‘‘Gay’ is never used in the right way!’ were the words used by
Bethany, a Year Six pupil, at the start of what was to be a
learning curve for our primary school in Wiltshire’s county
town. One of my first acts as headteacher was to convene a
working party of pupils to write the school’s anti-bullying
policy. The group of ten children wrote a robust leaflet full of
advice. When I asked them to write action points to go with
their advice, I was surprised by their number one priority:
‘Stop people calling each other ‘gay’’. So, we determined that
we were going to tackle homophobic language head on: the working
party released their leaflet with copies going to pupils and
their families; it was introduced in assembly and the reasons
for it explained; and the anti-bullying log was extended to
include all incidents where homophobic language had been used.
Two years on, I found myself questioning our approach. The
leaflet had definitely reduced incidents of homophobic language
but had other unintended effects. During