New filmed interviews with Mr Hooke and Rohit Benjamin our Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, set out why Harrodian's new (EDI) programme matters so much, as the Head explains.
Two films setting out Harrodian principles of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion make their debut in our dedicated EDI Webpage this week (see link below). In the first, I explain why Equality Diversity and Inclusion matter so much to Harrodian today and why, two years ago, we chose to introduce a dedicated EDI initiative alongside the PSHE provision that remains an essential ingredient in our curricular and co-curricular programmes.
Watch our new films on Harrodian's EDI page
Pupils are talking about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion issues, driving the conversation forward and thinking about the initiatives
In the second film, our EDI Co-Ordinator (and History Teacher) Mr Rohit Benjamin eloquently answers the key questions about the programme, setting out in five minutes or so, what E. D. and I each stand for and explaining the research and consultation which underpins our plan to translate EDI principles into action, both in and beyond the classroom: ‘Focus groups from the 13s to the Sixth Form have been fantastic in finding out pupils’ views’, Mr Benjamin tells us. ‘They are talking about these issues, driving the conversation forward and thinking about the initiatives.’
At my suburban Grammar School in the 1970s subjects such as race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability were usually considered too contentious to get anywhere near the curriculum.... LGBTQ questions of any kind remained firmly locked in the closet
Listening to Mr Benjamin in full flow set me wondering what the Headmaster of the ‘caps and blazers’ suburban Grammar School, where I spent my formative 1970s years, would make of all this. Back then, subjects such as race, ethnicity, gender, physical ability were usually considered too contentious to get anywhere near the curriculum. Sex education consisted of a token 30 minutes in a Biology lesson. LGBTQ questions of any kind remained firmly locked in the closet, apparently because difference of any kind was “Definitely Dangerous”. So dangerous indeed, that, amazing to recall, any pupils of a non Church of England faith were prevented from attending school assemblies.
We have embraced EDI as a positive force with the power to enrich and strengthen our communities and society as a whole
Thankfully, today such thinking has now been consigned to history where it belongs. Indeed, with Mr Benjamin as our guide, Harrodian is heading in precisely the opposite direction. We have embraced EDI as a positive force with the power to enrich and strengthen our communities and society as a whole. Much work remains to be done, but by continuing to deliver that message to (and through…) our pupils, day by day, week by week, term by term, we are all playing our own small part in helping to bring our world together.