Celebrating culture and diversity

Culture Week at LGS

Culture Week at Loughborough Grammar School encourages our pupils to learn more about countries across the globe through a variety of engaging pupil-led workshops and activities. It celebrates the rich diversity within our community and fosters a strong sense of belonging. Taking place during Children’s Mental Health Week, this year’s Culture Week also incorporated the theme: ‘This is My Place’ to highlight how positive wellbeing can be promoted through inclusivity. 

At the beginning of the week, all pupils were given a Culture Week ‘passport’ in which they could collect stamps across the course of the week by attending a range of our lunchtime workshops. Alongside staff, many of these sessions were led and delivered by our pupils. The confidence shown in their willingness to share their culture with their peers did not go unnoticed and we feel proud to provide an open space for pupils to learn from each other. 

An immersive Indian classical music workshop kicked off Culture Week on Monday and was led by two Year 8 pupils. The session explored the melodies and complex rhythms that are combined within Indian music to portray emotions. Having learned Indian classical music from a young age, the boys explained that it makes them feel connected to their cultural roots. With pupils from across a wide range of year groups attending, the boys were able to lead staff and their peers expertly and confidently through singing a small section of a song.  

Pupils also had the opportunity to learn about the significance of diyas – small bowl-shaped oil lamps primarily used for festivals like Diwali to symbolise the triumph of light over darkness. The intricate patterns and symbols adorned on the diyas represent various aspects of Indian cultural beliefs such as protection, respect for elders and peace.  

A Chinese food and writing workshop saw three pupils deliver an engaging presentation about Chinese culture and their own traditions growing up. They then taught their peers how to read, write and speak basic Chinese phrases. There was also an opportunity to try food from the Chinese cuisine, including spring rolls, noodles and dumplings. 

Our Librarian led an exciting workshop on Afrikaans culture which included an introduction to the Afrikaans language, some basic words and their origins, and traditional food. Whilst others attended a ‘Paint Your Own Lucha Libre Mexican Mask’ where they chose from a range of templates and created some bright, colourful and impactful masks. 

This highlights just a small selection of the workshops on offer this week. Other sessions included; creating a Hong Kong neon lights design; Hungarian food and culture; An introduction to Indian drumming. 

Alongside lunchtime workshops, pupils also received a unique Culture Week assembly, enjoyed a Culture Week twist on a selection of their weekly societies and sampled some culinary delights from around the world at our dedicated bake sale which included bakes from all over the world; Bangladesh, Nigeria, India, Belarus, Jamaica, St Lucia, South African, Czech Republic.

“It’s really nice to see how many boys are willing to get involved and to see the variety of bakes on offer. It’s important to learn about other people’s cultures and to try foods that are unfamiliar.” 

Mu’aadh, Year 13 Diversity and Inclusion Prefect 

Sharing stories about heritage from all over the globe, Culture Week offered our boys the chance to gain a real insight into the lives of the people they interact with every day. We’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone involved in making Culture Week at LGS a big success – thank you to everyone who led a workshop or shared their culture, Mrs Gosling, Miss Pankhania and our Diversity and Inclusion Prefect for all their organisation.