We appreciate that improving diversity in the books in your school isn’t enough on its own to create an anti-racist curriculum and school environment – but it is a good place to start. This work should sit alongside work on reviewing your curriculum to make it more inclusive (more on this at the end of this article).
Your pupils can't be what they can't see
35.7% of pupils of school age in England are from a minority ethnic background (according to national statistics for 2022/23), yet only 4% of children’s books published in 2018 had a main character who's from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic background, and only 1% the year before.
As you'll be aware, for all children, it’s important that the stories they encounter in their