National Hate Crime Awareness Week: 11–18 October 2025
One message. One movement.
Together, we’re taking a stand against hate.
Launched nationally during National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2025, with live performances, a single, a music video and national moments amplifying a message that is too often unheard, the campaign continues through schools and local communities, where conversations about difference, respect and safety matter every day. By bringing real voices into classrooms and assemblies, we help young people think more deeply about how their actions affect others, and how they can play a part in creating a fairer, more inclusive society.
Special Thank You: Hertfordshire Constabulary, the Department for Education, Rachel Blake MP, Lucy Rigby KC MP, Matt Turmaine MP, David Taylor MP, Victoria Collins MP, Daisy Cooper MP, Adam Dance MP, Georgia Gould MP, the Minister for School Standards, the Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire Robert Voss CBE CStJ (Electric Umbrella’s proud Patron), Councillor Catherine McArevey, Mayor of Dacorum — and so many incredible community leaders who joined us to challenge hate and celebrate inclusion.
A Week Long National Campaign:
For seven days, we’re turning up the volume across the UK.
Street performances. National press. School assemblies. Music, film, and conversation collide into one unstoppable celebration of difference and inclusion.
This is not background noise. This is front-page, main-stage, classroom-shaking energy.
Part of the campaign will take to the streets of London, performing against some of the city’s most iconic backdrops, including Westminster.
With MPs, artists, and communities united behind us, the message will be impossible to ignore. From government to classrooms, from streets to screens, hate ends here.
We need YOU in it with us.
Free Hate Crime Awareness Resources for Schools
What it’s all about:
Electric Umbrella’s national campaign includes an original anthem written in collaboration with Hertfordshire Constabulary; “It’s Not a Crime to be Different”.
We’ve proudly taken our message to the streets; performing at 10 Downing Street, engaging with MPs and police chiefs, receiving support from Education Ministers, engaging with thousands of teachers and young people throughout the UK and creating a campaign that celebrates identity, unites communities and stands against hate.
We want teachers to bring the message to their school communities so we have created ready-to-use resources that facilitate vital conversations surrounding good citizenship, standing up to prejudice and recognising hate crimes.
How to use our resources:
- All of the resources are linked to our song “It’s Not a Crime to be Different” as part of our National Hate Crime Awareness Week campaign.
- The 14 minute documentary explores why the campaign is so important, through interviews and real life stories. It’s suitable for Upper Key Stage 2, Key Stages 3 and 4, and SEND learners.
- Alongside the learning resources for the song, the supporting presentation resources explore the message behind the campaign, through open, honest conversations.
- Each supporting resource pack is tailored to a different age group and designed in a way that makes them easy to use in assemblies, PSHE / PRS / Citizenship lessons.
- The presentation has notes included with suggested discussion starters and links to example stories, to ease the flow of the conversations.
- Watch the music video, listen to the song, share the documentary and use the resources to spark vital conversations with your students.
Free Hate Crime Awareness Resources for Schools
We’ve created a set of free, flexible resources to help schools engage with the campaign in a way that fits their setting and pupils. Whether you’re delivering an assembly, teaching PSHE or RS, or looking for structured discussion materials, these resources support meaningful conversations in an age-appropriate and accessible way.
What’s included:
- Access to our 20 minute on demand digital assembly.
- Citizenship resources tailored to upper Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3 and 4, and SEND.
- Learning resources for the song, including Makaton video.
- Encourage open, honest conversations with ready-made prompts and activities.
- This isn’t just a lesson plan. It’s a plug-in to a national movement. Add your school community to the chorus of voices saying loud and clear: it’s not a crime to be different.
The resources can be used at any point in the school year, as part of a wider topic or in response to issues affecting your school community. They offer a practical way for schools to engage with a national campaign and share a clear message with pupils: It’s not a crime to be different.
Why This Matters
Watch our Hate Crime Awareness Documentary to learn more.
Stream the Song: It’s Not a Crime
to Be Different
Streaming now on all platforms.
Play it on repeat. Blast it in your assemblies. Share it with your friends. Let’s turn this message into a soundtrack for change.
More Resources:
From Mencap
We’re not alone in tackling hate crimes. Our friends at Mencap have created accessible, easy-read resources to help people understand what hate crime is, why it matters, and how to report it.
The Story Behind:
It’s Not a Crime
to Be Different
When two Hate Crime officers visited an Electric Umbrella session, something unexpected happened.
Instead of running a workshop, we ended up writing a song together.
That moment lit a spark. From that collaboration with Hertfordshire Constabulary came something much bigger: a music video, a documentary, free school resources, and a week-long celebration of difference, dignity, and community.
But this is about more than creativity. The campaign uses music to help the police get their message across in a fresh and accessible way, showing that Hate Crime will not be tolerated, encouraging victims and witnesses to come forward, and helping to build trust with communities who may feel overlooked or unheard.
This is bigger than a song; it’s a national campaign. And it started right here in Hertfordshire.
Stream the single.
Join the performances.
Watch the videos.
Take the resources into classrooms.
And most of all - spread the message that Hate Crime has NO place in our communities.
Work With Electric Umbrella
Are you a school, corporation, community group, or organisation that wants to celebrate difference and stand for inclusion?
We’d love to work with you. Whether it’s through partnerships, bespoke workshops, performances, or awareness campaigns, Electric Umbrella brings people together to spark conversations, break down barriers, and build inclusive communities.
Hate Crime Awareness Week is just the beginning. Keep the energy alive with us all year round. Let’s keep making noise together.
Stay Connected
Want to keep up with everything happening this Hate Crime Awareness Week?
Don’t just follow along. Share, repost, tag your friends, and help us make this campaign impossible to ignore.
