Strength in Diversity

We are proud of the ethnic diversity of our community.  One of our alumnae from the early 1950's recently sent in some fond memories of a girl in her year group who had recently died.  This girl (Virginia Tarleton) was the lead child in the stage production of 'The King and I' in London in 1953 and was given permission to miss Wednesday afternoon school for the matinée performances.  She was remembered as being the first Asian child in the school at that time.

Virginia was born in Rangoon, Burma on 6 January 1941. The family fled to the UK when Burma was invaded by the Japanese.  Apparently she often spoke of the elephants and the naughty monkeys who would steal food from their veranda. What a different life the family had to adjust to in London! 

These days it's hard to imagine quite what her experience must have felt like. Intimidating perhaps for the child; hopefully fostering a sense of curiosity in her peers.  Maybe this was the start of our wonderful and enriching journey towards far greater diversity.  Today, our students grow up in a school where we all have so many differences, that diversity becomes the norm.  We learn from one another and in doing so we build strength and understanding in our community and beyond.

Breadth of Ethnicity

Country of Birth of our Students

Our Equality Plan

The objectives within our Equality Plan quite rightly extend beyond issues of ethnicity, embracing the wide range of differences within our community and recognising protected characteristics.  Student representatives for diversity and inclusion shaped the creation of our plan.  They identified strengths and areas for improvement, demonstrating their understanding of diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense.  

Our Equality Plan and annual reviews about its performance are available in the reports section of our website here.