Eighty pupils accuse senior staff of not doing enough to tackle alleged racism in their Bury school

Eighty pupils have signed a letter accusing senior staff of failing to stamp out alleged racism in their Bury school. The letter, signed by Year 11 students at Elton High, was sent to headteacher, Jonathan Wilton, and school governors.

In the letter, pupils claim there has been an "alarming" number of incidents and urge the school to come up with a plan to combat racism. The letter was sent on March 2nd and today (March 13th) the headteacher and his deputy met some of those who signed it after school to discuss the issues raised.

Thirty three pupils attended the meeting today and the headteacher has agreed to come up with an action plan to deal with concerns. He insists racism "is not tolerated" at the school.

One Year 11 pupil, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Regularly people at school experience racism from getting called ‘monkeys’ ‘n****’ ‘p***’ ‘ch***’ etc. I can say from nearly all cases the school try to make excuses like ‘they don’t know the meaning of the word’ or if the person denies it even if there are witnesses it’s always ‘it’s your word against theres’ it makes the students effected feel upset and unsupported as they feel they aren’t believed."

They added: "Racism at this school has been an issue for quite a significant time. The school policy states “we believe that each student requires a safe,secure and orderly environment so that each individual can access his/her full potential” However an alarming amount of students feel that the school isn’t supporting them enough so they can reach that potential."

In March last year, when it ahd 1021 pupils, the school was rated "good" by Ofsted inspectors. Their report said: "Pupils are proud to attend The Elton High School. They told inspectors that it is