Navigating diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in a Bermudian school

By Don Vickers, Head of DEIB at Warwick Academy

As an international coeducational school with strong historical and civic connections to Bermuda’s community, one can consider Warwick Academy as a “melting pot” or fusion of different people of various backgrounds, races, religions, cultures, and languages. This fascinating jewel of an educational institution recognises the importance of enhancing its understanding of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) for continued growth. It must be noted that Warwick Academy has recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary of our Human Rights Project which is student led and runs in parallel to our DEIB initiatives.

Thus, we are making strides to delve deeply into exploring the etiology of past inequalities and challenging current ideologies that maintain barriers to acknowledging the work that must be done and accepting that each stakeholder has a role to play regarding all matters relating to race, gender, sexual identification/orientation, age, ability, social economic status, and religion. While this is an immense task, the desire to tackle these globally and locally heightened issues is what Warwick Academy is attempting to do with purpose and strategy.

On the heels of the Black Lives Matter Movement, which accelerated Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in many workplaces around the world, Warwick Academy is genuinely attempting to embed this ethos into the culture of the school. To that end, there have been numerous initiatives that have been implemented to create an authentic safe space of belonging.

From 2019 to 2021, Dr. Vernee Butterfield, who is known locally and internationally and provides workshops on the topics of discriminatory educational, curriculum theory and culture, and social justice leadership, facilitated our initial staff and student training in understanding what defines a racially equitable school and implicit bias.

This year, we have had Dr. Jade Templar from Solstice Ltd., and Mrs. Stacey-Lee Williams of Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (C.U.R.B.) provide full staffing training on “Becoming Explicit about Implicit Bias” and “Let’s talk about Equality: A Psychological Perspective of the Wellbeing of the school”.

Additionally, our school was blessed to have an interactive presentation with Mr. Christo Brand, who was the late Nelson Mandela’s prison guard while on Robben Island. Mr. Brand’s inspiring depiction of his relationship with Nelson Mandela and the loving character exhibited by this “Champion of Peace” provided a powerful glimpse of what racial harmony amongst individuals of diverse backgrounds can look like amid dire circumstances.

Bermudian Historian, Mr. Corey Butterfield has enthusiastically engaged our students about Bermuda’s culture during our Multi-Cultural Day. We have also had Dr. Quinton Sherlock share his experiences as a Bermudian living in Ghana and Bermuda’s transatlantic history. Finally, on the training front, our Year 10 students participated in a Racial Healing event facilitated by C.U.R.B. with students from other schools. This powerful gathering of students and presenters, featuring Kristin White and other presenters, exposed our students to the rich history of Black Bermudians and gave students the opportunity to voice their opinions to increase racial harmony.

To organise and manage our initiatives, Warwick Academy created its initial Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (with Belonging added in 2023) Committee in 2020. This committee carried out the directives from the school’s leadership, and was comprised of Board members, staff, and parents. This committee has evolved into a fully functioning and autonomous DEIB staff committee with a parent/stakeholder sub-committee to commence in the next academic year. Lastly, to further aid in directing our DEIB efforts, a new position of Head of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging was established. One of the main responsibilities for this role is to develop the DEIB strategic goals and objectives, and support school leadership, teachers, and non-teaching staff with managing issues related to discrimination of any type.

With a progressive and supportive school leadership, an operating staff committee, and a designated role to direct the DEIB initiatives in place, Warwick Academy has also infused culturally diverse content into its Humanities and English Department’s curricula since our 2019 audit. While more sources are needed, particularly for Bermuda’s history, Warwick Academy has increased its learning units on early African Kingdoms, slavery, its abolition, and civil rights. In our Global Citizenship classes, students explore local and global issues relating to rights and freedoms, languages and communication, and the impact of globalisation. The English Department has also increased their literature range from Black authors, and students have been able to study the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King and Maya Angelou and lyrics of rap artists, such as Kendrick Lamar.

One would be naïve to think that with all these initiatives in place that Warwick Academy is a utopian inclusive environment. While we are moving in that direction, there is still much work to be done. Enhancing our awareness and actions to illustrate a true sense of belonging for all our students, parents, and staff members is our goal. Belonging can only manifest itself through vulnerable dialogues and taking deliberate actions regarding all matters relating to race, gender, sexual identification/ orientation, age, ability, social economic status, and religion. Warwick Academy is more than a place of learning, and like any other family and community there is always room to work out our differences through openly encouraging interaction and constructive discussions.