ACS Egham students drive support for the anti-racism movement

Students of all ages from ACS International School Egham (@ACSEgham) have been ‘showing racism the red card’ through a series of anti-racism awareness and fundraising activities, including taking part in the annual Wear Red Day.

Organised by anti-racism education charity, Show Racism the Red Card, Wear Red Day aims to raise awareness of the anti-racism movement, as well as funds for anti-racism education. Students from each division of ACS Egham have taken part in a series of football tournaments, where they paid to go head-to-head with their fellow students, to fundraise almost £500 for the charity. As a show of visual support, staff and students also wore red on these days and held up red cards.

Driven by the school’s student councils, Wear Red Day forms part of the school’s wider Black History Month activity which involved a number of educational sessions on the importance of challenging racism, and what more can be done.

Veera, President of ACS Egham’s High School student council, comments:

“Our student council’s focus this year is on not only strengthening and aiding the student body, but also mobilising the school community towards themes within Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This is reflected in our events and activities that we have carried out in the academic year so far.”

In addition to Wear Red Day, the High School student council has launched an art competition, which invites students to create pieces of work through any medium to highlight and explore racism from either the modern day or historical moments in time. Winners of the art competition will receive prizes purchased from local black-owned businesses. 

Following a successful response in 2020, the student council is also running a raffle with further items purchased from local black-owned businesses on offer as prizes. All funds raised through the raffle will be donated towards the Blueprint for All organisation (formerly known as the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust), an institution which provides career and skill-building programmes to disadvantaged communities in the UK.

Offering all four of the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) programmes of education, ACS Egham is home to 600 students, aged 4 to 18, and 160 expert faculty and staff, who represent nationalities from all around the world.