With Pride this month marking 50 years of celebrating LGBTQ+ communities all around the world, our Head, William Goldsmith, took the opportunity to share his views on equality, diversity and inclusion:
A recent poll showed that 30 years ago 90% of the British population didn’t approve of same sex relationships. In the 1980s more than half would feel uncomfortable in an inter race relationship in the family. In this same decade there were few to no disabled role models on mainstream media
An increasing tide of social change began to shift mindsets in the 1990s, however in education, ‘Section 28’ wasn’t removed until 2003, meaning that it is only within the last 20 years that LGBTQ+ has been openly discussed in schools. In reality, though, only within the last decade have young people been supported with their identity. And, still, we have a long way to go.
June is pride month, a movement that celebrates its 50th anniversary, where society can celebrate and provide support to people who identify as LGBTQ+.
In this morning’s assembly, the students from Year 3-8 were shown a powerful film clip titled ‘Love has no labels’. This acted as a stimulus to discuss LGBTQ+ and wider diversity. The children were reminded that love is universal and pride month highlights the importance of being proud of who you are as an individual and, in turn, respecting everyone for who they are and how they identify with the world around them.
Accelerated social change in the last two years has highlighted that young people want to shape the world. Without healthy dialogue with the young, we risk generational divide and regression from the advancements being made.
Through our International Baccalaureate curriculum, our membership of Round Square and our commitment to opening up dialogue around these key issues, we are prioritising a key message to the students: “you can be yourself; you can bring your ethnicity and cultural identity into the classroom and we are not a normative environment”.
As part of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy, the school will be working towards the Rainbow Flag Award from September 2022.
