LGBTQ+ History Month

Ms Gill Entwistle, Mr Rory Aitken and Bancroft’s pupils from Thirds to U6 words ‘I will conquer’ which made Joseph feel seen, comforted and angry. The general consensus was that the museum was excellent and the vibe was ‘uplifting’.

The pupils found the Bloomsbury Group information on the walking tour really interesting. Suki liked the walking tour. Mr Aitken liked the information on the walking tour: finding out about Roberta Cowell, the first trans woman to go through surgery in 1951 and the two female doctors Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake who started their own medical school when the male establishment either wouldn’t let women study medicine or wouldn’t let them take exams. He also enjoyed seeing Oscar Wilde’s prison door from when he was imprisoned for homosexuality.

On Tuesday 28 February, the last day of LGBT History Month, Bancrofts pupils attended the LGBT Student Conference organised by Woodbridge High School. Eighteen schools attended, bringing together around 200 students and teachers from across the Borough of Redbridge.

Bancroftians enjoyed meeting students from other schools and taking part in a range of workshops covering LGBT history, well-being, the contributions of LGBT+ people to STEM, Redbridge LGBT+ Action Planning and the LGBT+ Student Panel, which featured the gay headteacher of Woodbridge High School, a lesbian student, a Christian gay man, the Muslim gay deputy head who masterminded the conference, a trans woman and a lesbian woman who was an ex-student at Woodbridge.

One Bancroft’s student, Simran, said this was the highlight of her day because it was good to relate to their stories. Another Bancroft’s student, Sam, enjoyed presenting his ideas for a drag queen teacher!

On Wednesday 1 March we celebrated LGBT History Month with an LGBT walking tour of Bloomsbury followed by a visit to Queer Britain, the new LGBT

Museum at Granary Square, King’s Cross. Students loved the Queer Britain museum. They enjoyed reading the different contributions on the wall. One student liked the piece about Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis which Joseph Galliano-Doig discovered when he was 14 and was anxious about being gay. He said it saved his life. Someone had written inside the

Martha and Kaitlin loved ‘Gay’s the Word’ bookshop! Martha also loved the history of LGSM: ‘Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners’ and also enjoyed finding out about the Bloomsbury Group.

For me, both days were very special. I learnt a lot and it was lovely to see so many LGBTQ+ students enjoying being seen and celebrating life!