If anyone embraces different cultures and celebrates diversity, it’s UK boarding schools. Firstly, they understand the value of shaping young people who are open-minded and tolerant, and secondly, these schools absolutely want to be an international player and on the global stage. They are educating the students of the future and actively want them to interact with students of other cultures.
So let’s jump in on this and take a closer look at the rich multi-cultural mix that we see so much in these schools.
Broader perspectives taught through celebrations & events
The new January term brought with it the not so distant memories of new year for many. But not everyone. Hijri in Saudi Arabia had already been and gone in December and The Chinese New Year is only a day away at the end of January for example. The reality is that the year is punctuated with a multitude of celebrations from all around the world in addition to the UKs – Hanukkah, Ramadan, Easter and Vesak for example. Boarding schools go out of their way to mark these days and other annual events of international note. Warmly celebrating and reflecting on cultural diversity.
Alongside these, teachers introduce diverse perspectives when teaching and there are student-led committees in place to focus on diversity as well as equality and inclusion. The opinion of each students matters. There are also one-off events are wrapped into boarding life that entertain and/or challenge the students. See just some of the events below.
At Rochester College, a Japanese movie marathon evening was held for students to enjoy a popular part of Japanese culture with movies and pyjamas, sushi, and ramen. On another occasion, a special session on African drumming was held for sixth form students.
At Bedford School, the students used a combination of drama, dance, music, art, games and DT to explore the culture of assigned continents. Fact files were created on South America, Oceania, Asia and Africa along with wearing the traditional dress and tasting the food of their chosen continent. The older students also participated in a Model United Nations (MUN) exercise to gain a deeper understanding of the United Nations’ work, looking at more challenging issues, such as armed conflict, and were then tasked with giving speeches on their subjects.
At Millfield School, as part of the Sixth Form EAGLES ‘Emerging Adults’ sessions, their pupils can consider the importance of diversity and tolerance in modern society. There, international pupils have the opportunity to speak about issues from their point of view and what is done differently back home. In turn, their British counterparts learn about the challenges of international pupils in a new country.
Encouraging individuality every day
But it’s not just about the celebrations and one-off events, it’s the mindset of the everyday. There’s a zero-tolerance approach to racism, religious days from many cultures are key dates in the school calendar and meals are intentionally internationally diverse. The idea being to create a sense of belonging for every single student, wherever they’re from. For them to feel at home.
“Boarding life at The Royal is like a big family where everyone has a place.”
French boarder, Year 9 at The Royal School
A slightly less conventional approach has been adopted into the everyday by Rochester Independent College. It’s purposely a non-uniform private school to embrace difference. “The freedom of our students to express themselves invariably means that their educational outcomes are better than they would be in other settings” says Leighton Bright, Vice Principal and SENCO “To be a truly inclusive education environment, we have to accept students for who they are, rather than trying to force a square peg into a round hole.”
Diversity from the top down
It’s from the top down, that boarding schools build diverse communities to encourage a wide range of perspectives in their pupils; resulting in a dynamic learning environment. Like Irfan Latif, when Principal of DLD College London in 2022, said ” We need to focus on our recruitment and place a strong emphasis on recruiting more from ethnic minorities.”
All strategies are constantly being reviewed by the school leaders. For example, at Hurst the level of diversity contained was reviewed within the curriculum by the school leadership. This was done via a series of questions that put the teachers into the role of the student. Examples of the questions include:
– You are a young person who identifies as belonging to a minority group. What view of yourself have you developed through our learning programmes?
– What culturally diverse learning opportunities are already overtly present within our curriculum?
– What changes could be made to our curriculum in order to make it more culturally diverse?
The benefits of culturally diverse school environments
There are countless benefits for students learning in culturally diverse school environments. From just the examples that we’ve been discussing here, we’ve seen mixing with others from other cultures provides an opportunity to express individuality, have new perspectives and tolerance, along with giving everyone a voice. Multicultural education also prepares students for life, building upon their critical thinking skills e.g. asking questions, having empathy and curiosity and an ability to evaluate different viewpoints. All of which will stand them in good stead when they move onto their first job. Employers actively look for engaged global citizens, critical thinkers and problem solvers that bring and embrace diverse perspectives into their business communities. It’s vital that once they’re part of the workforce, that they can work well with colleagues, customers/clients from diverse cultural backgrounds and develop into the global business leaders of tomorrow.
A culturally diverse school community that fits with your family’s values
If you’re an international family interested in your child boarding in the UK, you can be confident that you will find a UK Boarding school that is richly multi-culturally diverse. But in order to find the one that suits you and your child the most, you need to ask questions. Ask about the mix of international students in a school, particularly the quota of students of your own nationality and their policy on religion – if your faith can be supported. And, not to be underestimated, if the school can provide food that your child is used to. Please get in touch if you’d like support on securing, not just the right education for your child, but a culturally diverse community that fits with your family’s values.