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Primary education

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Original poster

Cultural Committee

4 replies

PiratePenguin · 02/02/2023 12:15

My Head has asked me to lead a Cultural Committee made up of parents. We are a fairly multicultural school but most Governors / PTA members are white British. This is being set up primarily to get the voice of our diverse community, but she also wants it to 'be dynamic'. She was events and the like but when I asked for clarification as to what she was thinking I was told to use my initiative and just sort it.
So.....does anyone have any experience of this kind of thing who can give me suggestions? Anyone set up events to highlight / celebrate / educate about different cultures in school (I'm so worried about it being tokenistic) I want to do a good job of this as I want to celebrate the various heritage of our students but no idea where to start.

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AlisonDonut · 02/02/2023 12:20

Oh no. Can you use your initiative and ditch this tokenistic nonsense?

If you don't even know your budget it is basically you and a load of parents doing a load of work to tick the heads 'inclusive' box.

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/02/2023 12:23

Hmm. I'm a governor for a very multicultural school, which manages to celebrate its diversity wonderfully.

I'd be concerned that this "cultural committee" seems like a bit of an add-on - what are they doing more broadly to ensure that the governing body and the PTA change in order to fully reflect the diversity of the school community? And how does the school currently celebrate diversity and teach about other cultures in the curriculum? It isn't just something that can be outsourced to parents from different heritages to be responsible for, though of course, those parents could certainly have a role in contributing to what the school does in this area. It rather feels to me like the HT can't be arsed and wants to make it your problem, whereas it should be a whole school initiative.

As far as your committee is concerned, I guess you could start by conducting a survey of parents to gather their views. And also ask the school to confirm what they're already doing in this area in order to identify gaps and ensure that you don't duplicate?

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/02/2023 12:24

@AlisonDonut said it more succinctly and bluntly than I did, but I have to agree!

MrsBennetsPoorNerves · 02/02/2023 12:29

Thinking about it further, I think I'd be inclined to assemble a committee and then get the committee to make recommendations to the school along the following lines:

Whole school approach is needed, with leadership from SLT to ensure that it is given sufficient profile and priority.

2.Action Plan needed to increase representation on governing body and PTA etc.

Objective to be included in the school development plan to ensure that cultural awareness and celebrating diversity is appropriately embedded in the curriculum.

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