The shocking case of Child Q has raised serious concerns about safeguarding practice in schools and how racism and unconscious bias can shape classroom culture.
The 15-year-old black girl was strip-searched by police at her school in London on suspicion of carrying drugs because teachers claimed to smell cannabis. A safeguarding review, published in March, concluded Child Q should never have been strip-searched – no drugs were found – and that racism was likely an “influencing factor” in the girl’s ordeal.
The safeguarding review highlights how Child Q was left so traumatised by the incident that she was referred by her GP to mental health services.
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