Diversity Project

Goffs-Churchgate is proud to update you on an important piece of work underway, to continue to ensure diversity and positive representation within our school community.

This work began in October 2020, when a small number of students spoke with the Senior Team about how we can further positively represent the BAME community at Goffs-Churchgate.  This inspired a dynamic and long term piece of work to begin, which would look at all elements of diversity, including race, sexuality, gender, and religion.

An action plan was written, and a working party was formed, including students, staff, teachers, and some LAB members. Despite the difficulties of lockdown, work on the project continued, and an exciting piece of CPD was held for our staff, hosted by a company called the "Black Curriculum". This same company will be running an assembly after half term for all year groups. This CPD kick-started a review of the school's curriculum in which all faculties looked at their schemes of work, displays, and resources to ensure they were representative of individuals from all backgrounds.

Many exciting opportunities arose, and changes were implemented due to this project; however, the changes made in the English Faculty are of particular significance.  On reviewing their curriculum, the faculty uncovered that every book the students studied in English at Key Stage 3 was written by a white, male author.  Having discovered their curriculum was unfortunately extremely lacking in diversity, the team has created an entire new curriculum in English at Key Stage 3, supporting our literacy strategy. The vision is for all students to be well-read, have a full and enjoyable reading journey, and have a rich and diverse cultural experience through their reading. We want to be proud of how our students develop an understanding of the world through their reading experience while garnering the skills required to succeed in their education. By overhauling the curriculum and adopting an innovative approach of studying a new book every half term, every student in our school, regardless of their reading habits, will have read at least eighteen books with a wide variety of ethnicities and sexuality neurodiverse, and gender representations. The selection of books would challenge stereotypes, offer inspirational characters that people of all demographics can look up to, and provide a range of authors from different backgrounds that we can celebrate.

KS3 Reading Map
 

Another strand of this project is the rebranding of our Houses. Our previous House names were not reflective of our community, and the students found them unrelatable.  As a result, a competition was launched to rebrand the Houses. The students voted, and the new names are House Trott, House Rashford, House Seacole and House Attenborough.

Our House System

Finally, throughout this academic year, we will be working towards the SSAT Race Charter Mark in conjunction with Fig Tree international.   Already the Senior Leadership Team has undertaken a thought-provoking and challenging CPD session. There are further sessions planned for Trustees and LAB members, and middle leaders in the coming months. 

We look forward to continuing to share with our community the changes that we have made as a result of this project.