Dear Parents, Carers and Students

Parents, carers and students will be aware of how the current conflict between Israel and Palestine can often impact on inter-faith relations and hate crime incidents here in the UK. As a college, we would like to stress that we never tolerate any expression of Islamophobia, Antisemitism, or any other discriminatory views. Please be assured that our shared priority is always the wellbeing of our young people however please do not hesitate to reach out to your young persons course tutor or the student welfare team if you have any concerns regarding your young persons wellbeing and mental health being negatively impacted by the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestine.

Please know that guidance has been sent to all staff in line with DfE advice. As a college we must remain politically impartial and are not able to offer a direct commentary on events. However, we are aware that some members of our student community would like opportunities to engage in discourse surrounding humanitarian issues.

Many students have expressed a desire to raise money and awareness of the conflict and as part of our duty to remain politically impartial, and to support the humanitarian crisis which is unfolding, the college will fundraise and ask for donations to Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) https://msf.org.uk/. MSF is an international humanitarian organisation providing medical care in more than 70 countries and the the core of MSF’s identity is a commitment to independence, neutrality and impartiality and operate based on medical need alone.

Should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact the college and we would be happy to discuss this with you.

Yours sincerely

Geoff Osborne
Principal