Food, flags, celebrations and smiles were all around as the senior school celebrated it’s second annual Culture Day.
Organised by Cécile Davies, Head of French, and EDI – equality, diversity and inclusion society – the event took place lunchtime to celebrate the broad variety of cultures within the Colfe’s community.
Culture Day’s first event was celebrated in 2024, inspired after a group of Sixth Form students reminisced how Culture Day was celebrated in their previous schools. Year 13 student James then took the idea, gathered support from his friends and brought a map for people to pin and share a bit about themselves.
This year, both teachers and students took to the playground, bringing food, clothing, flags and art from their cultural backgrounds. This gave the Senior School the ability to express and share their different cultures with their peers, promoting greater understanding and celebration of diversity, and instilling an inclusive, open-minded appreciation of cultural differences, reflecting the school’s core belief is vital for producing well-rounded, kind members of the community.
Isabel, Verity and Turma (Year 10), attended the Culture Day, saying: “One of the most valuable aspects of Culture Day is seeing the variety of cultures from across the globe that the school hosts. It’s important for everyone to have the opportunity to share their different cultures so that we have a better understanding of the world around us.”
Students and teachers were given the opportunity to try new things from other cultures and stalls for Mexican and Indian food had queues bursting with excitement. The mango lassi was a huge crowd favorite – with almost everyone coming up for seconds, thirds and even fourths!
Ryan and Hakon (Year 10) said, “Our favorite part of Culture Day has been taking part in different cultures, for instance the mango lassi, originally from India, was one thing we really enjoyed trying.”
Miss Davies would love future Culture Days to continue as they began, as a collaboration between staff and pupils, with ambitions for the following years “to be decided by the Colfe’s community. I am asking staff and pupils to reflect and choose where they want this to go. I personally would like a joint day with the Junior school to have an even bigger event!”
