Friday Headlines

17 September 2021

Educating the students, and staff, in what we can do to promote equality, diversity and inclusion is a priority. On Wednesday this week, students including the Head Girl Fareedat and Deputies, Lucy and Natalia, and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) student Ambassador Ayesha joined Mr Robson to lead an assembly on the subject. Here the girls give their summary of the importance of EDI and how the student ambassador role will have an impact in school.

We began by stressing the pupil-orientated nature of the role as we believed a student body-led initiative would resonate with the pupils. EHS is in one of the most diverse cities in the country, which we think should be reflected in the school setting.

Fareedat said that ‘this role is not about trying to include absolutely everyone in everything all the time and making them feel obliged to do things but making sure that equal opportunities are available to everyone.’ We all understand that the role will always be a work in progress but by introducing it we are taking a step in the right direction.

Mr Robson then went on to talk about EDI within the staff body. He discussed the specialist training that had taken place, the most recent of which was unconscious bias training. He made it clear that the first step with training is to see whether it is successful. The EDI student ambassador will continue to work closely with him to ensure everyone benefits from it.

Next, we gave real life of examples of businesses who actively implement EDI policies. Lucy spoke about Coca Cola, the Co-operative and Netflix. One change Coca Cola has made is with their paternity leave policy where they now ensure both mothers and fathers receive six weeks of paid leave when their baby arrives; a considerable change considering unpaid paternity leave was only introduced in 2002 under UK laws.

To close the assembly we wanted to explain some of the activities and events we’d be running to support EDI in school. Natalia and Ayesha led this final section and emphasised the hands on and interactive nature of the role. 

EDI initiatives will be implemented throughout the academic year and all year group can get involved. This week we sent out a survey to students asking for information about their heritage for an EHS ancestry board. This will be located outside the main hall and show the wealth of diversity our school has to offer.
In the time we have been at EHS, we have all felt the need to have an EDI ambassador on our school committee. All pupils at this school should feel represented and valued as individuals and as a team we strive to maintain this. 

Ayesha, this year's Ambassador, has clear objectives for the EDI role. Her goals are to promote and amplify the pupil voice, whilst raising awareness on topics such as discrimination and intersectional bias. Upcoming EDI events will be led by Ayesha and will work closely with Mr Robson who has done considerable research into EDI for staff and pupils.