School racial abuse victim ‘treated more harshly’ than abuser

Martin Shipton

An investigation is underway at a high school into an incident where a victim of racist abuse was apparently treated more harshly than the fellow pupil who abused him.

The uncle of a Year 8 boy at Rhyl High School contacted Nation.Cymru and stated: “I’m writing to raise a serious concern about how Rhyl High School in Denbighshire is handling incidents of racism.

‘Defending himself’

“My nephew was excluded after defending himself — he punched another student who had repeatedly called him a ‘Paki’. While my nephew was excluded, the racist student was not, even though the school confirmed that racial abuse had occurred.

“Following this, another family member (student) was sanctioned simply for questioning why the racist child had not been excluded. A third family member was later excluded for a minor non-violent incident (kicking a door). This inconsistency shows how the school treats racism far more leniently than general behaviour issues.

“After reviewing the school’s own policy, we discovered that racism is explicitly listed as behaviour that warrants an external exclusion. Yet the school’s representative, Mr Morris, confirmed verbally over the phone that ‘an external exclusion is not warranted for racism’.

“This was also mirrored by the fact that the racially abusive pupil was still in school the following day, but the racially abused pupil was excluded and not allowed on school premises the next day.

“This contradiction between policy and practice sends a damaging message — that racism is tolerated and that victims who defend themselves face harsher consequences than the perpetrators.

“We are calling for:

Public accountability from Rhyl High School and Denbighshire County Council;

An immediate review of the school’s anti-racism and disciplinary procedures;

Stronger national guidance to ensure racism is treated as a serious safeguarding and equality issue in all Welsh schools.”

Exclusions

The school’s Behaviour, Engagement and Relationship Policy appears on its website and states: “External exclusions are used in response to verbal or physical abuse of staff or pupils, racist comments, bullying (in line with the anti-bullying policy), continued persistent and excessive defiance, Substance Misuse (in line with policy), and acts of violence and damage, deliberate activation of fire alarm. Parents will be contacted prior to the exclusion and informed as to the reason for this action and the duration of the exclusion. All exclusions must be agreed by either the headteacher or deputy headteacher.”

The uncle of the boy who was the victim of racist abuse and was excluded from the school asked that he and members of his family should not be named.

He told us: “My father came over from Pakistan and married my mother, who was from Anglesey. I went to Rhyl High School myself more than 20 years ago and there was a bit of racist name calling around at that time. But it’s now 2025 and I would have expected things to have moved forward since then.

“I don’t know whether it’s to do with all the publicity about small boats, but we regard ourselves as Welsh Asians and have built up businesses here and are helping the Welsh economy.

“There is no way racist abuse should be tolerated in the school, and the perpetrator certainly shouldn’t be treated more harshly than the victim. It should be taken very seriously. In this case, he actually said to my nephew: ‘Sorry I called you a Paki. I didn’t realise you were a Paki’. Where does such racism come from?”

Investigated

Phil Collins, the headteacher of Rhyl High School, referred us to Denbighshire County Council, where a spokesperson said: “Student welfare is of the utmost priority in Denbighshire and all allegations of discrimination and bullying are taken very seriously and are investigated appropriately by the school in accordance with statutory guidelines on a case-by-case basis.

“The school has been in contact with the legal guardians of the pupils involved whilst the internal investigation is ongoing.”