A BASINGSTOKE headteacher has been appointed to work with the Mayor of London as part of a new project to improve community confidence in policing and tackle disproportionality.

Paul Mundy-Castle, who has been interim headteacher at Coppice Spring School in Basingstoke since March 2022, has taken on a new role with Sadiq Khan, chairing a group to address concerns that some young black Londoners are being overpoliced.

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The group, which will include headteachers, youth justice services and the Met Police, will inform the work of safer school officers.

It is part of fresh action announced by the mayor and Met Commissioner to tackle disproportionality and improve community confidence in policing.

The action has been launched following a series of scandals that have shaken public confidence in the police, including the strip search of a child and photos taken by serving officers of two black murder victims.

It includes the development of the new partnership panel for safer school officers.

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Mr Mundy-Castle, who is taking his former employer Woodcote High School to tribunal for alleged discrimination over his dismissal from his role as headteacher in July 2021, has been appointed to chair the Action Plan External Reference Group (ERG) following a negative experience with the police as a teenager.

The former professional basketball player has been vocal in his mission to stand up against racism through his social media accounts as well as several media appearances. 

He said: “As a Londoner, I am honoured to chair the external reference group and thank the mayor and the deputy mayor for the opportunity to support their oversight of the Met. I want to encourage all Londoners to have a voice and to challenge inequalities.

“Sadly, I have always had a negative view of the police stemming from my own teenage experiences and interactions. But I feel that if we truly want change a police force that represents us then we have to become part of the solution.

“I want to use this position to ensure all Londoners better understand that there is accountability and that the ERG will ask the uncomfortable questions if it leads to better policing for all.”

Mr Mundy-Castle stepped down from his role at Coppice Spring School before Christmas, when Andrew Hatherley took over as headteacher of the school for pupils with social, emotional and mental health difficulties.

The school, which is graded ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, is part of Catch-22 Multi Academies Trust.

The trust is being handed over to a different academy provider following a string of poor Ofsted inspections.