Supporting Hate Free Schools

What is the Hate Free Norfolk Pledge?

The Pledge is a set of seven commitments that organisations or individuals can sign up to in order to demonstrate their commitment to working together for a Hate Free Norfolk. The seven commitments are:

• Stand up for the right of everyone in Norfolk to live free from hate
• Address the issues that cause hate
• Challenge attitudes and behaviours that can lead to hate
• Ensure that victims and witnesses are taken seriously and treated with respect
• Make it easy to report hate and support people to do so
• Work with others to raise awareness of the impact of hate
• State the actions that we will take to make this happen

Why should schools support the Pledge?

a.It demonstrates a commitment to creating a Hate Free School where everyone can learn and develop free from Hate.
b.Your school will become a member of the Hate Free Norfolk Network and will receive the monthly e-newsletter which tells you about work on Hate Crime in Norfolk and gives you an opportunity to network with other schools and organisations that also support the Pledge. The Network also meets three times a year and local schools could come to the meetings to learn more and share their experiences with other people working on Hate Crime.

How can schools support the Pledge?

a.Your school can sign up to the Pledge via the Hate Free Norfolk website. When you sign up you can tell the Network what you are doing to support the Pledge. The information that everyone provides is being collated and will be used to evidence need for further projects across the County.
b.Organise an event as part of the Hate Free Norfolk Pledge launch week (this takes place from 3rd to 8th March 2014). The Pledge is not having one formal launch event, instead the Hate Free Norfolk Network has funded a number of community groups to hold their own events, and Norfolk's public organisations will also be holding events.
Schools could put on their own events, for example:
i.School councils could have a discussion about what a Hate Free School would look like and what steps the School needs to take to achieve that.
ii.Print out a 'giant' version of the Pledge and get everyone to sign it, take a picture of this and use it for publicity.

What support is there for Schools?

The Hate Free Norfolk Website has a resources page for Schools, which provides you with a list of resources and support materials for your School. The campaign also has a Facebook page (which is moderated to ensure that unsafe or inappropriate content is not posted) or you can follow it on Twitter @HateFreeNorfolk.

There is an official legal definition of a Hate Incident and Hate Crime, but these are not very 'child friendly' so you can use the True Vision Hate Crime Reporting Pack which is in easy read, this will be much easier for children to understand. You can also contact Rita Adair for issues relating to challenging homophobia such as advice or training or contact Michelle de Oude - Mobile: 7824 080269.