Small Heath students celebrate cultural diversity

Small Heath Leadership Academy hosted its first ever Culture Week to celebrate diversity, advocate equality and champion inclusion. The week-long programme of activities shone a spotlight on the school community’s rich, diverse and unique identities.

Organised by the Student Wellbeing team, pupils staged a series of events across the week’s tutorial sessions, which included interesting quizzes, informative presentations and inspiring debates about the definition and importance of culture in society.

The week culminated with ‘Culture Day’ where pupils dressed in clothing to represent their own identity and heritage. With traditional clothing from Somalia, Bangladesh, South America and numerous European nations on display, the colours, cultures and eccentricities of communities around the world presented an opportunity for pupils to learn more about their peers’ cultures and to celebrate the school’s rich diversity.

Olive Birmingham step back in time to Victorian life

On an immersive visit to a Victorian town, pupils at The Olive School, Birmingham experienced the sights, sounds and smells of 19th century British life.

Throughout their visit to the Blists Hill Victorian Town – located in the Ironbridge Valley of Invention, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – the children had the unique opportunity to interact with ‘real’ Victorians within the town’s authentic shops and cottages.

As pupils were transported back to Victorian times, donning traditional costumes and experiencing aspects of a child’s life during the era, they observed tradespeople skilfully engaged in their crafts in the town’s workshops and factories. In the first of two workshops, the pupils experienced a typical-Victorian school lesson which included mathematics and literacy. The pupils also took part in a drill lesson in the schoolyard, gaining an insight into the disciplined routines Victorian children had to follow.

The second workshop focused on the art of candle dipping, delving into the history of the craft by trying it themselves. Pupils made their own candles by skilfully dipping a white candle into coloured wax, precisely maintaining a temperature of 65°C.

The memorable trip aligned seamlessly with the pupils’ studies of the Industrial Revolution in their history lessons and their learning about Victorian hats in design and technology. By exploring the Blists Hill Victorian Town, the pupils witnessed first-hand the transformative changes that occurred in British towns during the Industrial Revolution, gaining valuable insights into the challenging, and often gruesome, conditions faced by factory children.