Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) at KWS
Katherine Warington School strives to be a diverse and equitable school in which every member of the KWS community feels like they are seen, heard and belong. As a school, we are committed to the highest ideals in our search for full equality, diversity and inclusion; and this is central to our school’s ethos and values as outlined in our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) statement:
“At KWS we are dedicated to the creation of an equitable and inclusive environment where every member of our community is empowered by the knowledge and their right to be seen and respected as their authentic self despite of gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation or disability. This goal will be met and carried forward only if, each one of us, upholds our duty to create a compassionate and supportive environment; an environment that nurtures each individual to feel valued, respected and free from any form of disrespect, intolerance or intimidation. This freedom will be demonstrated in our character, the way we carry ourselves, treat others and oppose inequalities and discriminations as supportive and proactive allies and peers.
We acknowledge and understand that inequality and discrimination is prevalent in society. Therefore, we must, with our students, be clear that we are responsible for our actions and words. We empathise with the understanding that this is a journey, therefore it is imperative that we learn from our mistakes. At Katherine Warington we cherish diversity and actively seek opportunities to learn from experiences and perspectives which are not our own. We appreciate that each member of the KWS community is an individual, that is why we endeavour to distribute resources and opportunities equitably to ensure that every single person thrives and feels a true sense of belonging at Katherine Warington School.”
As we enter a new academic year (2022/23), we recognise that we are still very much at the start of our pursuit of equality, diversity and inclusion. To guide us through this and future years we are in the process of developing an updated EDI action plan which covers all aspects of school life.
What are we doing this year?
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Events and Celebration Calendar
Throughout the academic year, as a school, we will be recognising, learning, actively participating and celebrating important aspects of our school community. We will do these by: form time activities, assemblies, whole school events, family led celebrations and charity events.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion CPD
Using various resources such as: guest speakers, staff briefings led by our EDI lead and regular reviews of the KWS EDI glossary, our vision is to enable all staff to be confident in delivering a culture of true equity, diversity and inclusion.
Curriculum Leads are encouraged to reflect on and amend their curriculum, ensuring our curriculum not only represents a diverse curriculum captivating our diverse student body but also to ensure we are using the most up to date and inclusive language.
Across the last year we have aimed to:
- Create a safe space for conversations around equity, diversity, and inclusion
- Examine bias and how our life experiences influence our behaviours
- Recognise the power of everyone to effect change
- Increase our self-awareness
- Shift our mindset from unconscious to conscious
- Commitment to personal and collective action
Racial Equity Data Analytics company Flair Impact and KWS are collaborating over the next three years to harness data to drive racial equity. Through discovery and resolution our goal is to beat racial bias and shine a light on the root causes of race inequity through four steps:
- QUESTION – Listening to students and staff through a science back survey we map our school culture
- COMPARE – Using our results, we are able to visualise our strengths, uncover our weaknesses, and benchmark our progress.
- SOLVE – With data driven recommendations and the use of algorithms to make sense of the data turning it into meaningful human insight, we receive actionable insights along with a bespoke racial equity roadmap
- REPEAT – with our progress benchmarked, we repeat the process to track progress, measuring the impact of our work and demonstrating our genuine commitment to racial equity.
Student voice and staff voice meetings
Using areas highlighted as needing exploring from the FLAIR survey results, students and staff alike from different groups within the KWS body are given regularly opportunities to discuss areas they would like to have looked at in school. Some of the areas covered so far include inclusion being sought through food options, uniform and absences.
The anonymous nature of these meetings enable stakeholders to express their concerns which then enables us as a school to make the adjustments needed to ensure everyone feels included.
Community outreach:
As part of this year’s aims of reaching out to the local community, we have recently held our first ever Hannukah event raising money for a local Jewish charity which supports young people diagnosed with autism and their families. By making links with the wider community, we are teaching our students important values such as empathy and raising money for those in need.
