PRISM AND PRIDE

PRISM is Emanuel’s LGBTQ+ pupil voice group. Prism meet weekly to discuss topics of queer culture, including talks on political figures, book and film reviews. The society is run by pupils in the Upper Sixth who are supported by teachers, and is open to those in Year 9 and above.

The PRISM committee are also in charge of organising Emanuel’s annual Pride Week which first began in 2020. Pride Week aims to celebrate diversity and difference and help increase our understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. It is important to us that all members of the Emanuel community feel supported and accepted at school. Over the years, we have had sales of rainbow laces, a teacher lip sync battle, a colourful non-uniform day, performances of queer-themed monologues and music and a school-wide poetry competition. Life Education lessons and assemblies ask pupils to consider how they can show support and understanding to their peers.

For Pride Week, we wanted to offer a wide range of activities including educating pupils on LGBTQ+ topics, raising money and hosting fun activities. We worked with staff members to create a week-long plan of activities for a week in the Spring term, Pride Week was a great success and we achieved our goals of creating something new to support Pride, while raising money for our selected charity, Though we are supporting and championing Pride throughout the school year, the focus during Pride Week helped to reinforce this goal. Seb Year 13