Secondary LGBT pilot project report July 2010 Introduction This report describes a project aimed at meeting the needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) students at Court Fields Secondary School in Wellington. The project was one of two pilot projects supported by the Local Authority between 2008 and 2010, in order to develop best practice which could then be disseminated to other Somerset secondary schools. Staff from other schools who would like to know more about the project, or obtain materials referred to in the report, are welcome to contact Peter Newman, Senior Adviser Equalities and Diversity (01823 355576 pnewman@somerset.gov.uk). Starting points School Court Fields Community School, Wellington Age range 11-16 Staff involved Issues and opportunities originally identified Jeannie Lillywhite Assistant Headteacher Karen Goldby Year Head and Deputy Child Protection Officer We had a number of concerns/starting points that led us to be interested in being part of the pilot project: Timescale May 2008 July 2010 Prevalent negative use of gay Experience of one boy who was openly gay who had moved to the school after bullying in another secondary school Healthy Schools work (including aim of progressing to Healthy Schools Plus status) Ideas from a previous LA central training day on meeting LGBT needs(june 07) Opportunity to take part in a pilot that might address the needs of many students who hide their sexual orientation or uncertainty about sexuality Opportunity to develop staff knowledge
Process 1. Initial training/audit meeting involving several staff, 4 young people from the school and a school governor representative (with external support from the LA Equalities and Diversity team, Healthy Schools team, Connexions LGBT worker and Somerset Gay Health) May 2008 2. Action plan 3. Implement planned activities 4. Review meeting (October 2008) 5. Questionnaire to evaluate impact of activities to date (January 2009) 6. Second review meeting (November 2009) 7. Final evaluation (July 2010) Actions and review This section describes the progress made through the various activities that took place. Actions Initial training/ audit Process/progress/impact The Healthy Schools team and Connexions LGBT worker presented a range of useful background information about LGBT young people s experiences. An audit was completed (using one adapted from Healthy Schools criteria) and key actions agreed, including: Assemblies Staff training Policy updates PSHE work Virtual learning environment information Questionnaires to evaluate impact The students who we met with were very enthusiastic and remained keen to continue work on this over at least the next 2 years. They remained as part of the initial steering group for this project for the whole period of the work and provided to be very committed. Assemblies These were done for each year group separately, during Autumn term 2008. Of all the actions, this had the biggest impact. Several features contributed to this: T Shirts made in advance were worn with the slogan 'Some people are gay get over it' (from a Stonewall poster) Great PowerPoint put together by a student Young people read from different parts of the hall Facts and figures were presented eg about numbers of
gay people and levels of bullying reported nationally There was a clear statement of unacceptable behaviour Young people listened in silence. Afterwards there was a definite reduction in usage of 'Gay' and other homophobic language. No-one has reported use of 'Gay' during summer and autumn terms 2009, though at the second review meeting in November 2009, students on the review group thought there was still some use, especially by younger students, but not being reported, so it was agreed that a reminder assembly would be useful (particularly since the current Year 7 group had not been at the original assembly). This shows the importance of building such work into an annual programme rather than doing a one-off project. Reporting systems All students and staff were asked to report incidents to one of the staff involved in the pilot project. A log of homophobic language was kept, with offenders names put in it. This was to emphasise the seriousness of the language and it probably had quite an impact. Students were warned of serious consequences if they re-offended. Parallels were drawn with the reporting of racial incidents to County Hall. This definitely helped convey the unacceptability of homophobic language. Staff training A useful presentation to staff was made in January 2009: Using Spell it out DVD from Stonewall Presenting surprising/challenging facts, eg: asked staff if they knew of 6 gay young people in last year's Year 11 no one knew all the students, some knew of a few, many teachers did not know any asked if they knew how many had attempted suicide no-one knew suggested that there were a lot of issues but that these were currently underground now time to bring them out Many staff were quite shocked, so the session was very effective. Lots of staff started to clamp down on negative use of 'Gay'. Policy updates School policy documents were updated to include explicit attention to LGBT needs, eg adding the word 'homophobic' in certain places. Generally however, these were relatively minor changes, in line with a view that all bullying needed to be taken seriously. Simply by including the word homophobic, the school clearly showed that it paid attention, and would not accept, to this kind of prejudice and bullying.
PSHE work Form room displays It was intended that the PSHE curriculum would be reviewed, but this didn't take place immediately. However, this is still seen as an important area for development and will certainly be addressed from September 2010. Posters produced by the LA were displayed. These were partly successful but feedback was given that the text was too small. The LA undertook to modify the posters and sent revised versions. It was decided to wait before displaying these, but they were used during the 2009-10 school year. Students from the steering group set up after the initial audit meeting proved very good at spotting when they are missing and keeping the lead teacher informed. Stonewall s Some people are gay poster is very clear and effective. Large LGBT display (with some other posters) Health and well being drop in 'open door' sessions Virtual learning environment information Questionnaires to evaluate impact A range of resources for a display were put together and displayed in the hall permanently. The display includes some material not specifically about LGBT issues but this is the main focus. These are staffed by the school nurse and are an opportunity to talk about problems. She was very interested in the LGBT work and wanted to know more for her own professional knowledge. The LGBT steering group was moved to the same day to allow students to move from one session to another. The VLE idea did not get off the ground there appeared to be too many complications/regulations relating to ICT work, particularly if this involved a chat room. However, developments are still planned (see Future plans section below). Questionnaires for both staff and students were distributed in January 2009, later than would have been ideal for establishing a baseline, but still useful as indication of progress so far. Analysis of the responses has brought out some interesting issues, for example there were still a significant proportion of students who felt homophobic language was not always challenged. There were several members of staff that students said they could always go to. Students wanted somewhere to meet and chill out, rather than doing focused work. Students wanted information about support groups etc. LGBT steering group These meetings have continued as a weekly lunchtime session for those interested and have been extended to other students when they need help or advice or just want to 'chill out and chat'.
