Hammer Case: Teacher was aware of rise in racial tension (From Swindon Advertiser)

Hammer Case: Teacher was aware of rise in racial tension

7:00pm Thursday 12th November 2009

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A Ridgeway School teacher described the hard-hitting campaign she launched to combat racial tensions in the year before the attack on Henry Webster.

Julie White, a PE teacher and assistant head at the school, told the High Court in London she framed an action plan to “promote multi-culturalism” among pupils in March 2006, liaising with specific Asian girls “as my barometer to test the level of racial tension”.

She stressed that, although she did not believe the school had a “particular problem with racism”, she felt it necessary to press ahead with the campaign, which included the distribution of posters reading: “The Ridgeway School says no to racism”.

Ms White said: “I was aware of some increase in tension between Asian pupils and white pupils, who resented them forming a larger group, and I felt that as a school we needed to be proactive rather than reactive.”

Overall, she felt that her campaign had the desired effect, said Ms White, adding that, as part of the initiative, she set up a “safe zone” for some of the younger Asian boys to visit “if they ever felt worried or threatened”.

Although Ms White said Ridgeway was fundamentally “well mixed and safe” there had been a “change in atmosphere” in late 2005 – prompted by a larger influx of Asian pupils and the divisive legacy of the London bombings.

The Asian children were generally “model pupils” in class, but she wished to tackle the tendency of some children to cluster together in large groups, she told the court.

By September 2006, however, the atmosphere in the school had markedly improved – partly due to the departure of several white children “who we felt were involved in creating the racial tensions”.

She said: “In my opinion there was a real feeling in the school that the atmosphere had improved and previous tensions had disappeared.”

One negative incident was a verbal clash between Asian boys and white girls outside the school in May 2006, which was defused after the police were called. In relation to the January 2007 hammer attack on Henry, Ms White said she had no idea that a fight was on the cards, adding that if the school had known a fight was planned at the tennis courts a teacher would have been sent there.

She added: “I understand it has also been suggested that the tennis courts were the regular places for fights to take place. Quite simply that is not correct. Fights would occasionally take place on the tennis courts, but there was no tradition of the tennis courts being the place for a fight to happen. If anything, fights would happen more commonly on the fields.”

Ms White was giving evidence in Henry Webster's £1 million compensation claim against the Ridgeway Foundation School over the hammer attack that almost cost him his life and left him seriously brain damaged.

The school denies all blame for the attack and that it was racially motivated.

The hearing continues.

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