strategic lead at Catalyst Housing, Sandra has also led capacity building with local voluntary sector groups and local authorities alongside London Action Trust and Young Brent Foundation.

As RNCSF’s Director of Programmes, Sandra has oversight of their three key programmes:

• The Partnerships Programme, working with place-based community groups and 11-16 state schools to identify and establish a predictable pupil pipeline of talented young people from under privileged backgrounds.
• The Looked After and Vulnerable Children’s Programmes, which provide life-changing education opportunities for children who are in care or whose home circumstances might characterise them as being ‘on the edge of care’.
• The Alumni Programme encourages and enables our alumni to undertake rewarding post-18 journeys, fulfil their aspirations and goal model for the younger pupils who are just beginning their journey, providing leadership as Ambassadors of social mobility.

As Deputy DSL, she has responsibility to ensure pupils are supported and safeguarded during their placement and is keen to work with RNCSF’s independent schools’ network to create an inclusive and anti-racist environment, using the young people as their greatest asset and schools’ best practice, which many schools already have between them.

Nick Russell is an Assistant Head at Epsom College (ISA Independent School of the Year 2022).

Nick has been responsible for EDI since June 2020 and has led a whole-school initiative to facilitate a sense of belonging for all students. The focus has been to avoid empty virtue-signalling and instead embed meaningful change to tutoring, curriculum design and pastoral support.

This work built upon earlier whole-school developments which dissolved the gender divide of academic progress in the Sixth Form.

Nick is also an experienced Teacher of English and a former Head of Department and Boarding Housemaster.

Jemma Roye, Founder Let’s Start A Conversation, Grow Achieve Soar Academies

‘Let’s Start A Conversation’ (LSAC) is delivered through Grow Achieve Soar Academies Ltd; an educational enterprise offering tuition, mentoring, coaching and well-being support for young people aged 5-18 years. Founded by Jemma Roye in 2018, Grow Achieve Soar Academes is led by a passion for helping young people to thrive, both academically and personally.

Qualifying with a first-class degree in Social Anthropology and a QTS in Social Sciences, Jemma is a qualified secondary school teacher specialising in Sociology and Humanities. She has led a number of departments and has worked as a youth worker in South London. She has over fifteen years of teaching experience, in both the state and independent secondary school sectors within London and Dorset.

Jemma’s commitment to seeing young people succeed fulfilled her desire to work as a diversity consultant and academic coach. She is passionate about the well-being and personal development of young people, believing that all students should have the opportunity to individually thrive.

Jemma now works full time as the CEO and Managing Director of Grow Achieve Soar Academies Ltd along with her team to make a positive impact on the lives of young people. The pioneering LSAC programme is at the forefront of Jemma’s work as a diversity consultant. She now works with an expanding network of schools to support them in having courageous conversations around racism, equity and representation.

Brandon Hylton, Consultant, Page Personnel Finance

Brandon grew up in a single parent household in South Tottenham but certainly wasn’t alone, being the third of his mother’s six children. Through The Royal National SpringBoard Foundation, Brandon was afforded the once in a lifetime opportunity to attend The Royal Hospital School which is an independent boarding school located on the outskirts of Ipswich, Suffolk. Not only was this an educational opportunity for him, but he also believes it opened his eyes to some of the experiences and challenges faced by minority groups in society, especially those who he left behind in Tottenham during these school years.  He commends how pivotal the opportunity was in shaping his outcomes and credits it for the confidence he became equipped with to join the fight for equality within Criminal Justice, HealthCare, Education and the workplace. Having spent the last four years in the Metropolitan Police Service working both directly and indirectly with young people from challenged backgrounds, he uses his voice, platform and journey to showcase how we can all be more emotionally intelligent in order to make spaces more inclusive and appealing to minority groups.

Shelby Matthews-Read, Clarion Voice, Royal Springboard, Rugby School 2014-2016 (LXX – XX)

Shelby encountered the Springboard Foundation through the Clarion Voice, in Leicester. She studied A Level Biology, English Language, Art and AS Philosophy during her sixth form studies at Rugby School.
Shelby has always wanted to pursue a career in mental health to work interpersonally and support others. She is currently a Trainee Mental Health and Well-being Practitioner in Community Adult Mental Health services in Manchester, previously working in child/adolescent mental health services. Shelby is a creative/sporty person at heart and enjoys engaging in these activities in her spare time.

Pelumi Agbedejobi, Junior Trader, TD Securities

Pelumi is currently working on the trading floor in the Dealers’ Arm of TD Securities as a Junior Trader on the G10 Derivatives desk. He began working in sales and trading after graduating from the University of Leeds where he gained an Integrated Masters after studying Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering. Outside of academia and trying to keep up to date with the ever-evolving developments in the finance world, Pelumi plays football and boxes.