Our next community-focussed event will be next month during Ramadan where KWS look forward to hosting our first ever Community Iftar, bringing together people of all backgrounds on an evening of reflection, team building through a fun quiz exploring commonalities amongst different world religions before finishing the night with a meal at sunset when our Muslim attendees break their fast.
Collaboration with HfL Education
Just like Us – the LGBT Young People’s Charity
Recognising and Celebrating Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at KWS
Students enjoyed arts and crafts activities alongside an animated film before enjoying a special lunch menu organised by our caterers. As well as making lanterns with Miss Hu and Mrs Kilby, Mrs Chow created some beautiful cut out decorations out of red card (pictured) with hidden messages in Mandarin of Spring. Thank you to Mr Lee who kindly put together traditional envelopes full of chocolate coins that are given out to children at Chinese New Year for our students who attended our film showing.
In December KWS held it’s first ever school-wide Hannukah celebrations. To connect our students to the wider community,
Miss Annie chose a Jewish charity called Norwood to raise money for with the help of local business Baking Buddies who kindly gave up their time to help us celebrate. In order to develop the characteristic of empathy and helping those in need, Norwood was chosen for the students to donate money to help young people with autism and their families. We held a cake sale as well as simultaneously setting up tables of Dreidel games which saw various entrants representing their House just to amp up the competition! A total of £110 was raised for Norwood and we at KWS look forward to strengthening our ties with various charities across the community, using this as an opportunity to not only educate our students about other people’s faiths but to also show a unity across the student body in order to help those who may need it at times. Generosity was rife with some students bringing in dozens of shop bought donations, and others who were unable to do so gave up their time to help man the cash pot and help queue control/set up/clearing up etc. It truly was a team-building opportunity.
A big big thank you to Mrs Shafer of Baking Buddies for her time, donations of freshly baked goodies and her efforts in bringing some Dreidel excitement to our students – I look forward to working with you again for a bigger event.
Black History Month October 2023
The last few weeks have seen our students and staff take part in a variety of activities around the school to absorb the stories of Black women in particular during Black History Month. As well as assemblies for each year group discussing the theme of ‘Saluting our Sisters’, our students were invited to taste foods from the African-Caribbean cuisine while watching a thought-provoking TV series discussing themes including identity, class and growing up as an African-American. On one of the lunchtimes, with the help of Miss Hammond and Mr Blankson-Hemans, our student helpers serve traditionally-cooked African plantain with various topping options for the students to sample while discussing the themes raised in the viewing.
The Art department held an activity where they used inspiration from West African Adrinka symbols painted onto our seating under the canopy in the courtyard. These symbols are visual representations of proverbs with significant historical and philosophical meanings representing qualities such as hard work, unity in diversity, friendship and high standards. These are all qualities as a school that we aim at strengthening within ourselves and tie in perfectly with the KWS values. Attached are pictures showing the art leaders hard at work.
As well as this, the Library held a “Listening Party” one lunchtime to over 50 students who went through a musical journey looking at the contributions by Black artists towards the British music scene and how music changed on the British landscape with these contributions based on happenings within politics and much more – this was an eye-opening event for me personally as I often hear these songs not knowing the landscape in which they rose from and the challenges attached to them.
The History department held a House competition to all students where students expressed which minoritised ethnic group figure in History they would like to learn about. The runners up with 50 house points were: Isabelle Sansom 7A, Shona Ellis 9F and Shakhram Shavkatov 11K. The winner with 100 house points was Florence Clark 9K. Well done, all!
It’s been a pleasure organising my first Black History Month at KWS and it has been a learning opportunity for myself and students, specifically when it comes to the contributions made across the fields of Business, Engineering, the Arts and politics by Black women to create a more cultivated society for us all. With the school’s focus currently on Remembrance Day, I am preparing for our Diwali Celebrations next week which I look forward to sharing with everyone.
Example of screensaver shown on students’ screens: