A leading London museum has launched an investigation after claims were made that staff racially profiled a group of students during a school trip.
Teachers at City Academy in Bristol have called for a boycott of the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington following an alleged incident involving Year 10 pupils last month.
Parents have spoken of their outrage, saying their children aged 14 and 15 returned “angry” after the experience on June 11.
It is understood that the secondary school’s headteacher has met with V&A management after filing a formal complaint.
Michaela Wilde — a member of staff and Bristol representative of the National Education Union — has set up a petition demanding an apology from the V&A.
The trip involved those studying creative subjects, such as art and photography, and took in other London venues after the V&A, including the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens.
The V&A — which welcomes more than 3 million visitors each year — was first on City Academy’s itinerary and a number of other school were present at the same time.
One teacher said: “It became apparent that they were being followed around by V&A staff. Other school groups present were not being followed.
“Then staff were told that the entire group were to go downstairs to a basement room. Once there a member of staff told them that they were going to search everyone. Two members of staff were given different reasons.”
According to Bristol Live, one teacher was told that two pupils had been “overheard in a toilet”, while another was told a child was being listened to saying the word “shank” - a slang term for a knife - as they walked around.
Following this, the school decided to abandon the V&A leg rather than have the children searched and moved on to the next destination.
A boy’s parent said the teachers looking after the pupils did “all the right things”, in the way they dealt with what happened.
We believe prejudice and bias led to students being subject to classism
“When I picked him up at the end of the day, both him and his friend were really angry,” they said.
“They described the experience as: ‘People seemed scared of us. I held the door open for one lady and she didn’t want to walk through. All the posh kids were able to walk around and no one was following them. It was like being in the shops —the security just watched you the whole time.”
City Academy is a diverse school with the majority of its 1,000 students coming from minority backgrounds, with 47 per cent recording English as an Additional Language.
Ms Wilde’s petition, which has received nearly 350 signatures, claimed students were “racially profiled and subject to adultification” by V&A staff.
It added: “We also believe prejudice and bias led to students being subject to classism. We are disappointed to hear that V&A have now offered three different explanations of events and excuses as to why this happened.
“While they continue to shift blame and compound the negative stereotyping of children, we can have no confidence that other children would not experience similar traumatising experiences at the V&A,”
“We demand the V&A give a full written apology to all staff, students and families affected, undergo changes to policy including a commitment to adopting an anti-racist framework and a commitment to staff training as part of that.
“We commit to boycott the V&A and apply pressure for NEU to not partner with V&A in the Arts & Minds Campaign until the above demands are met.”
A spokesman 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.”
The V&A told The Standard: “We are in close and constructive dialogue with Bristol City Academy about a potential security incident that occurred during their school visit.
“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.”
