STAR (Support and Training against Racism)

STAR is a charitable organisation that promotes equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different ethnic origins and cultural heritage. (Click here for our Aims & Objectives)

STAR offers support and training to teachers, workers, parents and carers, helping them to create a positive environment for all children under eight at home, in childcare settings, or at school.

"Learning to respect the opinions, differences and needs of others is an important aspect of children's overall social development, and valuing racial differences is just one aspect of this."
Jane Lane: "Action for Racial Equality in the Early Years"

STAR provides four integrated services:

1. Multicultural Resource Library (Click for More Information)

STAR holds a variety of good quality multicultural toys and resources for children

under eight and for those who work with them. These includes musical instruments; dressing-up clothes and fabrics; positive-image children’s books; games and puzzles; role play toys; posters; art materials; and reference books for those involved with the education and care of under 8s. STAR also provides festival boxes containing resources for five major religious and cultural festivals.

"All children need to see themselves reflected positively in the play and learning materials they use. This tells them that they are an integral part of the society they are growing up in and important participants in the educational process and system."
Nandini Mane, Working Group Against Racism in Children's Resources.

2.Training (Click for More Information)

STAR's training aims to enable under 8's workers, parents and carers to increase their knowledge and confidence about providing an inclusive environment for all children, which relects the diversity of society in Britain today. STAR’s training is designed to enable trainees to: (i) understand good inclusion practice and policies; (ii) understand how racism operates in society and how to challenge it; (iii) increase their knowledge of different racial and cultural issues; and, (iv) learn how to select resources, use resources appropriately, and incorporate them into daily use.

STAR's trainers can tailor courses to meet individual requirements.

3. Outreach and Consultancy (Click for More Information)

Outreach visits are free to Early Years settings in Bath and North East Somerset.

During the 2-hour visit staff have the opportunity to question the Outreach Worker

about issues concerning inclusion and to view examples of STAR's resources.

STAR's Outreach Worker will produce a report on the setting's resources and

current practice with respect to race equality and inclusivity, and may make recommendations for further staff training.

Outreach visits are funded by a Bath & North East Somerset EYCPT Service Level

Agreement.

4. Information Service (Click for More Information)

STAR provides an information service, specialising in issues relating to racial equality, inclusion and diversity affecting the education and childcare of under 8's.

STAR representatives regularly attend relevant local committees to influence policy on race equality issues concerning Early Years education and childcare.

STAR representatives contribute to conferences and attend local events to promote our work.

“STAR provides a unique resource that is vitally important in this area. …it is possible for people living and working in predominately white areas to dismiss racism as a matter that they do not need to consider. However, in work with children it is very important to expose all children to multi-cultural resources and anti-discriminatory provision. STAR enables this to happen in this area and we are fortunate to have such a valuable resource.”
Alice McColl, Playworkers Against Racism

Important Notice:

Riverside Youth Centre is currently closed because of construction work to the access road.

This work is expected to last until at least 30th October.

During this period, STAR is unable to access Riverside and has been unable to find an alternative from which to run the Resource Library.

Before the closure, STAR removed a substantial amount of its resources and placed them in to storage.

Therefore, to reduce the inconvenience caused by the closure, STAR is offering to collect overdue resources from, and deliver new resources directly to, users at there place of work.

STAR will collect and deliver on any weekday, by arrangement with the user. All travel expenses will be covered by STAR.

To order new resources for delivery, first check the availability of the items you wish to borrow by clicking on the item numbers or use the Check Availability of All button to see all items available on a particular web page. (Don't forget the What's New? page, which often contains resources not yet entered in the main catalogue.) Then use one of the following methods:

1. Use our online shopping cart facility (contact us at info@star4diversity.org.uk for information and a username).

2. Write down the numbers of the items you wish to borrow and: (i) email the numbers to us at the address given above, giving us details of where and when to deliver items;
(ii) phone 01225 332980 and we will take down the numbers. (If the person taking the calls is unavailable, please leave a telephone number at which to return the call).