The headteacher says that there had been much division since the County Road riots in 2024
Headteacher Jo Campbell at Kirkdale St Lawrence Primary School says she is trying to build ‘community cohesion'(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Kirkdale St. Lawrence Primary School headteacher, Jo Campbell, 47, said the school are trying to “build cohesion” in the local community following riots that broke out on County Road in August 2024 in the aftermath of the Southport attacks.
In the wake of the riots that had unfolded just weeks beforehand, Jo said that she was faced with a unique challenge when her students arrived back at school for the start of the academic year in September 2024. She told the ECHO: “I was really relieved that it happened over the summer break because the community was really heightened at the time and it felt very divided.
“So, when we came back in September [2024], we thought get the children on side first and then get the parents on side [afterwards], so we worked with a CIC called the Peace Collective and their workers came into school and we targeted years five and six [rather than younger years], so they could understand the messages and the complexity and nuances of it a little bit more.”
Kirkdale St Lawrence Primary School hosts a number of events to celebrate its diverse community(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
She added: “We’ve had a project that we trialled with last year’s five and six and is now being rolled out with our [current] five and six’s. It’s all around acceptance and fake news and it just targets all of the trigger points that basically caused what happened on County Road. From that, once the children have completed the course, their parents then come in at the end and watch the children present what they have learnt.”
Since then, the school has run a number of events with pupils and parents in a bid to try and diffuse tensions. In the 14 months that have followed since the riots, Jo has said that it has been one of her priorities to bring about more “community cohesion”.
She said: “One of the things that we’re working on as a school at the moment is community cohesion following a lot of issues that we’ve had with parents using phrases like ‘stop the boats’ and having [union jack] flags up and they’re not there for positive reasons. So, we do have division in our community and it’s [about] trying to get those families together and make them all realise that we’re just one big happy family.”
The school recently hosted a ‘Winter Warmer’ event (Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
One of the many events that Jo has hosted in recent years is the annual ‘Winter Warmer’ were families from the school are invited to participate in a number of activities aimed at trying to beat loneliness, support food and fuel poverty and help build bridges in the community.
In previous years, Jo said that there had been little participation from parents, but she noticed a marked difference this time around. She said: “Previously the teachers and the adults would run the activities with the kids, and the parents kind of just sat on their phones, but we made it a no phone zone this year.”
She added: “So, it was about trying to work together and doing a big hunt around the school, families who would not ordinarily talk to each other where actually helping each other out in saying ‘oh that one’s over there or if you look under that table’. So it was a case of having families that would not ordinarily sit shoulder to shoulder having the opportunity to do that and share a meal, which is great, that was one of the intended outcomes.”
Additionally, since she took over as headteacher four years ago, Jo said that she has started another yearly event aimed at trying to bring families at the school closer together.
The school has just teamed up with secondary school, Archbishop Blanche(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
She said: “We hold another event, the World Food Fair, and we hold it around Eid. We do it as it lets us celebrate our cultures, bring whatever party food you would have from your home country, so if you’re from England, lets see cucumber sandwiches and sausage rolls and if you’re from anywhere else, then lets learn about how you celebrate. The participation in that, has increased year on year. In the first year there were a few people who were reluctant to try things from other countries, whereas last year it was great, everybody was really welcoming, I couldn’t believe how lovely some of the food was from some of the different cultures.”
While she has worked with local organisations and hosted several events in the school in recent years with the aim of “building cohesion” in the community, Jo said that it is all part of her job as headteacher. She said: “I think we’d be negligent in our role as a community member if we didn’t [try and help], because ultimately, what’s my job as a headteacher? It’s to make the citizens of tomorrow and if I was sending children into high school without these positive messages, and allowing prejudiced ideas without them being challenged, allowing children to stay in their own ethnic bubble, and not encouraging children to reach out and see that actually diversity is our unity.”
As she looks towards the future, Jo is eager to ensure that the messages that are being passed onto her students at primary school level are continued as they progress through the education system. She said: “One of the things that we want to do is reach out to some of the secondary schools, it’s okay that we’re doing it at primary level, but we send these children off when they’re 11. So, we’ve just made our own academy trust, the Belong CE Multi Academy Trust, we’ve got Archbishop Blanche in the trust and we’re going to do some cross-phase work with them.”