Equity, 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.”
What are we doing this year?
Equity, 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, resources through charities and Herts for Learning, 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 practising allyship to effect change
- Increase our self-awareness
- Shift our mindset from unconscious to conscious
- Commitment to personal and collective action
Student voice and staff voice meetings
Based on areas highlighted in our incident data, students and staff across various KWS groups are regularly provided with opportunities to discuss issues they would like the school to explore. Some of the areas addressed so far include promoting inclusion through food options, adjustments to the school uniform, and requests for leave.
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:
Our annual community-focussed event is our inter-faith community iftar during Ramadan where KWS bring 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. Our chosen local charity is the St Albans District Food Bank as it brings together the notion of supporting those in need locally. By making links with the wider community, we are teaching our students important values such as empathy and raising money for those in need.
Black History Month October 2025
The last few weeks have seen our students and staff take part in a variety of activities around the school to mark Black History Month. As well as assemblies for each year group discussing the theme of ‘Standing Firm in Power and Pride.’ which recognises the strength and resilience of Black communities globally. Our students were invited to take part in poetry workshops with Adisa the Verbalizer.
As well as this, KWS were invited by Herts for Learning to a conference hosted by Kit Brown, a primary school teacher, who has found social media stardom through his messages of hope and resilience.
Accompanied by Mrs Hobson and Miss Annie, our Sixth Form student leaders visited the Nobel School in Stevenage, where Kit spoke about his life experiences, inspiring young people as a role model in overcoming challenges.
We are delighted to say that our now-annual community iftar was a sold out event which saw over 15 charity/community/faith groups from the local area come together to share a meal at sunset with Muslim guests who were fasting. The event was once again co-funded and organised in conjunction with Harpenden-based Muslim community group the Harpenden Community Circle whose aim is to strengthen community ties in Harpenden across different people irrespective of backgrounds in order to better our town.
This year saw the Mayor of Harpenden attend as well as local MPs and wIth charity being a key theme of the Islamic faith, donations were received on behalf of the local foodbank who gave a talk on the crucial work they do for local families in need. A presentation by students was also shared on misconceptions of Ramadan and our guests were treated to an array of activities including henna tattoos, arts and crafts as well as puzzles/wordsearch looking at commonalities between the different world religions.
Feedback from the event was phenomenal and feedback included descriptions such as ‘heartwarming’, ‘uplifting’ and ‘inspiring to see so many different people come together’. I look forward to planning an even bigger and better iftar for next year.
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.
This year’s LGBT History Month theme was “Activism and Social Change” with a particular focus on the establishment of legal protection of those hailing from the LGBT community. Students were given assemblies across the school on how it was through activism and social change that members of the LGBT community have been given protection and that without the activism that has taken place through various channels as pictured below, social change was unable to take place.
Allyship was raised as a topic again in every year group, discussing how important it is to stand for those that need support which led to a reading of the touching poem by Pastor Martin Neimoller: “First they came.”