On Friday 21st June, Harrodians across the School celebrated the culmination of Pride month with a joyous festival and Rainbow Friday mufti organised jointly by Head of EDI Rohit Benjamin and Deputy Head of Sixth Form/EDI Team member Martha Kinsella.
Pride is a time to celebrate individual differences. At Harrodian, our aim is for everyone to feel comfortable and safe being themselves and to teach our young people about respect, fairness and compassion. Pride also falls under our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policy and is one of the key events in the school's EDI calendar similar to our Harrodian Culture Day celebrated in March.
The day featured a variety of festival-style activities including stalls for face and hand painting, bracelet and beaded jewellery making, thumb print painting (the letters P-R-O-U-D), nail art and glitter tattoos. The opportunity to strut and dance down the catwalk in their allocated year groups was a fun new addition this year. Our Pre-Prep pupils also enjoyed making their own colourful tie-dye socks and wearing them!
Harrodian staff and pupils also celebrated 'Rainbow Friday' by participating in a Pride themed mufti day to show their support and solidarity for the LGBTQ+ individuals within our school community and beyond. For a small £2 donation they embraced the challenge to wear their most vibrant outfits and contribute to the celebratory vibes throughout the day whilst also raising funds for LGBT+ young people's charity Just Like Us.
Various competitions were held over the course of the day including best dressed/ best year group on the catwalk. Prep pupils also enjoyed a visit from Tyler, Head of EDI at St Paul's School, who spoke to them about the importance of inclusion and also commented on how wonderful it was to see so many Harrodian pupils being themselves.
It was a joyful event, full of excitement, jubilation, dancing and PRIDE!
To watch a reel created by Sixth Form student Isla, please click below (please note this is an 'unlisted' video on YouTube):
Our Media Studies department also created a fun 'guess who?' reel to see if pupils could identify the teachers getting ready for Pride day. Please click on the link below to watch it:
When asked for his thoughts on the day, Head of EDI and History teacher Rohit Benjamin says, 'what a joyous celebration for pupils and members of staff. We can recognise progress whilst also raising awareness that there is always more to do - the annual Pride Day at Harrodian gives us the opportunity to reflect on ideas of liberation, visibility and equality.'
What a joyous celebration for pupils and members of staff. We can recognise progress whilst also raising awareness that there is always more to do - the annual Pride Day at Harrodian gives us the opportunity to reflect on ideas of liberation, visibility and equality!
Rohit Benjamin, Head of EDI and History teacher
To see a gallery of photos taken over the course of the day
