Recording and Reporting Racist Incidents

Under Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Home Office Code of Practice on repcording and reporting racist incidents (2000) schools are rquired to record and investigate all racist incidents and report them to the Local Authority on a regular basis.

Definition of a racist incident

Cambridge Local Authority and schools, as advised by the Home Office, adopted the definition recommended in the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report 1999:

'A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.'

This definition emphasises perception, so that if anyone thinks an incident is racist it will be recorded and investigated as such, however minor it may seem.  Incidents involving children and adults will be recorded whether or not those responsible intended their behaviour to be racist.  It should also be noted that a racist incident does not necessarily have a victim.

Procedures

Parents/carers will be contacted if their child is involved in any way in an alleged racist incident and they will be kept informed of the progress and outcome of any investigation.

Any incident that is alleged or percieved to be racist will be recorded and if, following investigation, it is concluded that it is not racist, this outcome will be noted on both the school record of the incident and the report that is submitted to the Local Authority.

Termly reports of incidents on the Local Authority Racist Incident Database (RaID) will not identify individuals, but this information will be kept at school level, in line with other records on behaviour and incidents of bullying.

The school will seek advice from Cambridgeshire Race Equality and Diversity Service (CREDS) as and when required and parents/carers may also discuss any concerns regarding racist incidents with the Service.