Victoria College Students ‘Speak Up’ about coming out and being a good ally this Pride Month

As part of our ongoing commitment to creating an inclusive community and celebrating diversity, Victoria College will be celebrating Pride month this week.

Students recently came together with their peers at JCG to plan an assembly for Pride Week. They decided that as 2022 marks 50 years since the first London Pride March, they would focus on educating students about what has and hasn’t changed since the first London Pride. In their assembly they also explore how to be a good ally and how to respond if a friend comes out to you. This conversation is a continuation of our commitment to encourage our students to ‘Speak Up’ and be good at listening to others. To further inspire and educate others, our students have nominated LBGTQ+ champions, the details of which will be shared across the school on the TV screens.

Headteacher, Dr Gareth Hughes said "I am delighted that Victoria College will be celebrating Pride month this year through a series of events and educational opportunities that encourage our young people to talk and listen. Much of the planning has been driven by our students themselves, and it is wonderful to see their desire to be part of a supportive community that promotes diversity and inclusion."

Our Pride Week plans continue throughout the week - we will be flying the Pride flag, celebrating our LGBTQ+ community and using lesson time to create meaningful conversations:

• Subject teachers will plan specific lessons to focus on an element of Pride; we will highlight LGBTQ+ role models in these lessons, as well as explore relevant poetry, music and learning through drama.
• Our tutors will be following a plan of activities tailored to their year groups, with whom they will develop a more detailed conversation about how to be a good ally and how to be a good friend if someone comes out to you.
• Incorporated within all of this is a virtual assembly from an Old Victorian, talking about his experience of being at school and what Pride means to him.

Thursday will provide an opportunity for us to raise funds to support LGBTQ+ charities. We will be having a non-uniform day encouraging students to wear bright, colourful clothing; the money raised will be split between the local charity Liberate, the Channel Islands’ equality and diversity charity, and The Trevor Project, which is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for young people under 25 in the LGBTQ+ community.

Victoria College is a Silver Rights Respecting School and is therefore committed to educating students about the Rights of the Child, as laid out by UNICEF in their charter. Pride Week brings our focus to both Article 2, the right to non-discrimination, and Article 12, respect for the views of the child, which are part of our school charter.