Abbey Grange is such a diverse community and this week we have all been celebrating our unique cultures. Organised by our Sixth Form Culture Group, Culture Week has involved a celebration of the over 70 different cultures and ethnicities that make up our student body and families. Students have cooked cultural dishes at home to earn positives in DT Food lessons, made treats from around the world to raise money at breaktime bake sales, the kitchen team have created a menu representing a different culture each day, our Hibret Hall has become a cinema showing films from World Cinema all week, subject teachers have delivered lessons in how different cultures have affected their subject and yesterday there was an international football match on the field with an England team versus the Rest of the World.
What has been so moving is to see, hear and talk to so many of our students about their culture. From the clothes they wear, to who cooks at home, to how students have to style their hair and hearing about family members who live abroad. It is so important that our students feel safe to talk about their culture and that they get an opportunity to celebrate it.
Culture Week culminated in Culture Day today with assemblies for all year groups directed by our Sixth Form Culture Group. The assemblies featured students demonstrating dance and fashion from around the world and a quiz too. Students were allowed to dress in the style of their culture or the colours of their flag and the school was awash with colour. We had so many positive comments from parents, staff, students and even members of the community who saw our students walking to school. It was so wonderful to see all students treat each other with dignity and respect - and to hear students genuinely talking about their cultural background and the similarities between so many of us. This is our first ever Culture Week and it has set the benchmark to become an annual event that can get bigger and better each year. Thank you to everyone for organising and taking part with such enthusiasm.
