Teach Secondary Issue 14.2

CreatingSafe,Healthy,and Inclusive Schools ChristopherC.Morphew,VanyaC.Jones,AshleyCureton (Ed.) (JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,£33) Though written with an audience of US educators in mind, this collection of thoughtful academic essays on school safety and student wellbeing contains a series of interesting ideas, observations and case studies that maywell be of interest to SLTs, local government officials and trust leaders on this side of the pond. Its foreword is notable for being penned byMichele Gay – a former educator and mother to one of the children who lost their lives in the 2012 SandyHook school shooting, who went on to co-found the school safety campaigning organisation, Safe and Sound Schools.As she says of both her activismand the book’s broader objectives, the issue of gun-related school violence is one that inevitably has to be engagedwith – but that any discussion of what it means for a school to be ‘safe’ has to extend far further, to include considerations ofmental health, diverse school populations, andwhat constitutes an appropriate level of supervision and securitywithin educational settings. To that end, the book contains illuminating analysis and commentary on topics ranging fromsuicide prevention, trauma-informed care and restorative practices, to strategies for preventing in-person bullying and online harassment via social media platforms, in ways that could potentially translate to British contexts.With recent tragic events in Carmarthenshire and Sheffield prompting urgent discussions of school violence on these shores, the sharing of ideas and practice in this area seemsmore important than ever. What promptedyourdecision towrite EmpoweringBlackBoys ? I’ve worked in secondary schools across London for around 20 years and have seen, first-hand, the challenges that Black boys face with respect to low expectations and exclusions.At parents’ evenings, it was clear tome just howvital a role parents played in shaping their children’s success, and the concerns, questions and sometimes even anguish these parents felt with regards to their experiences of dealing with schools.The mostly Black parents toldme that they felt overwhelmed by the system, and didn’t know how to navigate it. Whatwasyour reason for addressing parents ofBlack boys , inparticular? I had to narrowdown the topic to better address the book’s audience, and because the problems girls face are different. I’ve since startedwriting a similar book, for parents of Black girls, andwhen it comes out, people will appreciate howdifferent those issues really are. Haveyou hadmuch feedback regarding the book so far? I’ve asked colleagues to giveme feedback on some of the book’s chapters, and they’ve told me that they didn’t even recognise some of the issues I’mwriting about.They simply don’t know that many parents of Black boys are feeling helpless, and not listened to by their own sons. There’s a chapter in the book onmental health andwellbeing,where I urge parents to not be ashamed to seekmental health support for their child; that doing so is a sign of strength, not weakness. What impact doyou hope the bookwill have? I hope that some hope can come from it. There is support out there, froma number of agencies, but many parents don’t know that and feel alone.When parents are empowered, they’re able to empower their children. At those parents’ evenings, I’d seemany parents to Black boys gathered in the same room, but rarely talking to each other – through which they could have supported each other, and shared their problems, challenges and commonalities.Theywere just there to hear how their childwas doing at school before going home. The book comes frommy first-hand experiences, but I didn’t want it to be political. It’s a guide that tells parents how it is, why it is, how it used to be – andwhat they can do now to help their child. EvelyneGilles is a secondaryschool MFL teacher ON THE RADAR Meet the author EVELYNE GILLES TheShortestHistoryofMusic (AndrewFord,OldStreetPublishing,£14.99) Themusic programme of study requires students to possess an understanding of the music they performand that which they listen to, as well as a grasp ofmusic history, and an appreciation of different musical styles.This book certainly delivers on those counts, alighting on different kinds of instruments, forms of notation and general structures ofmusic. It even delves into the distinctions between diatonic, chromatic and pentatonic scales, in a way that seems quite astonishing for such a short (256-page) book. There’s a good breadth too, touching on classical, jazz, folk and blues,with a few ‘one-page dives’ into certain topics. Perhaps the only disappointment is that the index, while detailed, isn’t as comprehensive as it could be,with some obvious key terms strangely omitted. Regardless, this book is highly recommended. ReviewedbyTerry Freedman EmpoweringBlackBoys inBritish SecondarySchools (EvelyneAdelineGilles, Independentlypublished, £20.99) Though aimed at parents, there’s lots here that teachers will find valuable. Part history lesson, part roadmap, Empowering Black Boys ’…opens with a concise overview of how immigration, local demographics and parental advocacy have impacted upon the English school system.Themiddle portion surveys the barriers preventing Blackmale children and teens from realising their true academic potential, before giving way to a final section in which Gilles sets out steps for navigating the issues explored in earlier chapters – from techniques for resisting peer pressure, to advice on establishing support networks.The overall tone is gently supportive, but never patronising – particularlywhen explaining the school system’s bureaucratic complexities, and their role in compounding a problem that’s gone under-examined for too long. 37 teachwire.net/secondary B O O K R E V I E WS