Staff speak out about ‘unfair’ treatment at the V&A

As previously reported, a petition has been created by a member of the National Education Union calling for the Victoria & Albert Museum (the V&A) to “give a full written apology to all staff, students and families affected” by an incident that happened during a City Academy school trip to the museum in June.

There are almost one thousand pupils at the school in Redfield, making it one of the largest secondary schools in the South West.

Many students come from marginalised backgrounds.

Over 70 per cent are people of colour, around 21 per cent have special educational needs, some came to this country recently as refugees and 40 per cent speak English as a second language.

One teacher thinks this is why a group of GCSE students were “racially profiled” on a recent school trip to the the V&A. “We were treated like the museum staff had never seen a group of mainly Black or brown kids before” they said. Details of what happened on that trip have become somewhat unclear, with different posts on social media making varied claims.

Teachers who were on the trip, speaking on condition of anonymity, have spoken to Bristol24/7 to correct the record.

The V&A, in South Kensington, is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design – photo: Karen Johnson

On June 11, 47 students from City Academy travelled from Bristol to London, accompanied by five members of staff.

Parents and guardians of the students paid £5 to contribute to transport costs.

The students were Year 10 art and photography students, travelling to London as part of their GCSE studies.

The plan was to spend the morning at the V&A, have lunch in Hyde Park and then finish with a trip to the nearby Serpentine Galleries.

The group arrived without issue at the V&A.

A teacher said: “Behaviour is very tricky at my school and when they (students) behave well, we make such a big deal about it. They were so well behaved for such a large group, we were proud of them.”

Soon after arriving, the group were ushered into the V&A’s Learning Centre, a room where many school trips to the V&A start.

After spending some time getting ready in the Centre, during which some students went to the toilet, the group started making their way through the museum, starting off with the Silver Galleries on the second floor.

As they entered the galleries, some members of the group felt they were being followed.

After a brief conversation with V&A staff, the group left the Silver Galleries and were directed back to the Learning Centre.

The V&A disputes that the group were followed and a spokesperson from the museum says members of the V&A’s security team spoke with City Academy staff who were still in the Learning Centre, who then called their colleagues back.

A teacher says a group of V&A staff were waiting for the group in the Learning Centre. They said: “The kids were confused; we had five kids that have never been to a museum before so we were trying to keep them calm.”

Teachers say the following reason was given for why the group were called back to the Centre: “A male student and two of his friends were in the toilet making TikTok videos. A member of (V&A) staff overheard him say the word ‘knife’ and said he heard him talking about a balaclava.”

A teacher claims that then V&A staff explained they would need to search the three students’ bags due to concerns about a recent spate of knife crime in the area.

In response, a teacher said they were confused why staff wanted to search these boys merely because of words. “That can’t be your policy,” they said at the time, “What is your policy?”

Controversy has emerged following a recent City Academy school trip to the V&A – photo: V&A

After hearing the allegations about what was said in the toilet, teachers spoke with the children in question. Sources say these students agreed that they had indeed made a TikTok but clarified that they did not actually have a knife.

In their conversation with Bristol24/7, one teacher made clear: “These are not boys that carry knives. We’ve had kids in my school that carry knives but those are not those boys.”

After some back and forth between City Academy staff and V&A staff about a potential bag search, sources say a more senior member of V&A staff came to join the discussion – a Black woman.

Recounting events, a teacher said: “The first thing she did was to try to calm the situation down. She said, ‘I just want you to know, this is nothing to do with race’.

“No-one had used the word race before she sat down.

“I looked at her and said, I know why they sent you.”

The three boys who V&A staff raised concerns about were of Central Asian and South Asian heritage.

Teachers claim V&A staff asked to search three students’ bags during a City Academy school trip – photo: Francesca Grima

“Our students probably were a bit noisy,” a teacher said. “I will say that. But there were 47 of them. They were excited. Some of them had cameras, some of them had sketch pads. There were lots of other students there that looked the part for South Kensington. We did not…some of my students said to me, ‘they don’t want us in here do they?'”

After more back and forth about a potential bag search, City Academy staff ultimately decided to end the trip to the V&A early. “They said if they didn’t do a bag search on those three boys, we had to leave,” the teacher said.

A parent of one of the boys on the trip, also speaking on condition of anonymity, recalls receiving a text from their son: “They’re telling us to leave and we’ve only just got here.”

A teacher added: “It’s just totally unfair, and they’re not going to admit that they racially profiled us. They’re never going to admit that, but they need to know how they made us feel.

“It’s important that they learn from that. And then I would love to see this policy that they have on searches and weapons and whatever. I think it’s only fair that they show us what this policy is, because no one can show it, even now.”

After staff reported what happened during the trip to City Academy’s headteacher, Ben Tucker, a conversation was initiated with the V&A.

Following the school trip in June, a conversation was initiated with the V&A – photo: Dembee Tsogoo

Staff are aware of two conversations that have taken place between the headteacher of City Academy and representatives at the V&A. A third conversation is scheduled for later this week.

The impact of disrupted school trip is still being felt by some of the students who were on it – photo: Cabot Learning Federation

Before the school breaks for summer holidays next week, teachers who went on the June 11 trip plan on gathering the 47 students who went on the trip and asking them to “write down the words that come to mind when they think about the trip and what happened”.

The teachers hope this “student voice” may encourage the V&A to give a fulsome apology.

The impact of disrupted school trip is still being felt by some of the students who were on it.

One parent said that, as soon as they picked their kids up from the trip, their children “immediately started offloading. They said they were followed around, that staff kept following them…they said they felt really uncomfortable in that space…they see it as racism.”

They continued: “People will hear about this incident and make their assumptions about how children must have been behaving for this to happen.

“Far too many times we put our faith in institutions and feel they are the ones who will get it right.

“Hear it from the perspective of children, young people learning and navigating their way in a world that already has so much stacked against them.

“It’s the same institutions that fail our children, that need to be held to account.”

Many parents and teachers agree with the Change.org petition, that over 500 people have signed, in that they feel the V&A owes the students affected an apology.

But, more than that, a teacher who spoke with Bristol24/7 added: “I also think the V&A owe the students another trip. It’s for their GCSEs.

“We were going there for a reason.

“Obviously, some of the students and their friends were like, ‘oh, we should never go back there again’. They were talking quite negatively.

“And I was saying, ‘No, we’re gonna do the opposite. You’re gonna get back your trip. Because you deserve to be there. You have every right to be there like anybody else’.”

City Academy and the V&A are now in conversation about the incident – photo: Seun Matiluko

A spokesperson for the V&A said: “We are in close and constructive dialogue with Bristol City Academy about a potential security incident that occurred during their school visit, following a report about a suspected prohibited item.

“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.

“We have a comprehensive Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy in place covering all functions of the organisation, including regular mandatory training for all our staff.”

Information about the V&A’s equality, diversion and inclusion policy and their anti-racism policy may be found on their website.

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.”

Main photo: Amy Leigh-Barnard

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