Leaflet dispensers New Stonewall DVD 'Fit' 2BU (local LGBT support group for young people) leaflets were put on display and in leaflet dispensers. Sadly, this was considered by both staff and students on the steering group to be very poor so it was decided not to use it. Comments from students involved in the November 2009 steering group review meeting The steering group was a very important part of this project and the commitment and thoughtfulness of the students involved was brilliant. This section shows how they were able to contribute to the further development of the project at a review meeting. However, the weekly meetings meant that they were involved in an ongoing way. Comments and ideas 1. 'Young people know where to go to talk but don't want to' (tend to deal with things themselves because they are too worried/ scared to talk to others) For students, coming out to their parents can be very hard. The recent experience of one student confirms this. The student felt she had had a very hard time. However, she only waited a few days before talking to a senior teacher at the school. Opportunity to talk to younger people could be good. Further actions taken The Tuesday lunchtime steering group sessions evolved into this (moved from Thursday to Tuesday to match the day when the school nurse was available). Avenues for training were pursued but did not work out this would ideally be built into future general mentor training by the school. It would be useful to set up a drop-in session staffed by young people, for PSHE issues generally, in addition to the existing opportunity to talk to the school nurse (and linking in with this). We would need to organise training for any young people involved. It was suggested that if young people had experienced difficult issues themselves, this might be an advantage. 2. Current Year 7s haven t had an assembly about this work. It would be good to organise an assembly targeting Year 7 and a shorter reminder assembly for older students. Assemblies are now generally done vertically in houses, but something just for Year 7s could be organised. It was decided not to do this the opportunity for a targeted Y7 assembly during the 2009/10 year didn't come up, but in Autumn 2010 we will do an assembly for each house, as sufficient time has passed since the original assembly for it to be worth redoing it with older students. From September 2011, work will be built into PSHE, possibly in Year 8.
3. LGBT issues are not treated in depth in PSHE tend to be brushed over quickly. These sessions are taught be a large number of different staff, though one teacher does most of Year 9 sex education. 4. Revised posters from the LA need to be displayed in tutor rooms. From September 2010, the new PSHE curriculum will address this. The posters were subsequently put up in all rooms. 5. The large display needs to be finished. The display was finished. 6. The results of the first student survey were very interesting need to do again. This will be redone in the 2010-11 school year. Overall evaluation Young people s responses A selection of comments from young people at the November 2009 review meeting: Definite improvements: 'Things have improved a lot' 'Improved a lot didn't see people being openly gay before' (now they aren t so fearful) 'Bullying depends on how young people react to provocation and act generally' 'Immaturity is a problem' 'Comments in changing rooms have reduced' ' So and so was staring at me is said less' 'No one minds being in changing rooms with Year 8 boy (known to be gay) now' Boys and girls are different: 'Boys play gay more' 'Boys always mess around, using 'Gay' a lot as a insult' 'But girls can be worse more snide comments rather than teasing' 'Girls can be bitchy' Comments from one girl: Came out in Year 8 and was: Bullied Followed home Hit on head Called 'lezzo' 'Not like that now' 'In Year 9/10 started getting better' Age makes a difference: Age helps, eg in Year 9 bullying can be ferocious, but in Year 10/11 everyone forgets
Younger pupils have issues' New Year 7s need an assembly every new year needs it Staff responses Parent/carer responses Community responses Any clear evidence of impact Most effective action Least effective Overall judgment on how worthwhile the work was Staff responded positively to initial training and have continued to do so, regularly picking up on homophobic language and referring issues to the lead teacher. 2 concerns raised about leaflets that students described to parents in a way that led parents to think they promoted homosexuality. It turned out that students had given parents very small amount of information from leaflets that were not even focused solely on LGBT issues (eg self harm leaflets) and once parents saw the actual information, they were quickly satisfied. None. Big reduction in use of gay as insult Staff more prepared to challenge use of gay Young people less worried about being out in school More students openly 'out' because of this reduction in fear before that, certainly wouldn't have been the case Young people able to challenge use of homophobic language the project is still very much in the students minds and they do pick up on other students' negative use of 'gay' Student assembly Staff training Use of book for recording incidents (conveyed seriousness) Virtual learning environment idea didn t get off the ground. Involvement in this work has certainly been worthwhile and apart from the impact on students and staff has contributed to our work for Healthy Schools Plus status wouldn't have achieved this without the LGBT work. Key learning points 1. Work of this kind takes time 2. The teacher coordinator role is vital 3. Students and staff respond well to initiatives focusing on LGBT needs 4. LGBT students appreciate the changes brought about and welcome and appreciate support, eg addressing their parents' worries
5. Staff awareness can grow 6. Relationships between LGBT young people and other students improve with initiatives of this kind 7. Work of this kind can feed into broader initiatives such as Healthy Schools work Future Plans Ideas for further developments, following a final evaluation meeting in July 2010: Get hold of the recent Stonewall leaflets Supporting lesbian, gay and bisexual young people and Challenging homophobic language Redo assemblies, including showing the 2BU leaflets and possibly involving a member of 2BU to show that there a support groups for young people Build work into PSHE Revisit the VLE idea in a scaled down form even if just a page on school website with links to helpful information sites (rather than the chat room idea originally planned) Redo questionnaire in September/October 2010 Use Stonewall T Shirts in assemblies Other Suggestions It would be very useful if there were regular approaches to secondary schools from 2BU/other external groups that can support LGBT young people. They could contact secondary schools more to advertise what is happening and this would generate interest and prompt schools into supportive work Karen Goldby Year Head and school coordinator for this project Peter Newman Senior Adviser Equalities and Diversity