My name is Shakira Martin and I am a proud mother of 2 beautiful girls. I am an activist, campaigner, and student representative fighting for social mobility, against racism and discrimination in all its forms wherever or whenever it manifests.

My children were the victims of racist abuse at school. I'm fighting for justice but have been told this kind of behaviour is 'not a safeguarding issue'. I need your help. If you believe no children should be treated this way and racist abuse in our schools should be considered a safeguarding issue please contribute and share this page with your family and friends on social media.

Case Background 

In September my children started a Primary School in (Blackfen), however within only a few weeks in their new school my children were subjected to racist comments from other pupils in the school.

These was first directed at my eldest daughter when another girl said that she couldn’t use the toilet because she was black, and continued to do so in my daughter’s class. Another child persisted to send my daughter notes on ripped pieces of paper saying, “your skin looks like poo” and “you're ugly”. My youngest daughter has been comments that her hair looks bald and this then escalated to the Deputy Head humiliating my 5 years old in an assembly with the whole school present. This was witnessed by staff and pupils including her sister, my 7-year-old who was sitting in the audience. 

As a result, my children have not been at school for the past month due to the lack of confidence I have in the school to safeguard my children from emotion racial harm. My children do not feel comfortable going to school due to the embarrassment they experienced, and the teacher not appropriately handling these situations, I have had to take days off work and it has put a strain on my finances.

What action have I taken and what has been the response?

I have since submitted a formal complaint to the chair of Governors requesting a review into institutional racism within the school and the senior leadership team and the code of conduct of the Deputy Head teacher. I have also sent a copy of my complaint to my local MP James Brokenshire, the local counsellor, Department for Education, and the local authority Education Welfare Department, Local Authority Designated Officer who stated in an email and I quote;

“While the issue of race and how children and adults manage difference is an ongoing process for all schools, there is nothing about your concerns that suggest that any adult at this school has done anything to harm your children. I do not think that the incidents that you report rise to the level of safeguarding. As a consequence, I do not intend to take any further action and will close this matter to the LADO. Under the circumstances, I can see no reason why you should keep your children off school. I think that you need to talk to the school about your children returning back to learning as quickly as possible”.

These types of responses are only further evidence that something needs to be done to ensure that racist incidents within our schools are dealt with appropriately and our children are safeguarded at all level from this type of harm. The local authorities, Ofsted, and the Department for Education need to understand their shared responsibility to ensure children, regardless of their race, have a welcoming and safe learning environment through policies, training and education. 

This isn't only about my children's experience;

My story isn’t isolated, there are children and parents who are experiencing this everyday up and down the country, from physical to emotional racial abuse, to overt and co-vert abuse whether directly or through the structures of the school institutions. We have our children being excluded from school, mental health issues amongst children and young people on the rise, as well as the rates of children and young people dying by suicide due to bullying increasing.

Racism of any sort that results in any children feeling unsafe at school should be considered a safeguarding issue, which it is not currently. 

The system hasn’t been built for ordinary working-class people to navigate through,. Even when you do have some experience and knowledge of how to do it, lack of finances is another barrier that discourages us to back down as parents and continue the fight to Safeguard our Children from Institutional Racism in British Schools.

As a mother, my duty is to protect my children; to give them the best foundation for them to succeed, to grow up to be strong minded articulate black women, knowing their strength not only in their beauty but minds and building them up to be tolerant, and resilient but not accepting of any discrimination.

Therefore, I would like to initiate court proceeding in a country court based on discrimination and would like to have a counsel determine the scope of my case for a Judicial Review to determine whether the impact of racist discrimination should be managed as a safeguarding issue.

How much am I raising and why? 

To be able to take this forward I need to raise £10,000 to begin the process, which will cover the pre-trial action including initiating the claim, gathering evidence, mediation and preparing the matter for hearing. All money raised will be paid directly to my legal representation for transparency.

The next steps will be to write to the school and governors to initiate court proceeding in the county court.

We will have to allow for the school to complete their complaint process, but as the issue is now a question of law which they cannot determine and requires a remedy which they cannot provide, taking this matter to County Court is inevitable.