At South Thames Colleges Group, Black Lives Matter.

We are shocked by the death of George Floyd. He deserved better than this.

We believe we are one people, our commonality is boundless. Violence against one of us is violence against us all. We do not accept what has happened and we expect change to come from these recent events.

At South Thames Colleges Group, we see the history of unfairness and disadvantage that black people have endured. What happened to George Floyd is another cruel example of this.

Our commitment to changing history by changing the prospects of the thousands of people who study with us is well known. We are proud to restate our belief in education as the most powerful remedy to poverty and discrimination. We are proud to live and work by that belief in all we do.

But the past few days have shown us that this is not enough.

Our expectations must rise and we must help to build a better world faster.

At South Thames Colleges Group, we will do this by redoubling our efforts with our partners and local communities to voice our ambition. We will teach advocacy, social justice and an uncompromising demand for fairness for all people. We want to help build momentum, we want to inspire a better future from the terrible events we have seen this week and over the long years of prejudice that stretch back behind us.

As educators, we do not support violence, but we do support change and we agree that change must be faster and deeper, not in the future, but now. We will explore with our staff, students and partners the actions we can take to make this a reality.