A fantastic day celebrating the amazing diversity at UTC Heathrow took place when students and staff took part in a Culture Day.
On Tuesday 29 April, students and staff were invited to wear items reflecting their cultural heritage and bring in favourite foods on a day designed to promote cultural awareness and understanding by showing the range of backgrounds present in our wonderful school community.
Around 20 different cultures were represented, from places including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Jamaica and Ghana.
The school was transformed into a whirl of colour with national flags – some of which adorned by the students, who spoke with pride about their heritage – their families, their clothing and the food they had brought with them.
It was a wonderful day of learning as the students found out things about their friends and teaching staff they might not have known before, discovering more about the similarities and differences that make up a diverse community.
One the day the students listened to an assembly by Headteacher Jas Kallah and Skanda Gopal, where Jas said: “This is our second cultural day. We’ve got a diverse culture here and it’s great to celebrate it today. Lots of you are wearing your cultural dress with pride and its great to see this focus on tolerance and respect for our rich cultures.”
Members of the student council worked hard to co-ordinate the day. Head girl Aitana said: “A lot of work went into today – the food, choreography and music and the Powerpoint slides. It’s been a good experience I think.”
For many the best bit was the food and drink, which gave the chance to try new dishes, and find out the origin and cultural significance of each dish. Foods included biryani, fried pastries, baclava and apple crumble and custard!
The afternoon saw dance and music performances a ‘cultural catwalk’ and finally a quiz.
Students and staff had a great time – here’s what they had to say.
Ibrahim: “My family are from Pakistan, but this thobe is from Saudi Arabia. I wear it all the time to mosque.”
Praneel: “This kurta would be worn for any special occasion. My family are from India – Mumbai and Pune.”
Abdullah: “ The jalaba is everyday dress in Morocco. I’ve been enjoying the food – especially the biryani.”
Eshel and Maryam have Pakistani heritage. “These are worn for wedding and cultural events. We are doing a traditional dance later on which hopefully will go well.”
Corey was wrapped in the flags of Jamaica and Guyana. “I’m hoping to visit Jamaica this summer. Today has been a good event, it’s been fun and I’ve enjoyed the food.”
Mahmoda, wearing a celebratory charmadar from Afghanistan said: “My old school didn’t do anything like this and it’s been so good to see my friends in their cultural dress.”
