Student Leadership Update!
This academic year has seen, for the 3rd year running, a number of events that have provided students with leadership opportunities whilst providing a platform for Student Voice to promote Diversity & Inclusion across the whole school community.
Below are some examples that illustrate w
hat we have been doing.
The Student Council focused their efforts on:
- delivering year group assemblies on the role of the Student Council
- organising assemblies & inviting feedback on the anti-bullying week
- gathering ideas on how to improve the school environment
- reflecting on ‘conflict resolution’ to help their peers with friendship issues
The Diversity Ambassadors worked on:
- contributing a DEI display for the main school corridor
- organising and leading a range of events such as:
Black History Month (October), International Women’s Day (March), Disability & Neurodiversity Week (April), the famous Multicultural Day (May) which saw live performances in the Main Hall & -a whole school picnic for PRIDE month (June)
The two groups of students have also helped me to organise the Whole School Wellbeing Walk on 7th May in memory of two of our students who had passed away in the Autumn.
I feel incredibly privileged to have continued to work alongside a fantastic group of young people who go the extra mile, often in their own time, to raise awareness, organise events and help make MGGS an inclusive community where everybody is respected and valued.
In their own words, this is what they have enjoyed the most this year: “being able to take students’ concerns and raise them up with somebody that will genuinely listen to us”, “It has definitely given me so many different opportunities of ways to have fun while working as a team to help the school “, “Working across a range of year groups to come up with solutions regarding school diversity matters”.
The 5 RISE days across the year also encourages students to consider diversity and inclusion through themes as varied as ‘gender & stereotyping’ as well ‘global citizenship’ for Y7, ‘equality’ and ‘multicultural Britain’ for Y8, the Equality Act and ‘discrimination’ for Y9, ‘what is identity’ for Y10 just to name a few.
Many colleagues also promote EDI issues through their subject curriculum and others organise clubs, such as Mrs Jenkins with the Knit & Natter club, that help students explore their individuality.
Making inclusion happen is a whole team effort as well as an ongoing process; I am grateful that both students and staff are committed to this and I look forward to another academic year to demonstrate this.
Mrs N. Lawrence – Assistant Headteacher KS3 – Student Voice & EDI Lead
