As you know we have focused on a whole school theme each half term this year. We would like to celebrate the end of the year by holding a ‘Proud to be Me’ Parade on Friday 12 July 2019
We are inviting family members and friends into school to celebrate the work that the children have carried out on the six half-termly whole school themes this year:
- Black History
- Disability History
- Women’s History
- Mindfulness
- Love our Planet
- LGBTQ+ History
This will be celebration of the diversity and the anti-bullying work that has been going on in school all year. We would like the children to dress in such a way as to celebrate what makes them feel proud about themselves.
Many of our children may have found aspects of our half-termly themes relatable to their lives, and may choose to reflect one of these themes in their outfits. We encourage this, as well as any other aspect of their life, heritage or family they may be proud of.
If you would like more information on the things that each year group have been, and will be, learning around these themes, please check the relevant year group blog.
Each year group has done a plan for this half-term’s theme, which is on their year group blog. If you have any questions regarding this, please speak to the class teacher.
I am so glad to see that the school is once again hosting a parade this year. It would have been easy to be cowed into submission by a vocal minority.
I know the parade isn’t exclusively about LGBTQ+, but I want to say something about that. I’m a Christian parent and, whilst LGBTQ+ goes against the beliefs of many in my faith, I’m personally pleased the school is teaching it. Tolerance of people with different beliefs to our own is sorely lacking in British society right now and it’s truly terrifying that there are adults who choose to involve children in that. Teaching our children that we’re all different and that those differences don’t make us any more, or less, valuable is absolutely essential. My children have attended two gay weddings in the last few years because we believe it’s important for them to know that, whilst that may not be our lifestyle, other people have the right to live their lives differently. The teaching of LGBTQ+ also helps to, rightly, ensure that the children of gay parents aren’t ostracised by their peers because they happen to have single sex parents. Just as I, as a Christian, have the rights to my own beliefs, so too do others in society who think or live differently.
Thank you for making the right decision to carry on on with this, even if it wasn’t an easy one.