I met with a school in North London that is working to create a GSA type group within their school and I wanted to share their example of good practice with the rest of the Schools OUT community. They are just starting their work, but their dedication to the issues is very clear and the tactics that they use are working well.

Here is a letter from the teacher who is facilitating the group to the Head Teacher (all names and references to locations have been taken out and bits have been added in to make it a bit more inclusive):

"I have been talking to many students about tackling the issue of homophobia at [our school] and as part of that the students feel that having a group to identify with (regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity) but one that does not tolerate homophobia or transphobia, is the next step to take- this would also give LGBT students/staff at [our school] a safe space.
 
In America there are groups called Gay Straight Alliances which are student run (with a supportive teacher) and I intend to set up a similar group at [our school].  So far we have come up with a name “The So What Campaign!” (Standing for “Sexual Orientation Whatever”)  This fits in with the current stonewall campaign for schools which is “Some people are gay, get over it”. I already have at least 20 interested students and I would hope that this number would grow. 
 
Today we met with an intern working for School’s Out with considerable experience of running Gay-Straight Alliances.  He gave us (me and a core group of 6th formers) a lot of fantastic ideas and help and as a result of this the group now has its mission statement:
 
“The So What Campaign aims to promote acceptance and education of LGBT issues and to eliminate ignorance and discrimination”
 
The students would really like to meet with you to get Senior Management support for this group and discuss ideas of how we can tackle this issue as a school (which is also an excellent form of Student Voice!).  Some of their ideas already include members doing assemblies, parts of PSHE lessons etc- as well as the school getting someone in to train staff.  They specifically want to tackle homophobic bullying including all staff tackling the use of the word “gay” in a negative context.
 
Might you (or another member of SLT) be available for a meeting with the group sometime?"



Hope this is helpful to all of you out there thinking about starting your own group! Keep an eye on the Schools OUT website for the launch of the student pages which will be launched in February!

-Jacob