Culture Awareness Week 

A number of Year 12 students who were keen to promote diversity within our school and to raise money for a humanitarian charity, decided to plan a Culture Week at Oaks Park High School. The students put together an initial proposal and worked closely with the Headteacher and key members of staff to formulate a plan for the week. This culture event took place from Monday 12th to Friday 16th July 2021. 

During the week there was a number of activities that were planned to promote different cultures.These included:

1. A new culture badge which was designed by our students themselves (see above)
2. All students were welcomed with morning greetings in a variety of different languages from around the world on our bodet system.
3. The canteen staff cooked a  range of delicious cultural dishes for students to enjoy at lunch time. There was also themed music playing during this time to promote the culture menus being sampled on the day. The cultural dishes sampled were:

Monday: Lebanese

Tuesday: Japanese

Wednesday:  Mexican

Thursday: Carribean

Friday: British

1. The theme of cultural diversity was built into all PSHE lessons during this week, so that students were able to understand and celebrate the importance of cultural diversity in society.  
2. Finally, we finished the week off with Cultural Dress day on Friday 16th July 2021. Students and staff were given the opportunity to express their culture through clothing and on the day we had an array of colourful, diverse and beautiful cultural dress. It was an amazing spectacle and a fantastic way to finish off the week! 

We also had a mobile photo booth using our bespoke Oaks Park Culture Week Photo Frame where we were able to take photos of staff and students in the different bubbles across the school (see some photos below).

Through donations made on the Cultural Dress day and contributions by Oaks Park High School, a total of £500 was raised and will be given to the charity Médicins San Frontières (Medics without borders).

The aim is for the culture week initiative to become a regular part of our student enrichment at OPHS in order to promote our inclusive ethos as a school and to continue to ensure that student voice is at the heart of the school. 

CULTURE AWARENESS WEEK 2021 GALLERY