West Midlands Police Visit Life Skills Students

The session topic was Hate Crime, so our students were able to learn more about what this means and how it impacts on the victims, perpetrators and our wider communities.

This also links in with wider skills, knowledge and behaviours being developed through the Life Skills curriculum, such as Safeguarding, British Values, the Prevent Strategy and Equality and Diversity.

James and Sam explained that hate crimes are against one or more of these 5 protected characteristics: race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. There are also different types of hate crime, such as physical assault, verbal abuse and incitement to hatred.

They also gave examples to students about protests and counter-protests happening recently in Wolverhampton and how it is the Police's job to ensure that everyone is kept safe.

Students were told that if there are any hate crimes committed and then reported to the Police, they will do something about it, no matter how long the investigation may take.

James and Sam then asked students for their ideas on how we can try and stop hate crimes from happening, here's what was discussed:

• Helping people out in local communities
• Being friendly to people
• Celebrations and festivals, like Diwali, Bonfire Night and Christmas - where people from all communities are included
• Events such as coffee mornings, Open Days at Mosques and other places of worship
• Learning from each other to better understand different backgrounds

Finally, students learnt about the 'Active Bystander' approach - where people are aware of hate crimes happening and how to safely challenge and report them:

• Call the Police on 101, or 999 if it is an emergency and someone is in danger
• Online via the True Vision website: www.report-it.org.uk
• Call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
• At a 3rd Party Reporting Centre - e.g. St Peter's Church in Wolverhampton

After the session, the students were given goodie bags which included stationery and information on when and how to report things and keeping safe.

The Life Skills students and staff would like to thank James and Sam for delivering an engaging, interesting and thought-provoking session, with an extremely important message of how to keep ourselves and each other safe, whilst helping to try and stop hate crimes against people. Thank you to Jen too, for organising the session.