Culture and Identity Day

  


We held our first Culture and Identity Day this term. All members of the senior school along with their teachers were invited to dress in a way which they felt best represented them: to show their own identity and sense of culture.

Ahead of the day, we had a whole school assembly in which the Diversity and Inclusion team shared some things which they felt were essential to their own identity, whether it be a country, a religion, a football team, a passion or even an affinity with a TV character!

On the day, pupils and staff proudly made their way into school wearing  a beautiful array of clothing from Indian to African to Australian to  Russia. Some wore the team kit for their favourite sport, some wore a t-shirt of their favourite band and others dressed in the colours of a national flag. At lunchtime everyone came to together in the Great Hall to enjoy a catwalk show of some of the best dressed.  Our pupils strode onto stage with swagger and pride as the audience cheered them on.  Our top-class MCs, Mr Ceeraz and Samah B, introduced each person and what their outfits represented as they made their way on stage.

Houses also ran stalls celebrating different elements of cultue and identity, which gave us a great chance for cultural appreciation rather than appropriation. We had: mehndi, origami, Thai culture, Taekwondo, Pride tattoos, Vietnamese culture and Ukrainian egg painting.  Mr Ceeraz presented a stall on Mauritian culture, Mr Tse shared Hong Kong culture and Ms Hancock showcased Irish dancing. A huge thank you to everyone who was so generous in sharing things they had bought and brought for the day.

The Culture and Identity Day was an overwhelming success with a huge call for this to become an annual Bancroft’s day of celebration.