Worle Students Lead Bold Campaign to Stamp Out Hate Crime (By Oliver, 15)
By Oliver, 15, Good News Room at WCSA
Students from across Worle Community School in Weston-super-Mare have joined together in an effort to tackle hate crime.
The campaign is led by the school’s student leadership team, who have taken on one of the recently established North Somerset Youth Parliament’s priorities and are turning an ambitious vision into reality.
Unfortunately, young people across North Somerset decided that one of the biggest issues facing their generation is hate crime — any criminal act motivated by prejudice on the grounds of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, transgender identity, or any protected characteristic.
However, one student was optimistic about the difference that the student council could make:
“We really want to make a positive change, and that’s exactly what we hope to achieve through this campaign, working with students, staff, and other organisations to take action!”
The students have been meeting weekly since the term started in January to discuss strategies that will provide support for victims, raise awareness about the issue, and educate perpetrators of hate crime and hate incidents.
They made it clear that hate does not have to be a criminal act to cause harm. Hate incidents can have a damaging impact on a person’s mental health, and they should be taken just as seriously within schools as they are by the police. The police record any hate incidents that are reported so that they can work effectively to intervene and prevent a hate crime from happening.
Now, with the go-ahead from the school’s senior leadership team, the trailblazing students are rolling out their campaign across the school.
They aim to make a difference in the local community, setting an example for other schools to follow.
Head student Oscar E said he “believes that this scheme will impact the community within WCSA and inspire us to try to bring it to the local and wider community.”
