The V&A said it was taking what happened ‘seriously’ as a petition calls for a boycott of the museum
Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)
Parents and staff at a Bristol school have called for a boycott of a prestigious London museum after allegations that museum staff racially profiled a group of students on a school trip and demanded they be searched. The staff from City Academy in Easton are understood to have cut short the visit and since then the headteacher has met with management at the Victoria and Albert Museum to discuss what happened.
One member of staff, who is the Bristol rep of the main teaching union the NEU, has set up a petition demanding an apology from the V&A and called for a boycott of the museum.
The V&A said it was taking ‘feedback of this nature seriously’ and a review is underway of what happened so the museum staff can take ‘opportunities for any improvements’.
Parents of the young people on the Year 10 school to London have spoken of their concerns, saying their children returned ‘angry’ after the experience. There is no suggestion the students were anything other than well-behaved during their visit to the V&A, but a number of pupils alerted their teachers when they realised they were being followed around the museum.
The trip involved all Year 10 students studying creative subjects like art and photography, and took in other venues after the V&A including Hyde Park and the Serpentine Gallery.
The V&A was first on the itinerary and a number of school trips were visiting at the same time. One teacher said: “It became apparent that they were being followed around by V&A staff. Other school groups present were not being followed.
“Then staff were told that the entire group were to go downstairs to a basement room. Once there a member of staff told them that they were going to search everyone. Two members of staff were given different reasons,” they added.
Victoria & Albert Museum, London(Image: MyLondon / Darren Pepe)
Bristol Live understands one teacher was told that two children had been ‘overheard in a toilet’, while another teacher was told a child was overhead ‘saying the word ‘shank’’ as they walked around.
Teachers decided to abandon the trip rather than have the children searched, and the school party left the V&A and moved on to the next destination on their itinerary.
One parent said the teachers on the trip did ‘all the right things’, in the way they dealt with what happened. “When I picked him up at the end of the day, both him and his friend were really angry,” they said. “They described the experience as: “People seemed scared of us. I held the door open for one lady and she didn’t want to walk through. All the posh kids were able to walk around and no one was following them. It was like being in the shops – the security just watched you the whole time,” the parent recounted.
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The school trip happened back in mid-June, and since then, City Academy has formally complained to the V&A about what happened, and staff have met with the museum bosses.
A spokesperson for City Academy said: “A Year 10 group from City Academy attended the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on June 11 as part of their art studies. The V&A was the first of several scheduled stops, before the group also visited Hyde Park and the Serpentine Gallery.
“Since the visit, leaders from City Academy have been in ongoing dialogue with V&A representatives to resolve school concerns about the way our group was treated during the trip.
“City Academy is proud of the diverse range of trips and enrichment opportunities on offer to students within our GCSE curriculum,” he added.
The City Academy Bristol, in Redfield, maintained a ‘Good’ standard in an Ofsted report in February 2025(Image: Google Maps)
A spokesperson from the Victoria and Albert Museum said they were taking the ‘feedback’ seriously. “We are in close and constructive dialogue with Bristol City Academy about a potential security incident that occurred during their school visit,” she said.
“We work hard to ensure the V&A is a welcoming and inclusive place for everyone so do take feedback of this nature seriously. We are now reviewing what happened and the opportunity for any improvements to our procedures as a result,” she added.
Since that meeting, Michaela Wilde, the NEU executive member for Bristol who is a member of staff at City Academy, started a petition which has been signed by hundreds of people already.
It said those signing it were ‘deeply troubled’ by what had happened, describing it as the students being ‘racially profiled and subject to adultification’ by V&A staff.
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“We also believe prejudice and bias led to students being subject to classism. We are disappointed to hear that V&A have now offered three different explanations of events and excuses as to why this happened,” the petition added.
“While they continue to shift blame and compound the negative stereotyping of children, we can have no confidence that other children would not experience similar traumatising experiences at the V&A,” the petition said.
“We demand the V&A give a full written apology to all staff, students and families affected, undergo changes to policy including a commitment to adopting an anti-racist framework and a commitment to staff training as part of that.
“We commit to boycott the V&A and apply pressure for NEU to not partner with V&A in the Arts & Minds Campaign until the above demands are met,” the petition added.
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