EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSIVITY

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY

At NLCS, we are proud of our heritage of supporting, embracing and celebrating all the members of our community. We believe our School community is an agent for change in the world, and we continue to seek to ensure that more generations of young people leave North London Collegiate School empowered and enabled to take the next steps forward in their education and lives, both for their own benefit and for the good of society as a whole.

Our teaching reflects the diverse nature of our modern world and through our extracurricular activities, partnerships, and School societies we seek to challenge inequality and promote fairness and equality for all and to celebrate the differences that make us all valuable members of society.

This year has been marked by the focus on diversity. Our enrichment programme has been crucial to ensure that our students are constantly engaging with issues that have arisen, most notably, following the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter campaign. Students from a range of Society led assemblies and theme weeks ensuring that the Senior Societies programme is used to edify the school community about a range of topics. In addition, each Society has appointed a Diversity Officer to ensure that diversity is constantly being thought about in their weekly meetings, invitation of speakers and engagement with school life. ■ Throughout the year, assembly themes have included inspirational people and their qualities, the role we all play in creating a kind and respectful community,

Remembrance, and the role of people from non-white and European backgrounds in World War One. ■ Year 10-13 students and parents attended a “conversation” between friends evening, led by Dr

Yuravlivker, Head of History, and

Mr Shirwani, Head of Arabic from

Eton College, who modelled how to engage sensitively and respectfully when talking about emotionally charged and complex issues. ■ Middle School PSHE lessons focused on unconscious bias and privilege, tackling the issues of racism, ableism, sexism and homophobia. ■ Year 12 students examined diversity and inclusion considering the shift in global understanding of the issues and focusing on ways of building inclusive environments. BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Afro-Caribbean Society’s leadership of Black History Month and collaboration with other Societies was a superb example of the potential the Senior Societies programme has to impact the cultural life of the School. During the month, Culture and Anthropology Society discussed cultural appropriation and appreciation and the impact Black people have had on popular culture. The Medical Sciences Society looked at figures who have significantly contributed to medicine as we practice it today, and the Economics Society examined how race impacts employment and the BAME pay gap.

LGBTQIA+ HISTORY MONTH

We welcomed Dr Sarah Jones, a social and cultural historian of gender and sexuality in modern Britain and America at the University of Bristol. Dr Jones gave an incredibly insightful talk on American Sexology and LGBTQIA+ History, exploring key developments in the perception of human sexuality during the mid-20th century.

During Pride Month we welcomed the ‘Self-Esteem Team’, who gave an insightful talk on issues facing the LGBTQIA+ Community. It explained the use of pronouns and examined current attitudes to the community and how students can respond. Our library celebrated with a ‘Read with Pride at NLCS’ project and their colourful ‘pop up’ library display travelled around the School with a selection of contemporary books and authors relating to LGBTQIA+.