Ref. 29578-22Schools have reported more than 150 racist incidents in the past year.

The majority were name-calling, but physical attacks also took place.

Yesterday, about 100 representatives from Swindon Council, police, community groups and support workers came together to step up the fight against racism.

The conference, at Bath University in Swindon's Oakfield Campus, saw the launch of a new educational video, Throwing Stones, which is to be shown in primary schools across the town.

The council is hoping to see an increase in reports of racist incidents, with victims feeling more comfortable coming forward with their complaints, confident they will be taken seriously.

Swindon schools were asked to record and report every racist incident on their premises over the last year.

Of the town's 80 schools, 37 took part and reported a total of 157 incidents.

Daphne Nock, manager of the Diversity and Ethnic Minority Achievement Service at the Local Education Authority, said: "These are the reported incidents and are not necessarily a bad reflection on the schools.

"It may be that they have measures in place to deal with racism."

Name-calling could do more damage than a punch, she added, although Swindon does not suffer from racism any more or less than anywhere else in the UK.

At yesterday's conference, called Swindon Town Against Racism (Star), pupils from Holy Rood Junior School performed a series of songs about the diversity of pupils.

Rebecca Morgan, 10, said: "I think it's good to have people of different races at school because you can learn about all the places and their background.

"It shows we are all part of one family, no matter what colour skin we have."

Hans Flann Dias, 10, said: "My family came to England from Goa. We came to join my dad when he got a job. At school people get on with each other wherever they are from."

Holy Rood headteacher Sally Inskip said the school made pupils aware of their differences in order to celebrate them.

"The higher profile we give to this in primary schools the better it will hopefully be as children grow up and become adults," she said.

Swindon Town footballer Stefani Miglioranzi, who was born in Brazil, said he was aware racism persisted at some football clubs but he had never experienced abuse at the County Ground.

"Kids look up to footballers to a certain extent," he said. "The fact that we can overlook differences in appearances could perhaps be channelled into the kids and how they treat each other."

Jeannette Chipping, of NSPCC Swindon, said adults also had a part to play in ending racism.

"We need to listen to what children have to say and tackle racism in children and other adults," she said.

Andy Tate