Current and former students of Nonsuch High School for Girls have co-signed a letter for urgent and comprehensive action against multiple allegations of racism among its staff.

It follows a demonstration, which saw hundreds of students from all backgrounds protest against white privilege, after a student expressed a racist opinion in a message to one of their peers over the summer - in a statement at the time, the school said the offending pupil had been "disciplined".

Following the protest, the headteacher emphasised the school "does not tolerate racism" and was working internally with students, staff, and external authorities including the police and council to ensure the concerns of students were addressed.

But on the evening of October 17, Nonsuch Alumni united to form an open letter to the school after seeing the news surrounding Nonsuch protests.

"For far too long people of colour have had their voices and experiences dismissed, invalidated and negated," 885 students reported in the joint letter.

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MORE: Students protest at Nonsuch High School after racist Snapchat incident

Following the protest, several pupils came forward with further allegations, saying they were not only angry about the Snapchat incident and its handling.

A black year 11 student currently studying at the school, who asked not to be named, says she often feels "misrepresented and misunderstood".

Speaking about the protest she said: "During my time at Nonsuch, I have been told that I don’t act like a black person.

"I have also been confused as many of the other black students by teachers.

It made me feel as if my identity was not my own. As if all black people came under one unit and that who we were did not matter.

"I have been told that my hair is only plaited because it needs to be 'tamed'.

" I have also been told that I am 'angry' when I try to express my feelings."

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Students said their protests after the incident reflected a deeper resentment and anger at the way some staff members at the school approach questions of race and racism.

Pupils singled out the school’s response to the Black Lives Matter protests for particular criticism, claiming that posters had been torn down by teachers, with one staff member reportedly saying “all lives matter” to pupils.

Allegations include one teacher refusing to refer to pupils of south Asian background by their name, instead referring to them by their seat coordinates.

Sutton Guardian also received multiple reports that a teacher allegedly said “George Floyd deserved to die, because he was a petty thief.”

Various incidents reported to the Sutton Guardian included accusations of culturally insensitive or even racist comments made about BAME students.

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These include reports of black students being told they are "intimidating" after asking the school to address the racist comments made on Snapchat over the Summer.

It was reported that the school "blamed" the alleged racist comments on "lockdown stress" in a assembly.

"Our aim isn't to attack individual members of staff, we are fighting a much wider and complex issue. We need justice and transparency from Nonsuch," said students.

The Sutton Guardian contacted Nonsuch High School for Girls with the individual allegations made by students against staff members at the school.

In response, a spokesperson for the school sent the following statement from Headteacher Ms Cavilla:

“The school continues to update its stakeholders – students, parents, staff and governors with regards to the anti-racism strategy and its working objectives. The strategy and all other relevant statutory policies such as the school’s Equality Duty, Behaviour for Learning, E-Safety and Disciplinary are available on the school’s website – and these include the procedures we use when dealing with investigations of bullying or harassment of racist, homophobic or other forms.

“We are leaning in and reaching out to our school community so that we can work together with empathy and understanding to create a safe space for continual learning and improvement so that we can build a stronger community together.

“The school wants a positive way forward and we are clear about what we want to achieve: a positive collaboration between the school, students and parents to eliminate subtle and overt forms of discrimination.”