Recording and reporting racist incidents

Find out when to report racist incidents and bullying to your LA or the police, and how recorded incidents can inform your school's anti-racism action plan. Adapt your behaviour policy to include your approach to racism and see example policies from other schools.

Last reviewed on 2 October 2023
School types: All · School phases: All
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Contents
  1. What's a racist incident?
  2. When should you report a racist incident?
  3. How should you record racist incidents?
  4. Use recorded incidents to inform your approach to anti-racism
  5. Use your behaviour policy to tackle racist bullying and racist incidents

What's a racist incident?

A racist incident is "any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person", according to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report (page 362, section 45.17).

When should you report a racist incident?

There's no national requirement for schools to report racist incidents to any external bodies, whether they involve pupils or not – unless your local authority (LA) requires it, or the racist incident is a crime.

The DfE told us this and also provided the information in the rest of this section.

Your LA might require you to report incidents

Contact your LA to see what it expects from you. In some cases, you might want to work with your LA designated officer to tackle the problem.

See Citizens Advice for guidance on when a racist

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