Twelve Religious Studies students from L5-U6 went to a ‘Free and Equal’ Human Rights conference at Lytchett Minster School recently. The conference was run by Amnesty International and covered topics on sexism, misogyny and harassment. There were over 100+ schools joining in the conference; some in person and a large majority online.
The conference looked at issues surrounding gender bias and disparity in the UK and around the world. It also explored the concept of power and consent as well challenging issues on inequality, harassment and abuse. The topics were very thought-provoking and made everyone sit up and think.
Grace Savage opened the conference: she is a world champion beatboxer who has performed internationally and on Radio 1. She demonstrated her skills in a one-off performance and explained how she had experienced sexism in a male dominated industry. The audience also heard from poets, writers and MBE explorers who had experienced gender bias and discrimination.
Rachel Grocott from the charity ‘bloody good period’ talked about menstrual equity and how society still finds menstruation and period products taboo even though 50% of the population uses them. She talked about how to overcome period poverty and explained what her charity is campaigning for. Billy Clark discussed the impact of pornography on young people/ relationships and how objectifying people causes harm. This led to a power talk on harmful sexual behaviour and how we can try and prevent this from happening in today’s society.
Each speaker made the students challenge and question the world around us, promoting change and empathy for others.
Thanks go to the RS/ PSRE department for organising this very important event for the pupils.
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The conference follows a series of workshops and talks that have been organised throughout the year to support Lower and Upper 5 girls in a variety of ways. The term began with a Mental Health Talk for Lower 5 from Ayo to teach girls the necessary problem-solving skills to deal with low self-esteem and to have a positive mental health, which they found extremely useful. The workshop offered the pupils a step-by-step framework for boosting self-esteem, self-confidence and resilience. Pupils learnt how to use a '4 step system' in order to deal with problems. They also developed their skills in strategic thinking, problem identification and the process for being solution-oriented.
Please watch the link here for an extract from her engaging presentation: https://youtu.be/
Later in the term, the Upper 5 will be discussing exam stress and how to cope with pressure, led by Nicole Bateman. The intention of the session will be to equip and empower students with practical strategies to help with stress management, especially surrounding exams.
In the new year both Lower and Upper 5 will attend a workshop on drug awareness and understand what are the most common drugs that they are likely to encounter (directly or indirectly) between now and the time they leave university such as cannabis, LSD, ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine. Here, students will be shown what these drugs look like, what some of the different names for them are, how they are administered and what the effects are and what the dangers are.
Finally, in the summer term, the Lower 5 will attend a Citizenship day with Peter Radford, with the aim of educating and mobilising students on important human rights issues locally and globally. They will inspire students to use their voices and make a difference both in school and as a global citizen. Students will explore ‘British Values’ and understand how they fit with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Thanks go to the PSHRE department for organising these excellent and vital workshops for the pupils.
