Stephen Lawrence Day Staff Briefing AIM The Annual National Stephen Lawrence Day is intended to: Provide every school-age child with age and contextually appropriate opportunities to learn about Stephen Lawrence, his life and legacy. Celebrate and teach children the importance of respect for diversity, equality and inclusion. Reinforce the skills that children need in order to challenge discrimination and racism. Reflect on how we can Live Our Best Life.

Stephen Lawrence Day Information for Schools Booklet The 22 April 2018 marked the 25th Anniversary of the senseless murder of Stephen Lawrence, a young man who had a bright future ahead of him. At the memorial service to celebrate his life, the Prime Minister, Teresa May, announced the Annual National Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of Stephen which is to be held on or around 22 April 2019. As a school community, we have been invited and encouraged, to use the memory of Stephen’s life and legacy as an opportunity for influencing the lives of the children and young people in our school.   The theme of the day is “Live Our Best Life”. This is intended to focus on building pupils’ confidence and skills relating to emotional intelligence, resilience, respect and care so that children and young people value difference, embrace diversity, behave responsibly and make positive choices to contribute as active, healthy, engaged citizens in multicultural Britain.  Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, has written a letter to every school and teacher and I’m going to pause for a few minutes so that we can read this short letter. Stephen Lawrence Day Information for Schools Booklet

Staff Letter The 22 April 2018 marked the 25th Anniversary of the senseless murder of my son, Stephen Lawrence, a young man who had a bright future ahead of him. At the memorial service to celebrate his life, the Prime Minister Theresa May announced the Annual National Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of Stephen which is to be held on 22 April. I warmly invite you and your school community to use the memory of Stephen’s life and legacy as an opportunity for influencing the lives of the children and young people in your care. Stephen’s story is both challenging and inspirational. I wish for Stephen’s name not to be identified just by his murder but by the mark he has left on this country and the wider world and for the role model he was and continues to be. The lessons of fairness and respect must start early if we are to have a truly fair and civilised society, free from discrimination where we all play our part as active citizens. It is my belief that these values are strongest when anchored and embedded into a school’s culture and explicitly taught through the curriculum. Whether you are in an Early Years, primary, secondary, special, sixth form or other school setting or in an urban or rural location, my vision is that Stephen’s Annual National Day. Day will serve as a focus for your school community to engage in activities that empower young people to live their best life. Through these activities, my hope is that all pupils will value cultural diversity and develop the skills and confidence to challenge racism and discrimination and to embrace inclusion. Stephen’s death and the subsequent investigation by the police revealed aspects of our country about which we cannot be proud. Against a backdrop of loss and grief I have worked to highlight injustice which resulted in significant changes to the law in Stephen’s name and memory. Stephen’s Day is supported by all political parties: it is intended to challenge the very way we think about and understand race and diversity. Stephen’s life story, short though it was, provides a positive role model of a life well lived. He was a normal young person who made the most of everyday opportunities. He particularly loved drawing, running and had dreams and aspirations of becoming an architect. Because of Stephen’s interests, we are privileged to be partners with Virgin Money London Marathon and The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). These positive aspects of Stephen’s story can inspire children and young people of all ages to live their best life and are an equally important part of Stephen’s legacy. Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon OBE Some of you will be familiar, and others not so familiar, with the specifics and the importance of Stephen Lawrence’s life and legacy. One of the key impacts of Stephen’s legacy was a change in the law relating to double jeopardy. In addition, one of the 70 recommendations from the Macpherson Report resulted in a requirement that all schools provide Citizenship education. More details relating to the timeline around Stephen’s death and the fight for justice are available on the Stephen Lawrence Day website and I would encourage you to familiarise yourself with the timeline.  A key concern of Baroness Lawrence was to minimise any additional workload for teachers and to this end, the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust has developed a suite of resources that can be used immediately at all school levels from Early Years to Upper Secondary.

Stephen Lawrence Day: Live Our Best Life As a school, at the very least, I would like to suggest that every child is involved in the Assembly, which has been carefully written as part of the resources and has an accompanying PowerPoint presentation. There are further opportunities for extending the themes introduced in the Assemblies by using a range of curriculum entry points. http://www.stephenlawrenceday.org

Please see above for curriculum links.

Stephen Lawrence Day Poster Every school has received a Poster ,which has the strapline “Live Our Best Life”, and, as a headteacher [or head of year or Deputy], I would encourage you to think about how you might knit this theme into other work you will already have planned. Perhaps you will use the theme to inspire children [in your class/tutor group] to reflect on the core message of “Live Our Best Life”.  Let’s take a few minutes to discuss how we might use the Assembly and supporting resources within our classroom setting. I would also like to invite you to ask any questions you might have. Stephen Lawrence Day Poster