Individual and Annual Return, Racist Incident Reporting and Recording System (IRIS)
Racial incident reporting was one of the key recommendations of the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry report. Telford & Wrekin local authority recommends schools record their own incidents via the secure Individual and Annual Return, Racist Incident Reporting and Recording System (IRIS) website. This also ensures they are meeting the requirements of 'Keeping Children Safe in Education' 2024.
If schools require additional support or guidance, especially for those schools who do not have access to the IRIS system, to support their recording of racist incidents, MDT can support you by providing blank templates for recording racist incidents or provide advice free for a maximum of 10 minutes
The reporting of racist incidents helps schools:
- to demonstrate that they are showing ‘due regard’ for the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality and foster good relations (requirements under the Equality Act 2010)
- to demonstrate that they are serious about ensuring that all pupils feel safe (an important aspect in the Ofsted framework)
- to regularly analyse the recorded information to identify trends or patterns regarding the nature of incidents, who is involved and where incidents are happening.
- to identify potential cases of racist bullying by tracking incidents between particular pupils.
- to take action to address any issues which may be specific to the school as a whole, or to a particular year group.
- to contribute to reassuring families that incidents are seen to be fully investigated and actions have been taken.
- to allow the Local Authority to offer support to schools where there are higher than average levels of incidents
Whilst schools may wish to record name/UPN of pupils involved for their own records, this information is not collected by the local authority.
