EDI EVENTS HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY

The 27th January marked Holocaust Memorial Day, which falls on the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi Death Camp established during the Holocaust. It is a day where we are all encouraged to remember in a world scarred by genocide; six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside millions of other people killed by Nazi persecution and in genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

At Canford we held a tea lighting ceremony and took the opportunity to read poems and historical accounts. This was an opportunity to learn, reflect and remember. The lights reminded us to ‘Be the Light in the Darkness’; encouraging us to reflect on the depths humanity can sink to, but also the ways individuals and communities resisted that darkness to ‘be the light’ before, during and after genocide. The theme of this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day was ‘Ordinary People’; the ordinary people who let genocide happen, the ordinary people who actively perpetrated genocide, and the ordinary people who were persecuted.

Holocaust Memorial Day was a day where ordinary people remembered and reflected. “And as a five year old, I could stand at the edge of the clearing where the trains were being loaded. People like sardines in those wooden trucks.And the people loading them in – they were railway men, they didn’t look terribly different from the railway men who check my tickets these days – they looked like ordinary people.” Dr Martin Stern MBE, Holocaust survivor

Commemorating and remembering this day is important, as it reminds us that prejudice and the language of hatred must continue to be challenged by us all.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day was #EmbraceEquity. Our new website includes stories from many members of the Canford community, but in celebration of #IWD we shared two interviews from inspiring females who #EmbraceEquity in sport. We spoke to current Fourth Form pupil, Izzy, about her journey to joining the Southern Vipers EPP and her dream of becoming a professional cricketer and Anastasia Posner (nee Chitty) B12, Old Canfordian, former GB rower and Doctor. After leaving Canford in 2012, Anastasia read Medicine at Oxford University, and combined her academic studies with her love of rowing. Already a GB rower while at Canford, she became President of the Oxford Women’s Boat Club, taking her crew to victory in the first year women competed in the Boat Race alongside the men. Both videos are available to watch at www.canford.com.

Chinese New Year

We celebrated Chinese New Year with board games, food and presentations from pupils about their culture.

To mark Pride Month, our EDI Pupil Leaders organised a special lunch for all pupils and staff in the dining hall on Thursday 8th June. The group worked with the Canford in-house catering team to devise a menu featuring recipes from a variety of LGBTQIA+ chefs. Whilst enjoying lunch, there was a Pride quiz to test knowledge of LGBTQIA+ around the world followed by the opportunity to speak to pupils about Rainbow Alliance.

CHEF, ACTIVIST OWNE LESBIAN AND M AMERIC

CHEF AND WINNER OF SEASON 10 OF TOP CHEF LESBIAN AND KOREAN FIRST GENERATION IMMIGRANT

ACTIVIST AND URANT OWNER NDIAN AND FIRST TION IMMIGRANT

Silvana Salcido Esparza

guacamole and cran salad

CHEF, COOKBOOK AUTHOR AND SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCER GAY AND JEWISH

MOLECULAR SCIENTIST TURNED COOKBOOK AUTHOR, COLUMNIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER GAY AND INDIAN nd tamarind soup

COOKBOOK AUTHOR, WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER AND SELFTAUGHT BAKER GAY AND TAIWANESE AMERICAN

‘EDI is beautiful since it takes individuals, with an array of backgrounds, and knits them together to form a community, the Canford community. I am so honoured to be able to champion the voices of those represented in our community.’ Sophia

‘EDI is incredibly important to me as a mixed-race student at Canford. I want the school to be a happy and comforting community to all. LGBTQIA+ work at Canford and in all schools is relatively new which is why I am so proud of the pioneering attitude Canford is taking and all the work that is being done to keep Canford as everyone’s safe space.’ Lara

‘The EDI work that Canford has done has had a huge positive impact on the school. I have seen a vast improvement in my peers’ attitudes towards difficult discussions surrounding minorities, intersectionality, and other difficult topics.’ Theo