A SERIES of preventative workshops will be delivered in four of Basildon's secondary schools focusing on racism, extremism, and prejudice.

The sessions will be delivered by the West Ham United Foundation as part of their 'Stop the Hate' project, and have been funded by the Safer Basildon Partnership. The participating schools will be Woodlands School, Basildon Lower Academy, De La Salle, and James Hornsby.

Workshops will be delivered over three days, and are aimed at increasing awareness and understanding, and empowering students to be able to safely challenge and refute racist, extremist, and prejudicial ideas.

Chairman of Basildon Council's enforcement and public order committee. CllrAndrew Baggott. said: "The West Ham United Foundation do such great work in our borough and beyond, and it's fantastic that we've been able to fund these sessions through the Safer Basildon Partnership.

"Basildon is a very multi-cultural area, which is something I'm really proud of and something that should be celebrated. We should celebrate the differences in all of us as individuals, and these sessions are all about making sure our borough's children recognise that.

"I really hope that these brilliant educational sessions make a difference, and the increased awareness for these issues that the children will have moving forwards will give school children the knowledge and confidence to be able to recognise hate and safely challenge it when necessary."

Through the interactive workshops, pupils will be supported to think critically about the information that they receive and understand the harm caused by division and hatred. A key aspect of the programme includes providing teachers and youth leaders with a better understanding of the issues among the young people they work with and provide them with tools to continue to tackle race inequalities amongst their pupils.

West Ham United Foundation CEO Joseph Lyons said: "As an organisation we're committed in our drive for equality, diversity and inclusion. Therefore, we are pleased to be able to build on our existing Stop the Hate delivery, by expanding into Essex, with Show Racism the Red Card, Basildon Council and Safer Basildon.

"We've been really encouraged by the positive impact we've been having through this programme to date across East London, and we know that education is crucial to preventing and breaking down these issues.

"So naturally our team, which includes our Equality Ambassador and Show Racism the Red Card Vice-President Leroy Rosenior MBE, are looking forward to now taking these workshops to secondary school pupils in Basildon."