An Inclusive Curriculum

This ground-breaking iGCSE is available to Year 10 and 11 students. The Cambridge course encourages pupils to think critically and to explore wide-ranging topics of global significance.  Through collaboration with their peers, pupils discuss current global topics from a range of issues spanning inequality, poverty, water and food security, migration, globalisation, threats to the environment and culture and identity. This iGCSE underlines the importance of being an active citizen, and so a key aspect of the course is to consider different perspectives from personal, national and international viewpoints.

Poetry modules this year have included ‘Celebrating Other Cultures’ which give students an in-depth look into poets such as Maya Angelou and Imtiaz Dharker. In addition, students study Of ‘Mice and Men’ in Year 9, exploring the context of discrimination and segregation in 1930s America, the Jim Crow Laws and how those with mental and physical disabilities were treated. The study of Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ will allow students to also look at effective rhetoric in the speeches of Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Maya Angelou. In their study of non-fiction, students have also looked at essayists such as Chimamanda Adichie and Nikesh Shukla. At GCSE, students study a diverse range of poets in their Power and Conflict cluster, along with looking at extracts from contemporary writers such as Angie Thomas, author of ‘The Hate U Give’, and Yann Martel, author of ‘Life of Pi’, for their English Language GCSE. At A Level, the Edexcel curriculum requires pupils to apply post-colonial, ecocritical and feminist theory to a range of diverse 20th Century poets. They also have the opportunity to focus on the female authors Mary Shelley and Margaret Atwood.

This school-wide reading initiative, which is open to all pupils, encourages pupils to read for pleasure and includes a range of KS3-KS5 BAME writers from Malorie Blackman and Jasmine Warga to Tomi Adeyemi and Zadie Smith.

Diversity is central to the History curriculum in every year group and is approached from two angles. The first angle is to consider the contributions made to human progress and the sum of knowledge and national endeavour by different ethnic and social groups. For example, Year 10 students learn about the contributions to early medicine made by Islamic scientists; Year 11 students learn about pioneering women nurses and doctors, who paved the way for the Suffragettes and for women’s right to study for a degree; Year 9 students learn in detail about World War 1 and prepare presentations on the contributions to the war effort made by non-European and colonial participants.

The second angle is through a focus on cultural and racial injustices and conflicts in the past. The relationship between Christianity and Islam through time, for example, is studied in Years 7 and 12 through a focus on the Crusades; British attitudes to colonial India enter the curriculum in Year 12, when students focus on Winston Churchill. More broadly, discrimination and the fight for rights enter the curriculum in Years 8, 9 and 11, when the British Empire, slavery, abolition and the fight for civil rights, as well as the Holocaust and the Geneva Conventions, are studied. Pupils in these year groups learn about the mechanisms by which social and racial groups have been marginalised and scapegoated in the past. In Year 13 the unit on the Early Modern European Witchcraze analyses this phenomenon in detail and draws constant comparison to other historic episodes of marginalisation and miscarriages of justice against minorities, such as the Dreyfus Affair, the Scottsboro Boys’ trial and the detention of supposed terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Students learn about the importance of human rights and through this are reminded that with rights come responsibilities: that they have the responsibility to treat each other with respect, as equals and as human beings. The focus is very much on the fair and equal treatment of all. To help understand these issues students learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the role of the United Nations in promoting these, and laws in the UK that uphold human rights. At GCSE level, as part of the ‘Crime and Punishment’ module, students learn about the case of Anthony Walker who was murdered in the UK in a racially motivated hate crime. Students also study a GCSE module called ‘Human Rights and Social Justice’ which studies the effects of prejudice and discrimination in terms of race, gender, disability and sexuality. The course also considers the gap between rich and poor in the world and how wealth should be used responsibly

Diversity is at the heart of much of what we do in PSHE. Each year group has the opportunity to meet faith leaders from the local community. In their inter-faith PSHE lessons, students are able to develop an understanding of how different faiths and cultures celebrate their beliefs, as well as working with the faith leaders to understand better how people of different faiths can co-exist within the same community.

Year 7 students study Multiculturism. The focus here is understanding how different cultures can enrich each other and what the benefits are of living in a culturally diverse society.

The focus in Year 8 is on developing tolerance and compassion. Students discuss issues related to prejudice and discrimination and learn the importance of not judging someone based on stereotypes. These discussions encompass issues around LGBTQ+, race and disability, amongst others.

This sense of tolerance and compassion is then developed at Key Stage 4 when students learn how to use sign language as well as meet representatives from the Guide Dogs charity. Discussions about immigration and radicalisation also feature prominently in the Key Stage 4 programme alongside FGM and Black Lives Matter.

Our students are made aware of the social diversity of Ashford itself through the charity project which takes place in Year 9. Students undertake research into social issues prevalent in the local community and then choose a local charity to support by raising funds through a creative writing competition. Every Christmas, students in Years 7 and 8 pack up shoeboxes which are sent abroad through the Shoebox Campaign, as well as to local charities such as the LightBites Café.

Diversity plays an important role within our Geography curriculum.

In Year 7, we have a topic called ‘Africa and Map Skills’ in which we look at the causes and impacts of colonisation both historically and how it affects the continent today. Within this topic we look at the stereotypes associated with the continent and spend some time discovering why these stereotypes might exist and what we can do to challenge them. We also consider how more minority groups, such as the Maasai people, lead their lives and the cultural diversity that exists just within one continent.

In the topic of ‘Population and Migration’, we follow the stories of young migrants fleeing Eritrea, mapping their dangerous journeys, whilst considering the reasons why they would want to embark on such treacherous crossings. We also focus on the issues in Syria; focussing on life inside the refugee camps, the causes of the conflict and how people have been impacted by war. Finally in this topic, we are told the story of the Windrush generation. We link this story to the history of colonisation and the British nationality Act 1948; we also listen to some stories told by the children of the Windrush and learn about their experiences of racial tension but also cultural celebration.

By Year 8, our development topic allows us to focus on poverty and inequality and how quality of life can be improved in the developing world. We reference tourism as a way of many developing countries supporting their economy and, we look at Jamaica in particular. We focus on Jamaica’s economy and the fact it was a British colony until its independence in 1962 which has led to high levels of inequality within the country; this also helps us to understand a little about the ethnic origin of its residents.

During our studies in Year 9 we assess the vulnerability of Haiti’s population in relation to the 2010 earthquake making links to colonisation.
As part of our urban topic at GCSE Level we look at the opportunities and challenges associated with rapid urban growth in particular in Lagos, Nigeria. Whilst our London case study investigates ethnic diversity across the city, making links to patterns of social deprivation and inequality. Throughout the economic world topic students are made aware of the uneven development that exists across the globe as a result of numerous factors which include colonialism, conflict, corruption and trade.

One of our topics at A Level involves us studying contemporary urban environments in which we focus on cultural diversity – introducing the idea of diaspora communities and how they influence the characteristics of their new communities. This concept is then used to discuss the idea of multiculturism and the benefits of multi-cultural societies. Social segregation is often associated with migration and so we think about the reasons for ethnic segregation in cities, which has led to conflict such as the Oldham Riots, and then consider what can be done to tackle this issue through the promotion of interculturalism. Students are aware of the urban social exclusion that exists, and we look at urban design and the concept of ‘fortress landscapes’ and gated communities, where security barriers deter contact with the adjacent less affluent communities.