Today was a special day as we welcomed back Ayanna Page for a powerful session on addressing unkind words and phrases in the corridor.

Ayanna opened the session by referencing a phrase shared by Harrison Littler from St Luke’s High School during our previous graduation ceremony:

“What you walk past, you condone.”

This message set the tone for the session and reinforced our shared responsibility of EDI to challenge language and behaviour that does not align with our values.

The session focused on deliberate practice, equipping our trainees with opening lines, strategies and confidence to address incidents even when:
• we don’t know the names of the students involved, or who said it.
• we’re unsure the heritage and history behind why what we heard was offensive
• we struggle to find the right words in the moment
• we are met with pushback from teenagers under pressure

Trainees worked collaboratively to reword and rescript responses, think carefully about body language and positioning, and anticipate the different scenarios they may encounter in busy school corridors.

As always, the trainees were excellent — thoughtful, reflective, and willing to practise challenging conversations together.

A huge thank you to Ayanna for sharing her personal experiences, both as a former student and now as a Behaviour Lead, and for modelling how we can educate students without shame or blame, while still holding clear boundaries around what is and is not acceptable.

The session covered a wide range of issues, including racist, homophobic and misogynistic language, and reinforced the importance of addressing EDI concerns consistently and confidently.

Well done to everyone for taking another important step in working together to challenge and address EDI in our schools.

Thank you to Malcolm Richards for his Help in educating us in order to be able to run this session confidently.