Earlier this year, we took part in the international celebrations for Empathy Week. Empathy Week is an opportunity for young people across the world to feel empowered to grow into conscious and empathic leaders. We felt that this was a brilliant opportunity for our students to develop our core values of compassion and social responsibility. It is also a chance for them to learn about current global issues and develop their own ideas about how to make our school community and the wider world, a more empathic and equal place.
Our Respect Council in Year 10 have responded to the activities in Empathy Week by creating a thoughtful and well researched assembly all about promoting respect and equality. They have looked at important issues such as racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia and thought carefully about how we can work together to help ensure that everyone is treated with respect and given the chance to thrive. Additionally, this project underpins the work we are doing as a school to increase awareness of the concept of universal human rights and supports our progress in working towards achieving the UNICEF Silver Rights Respecting Schools award.
In response to empathy week, we’ve also been developing ideas about how to encourage empathy and provide support for those who may be struggling with their mental health. We’ve created posters and leaflets, which will be displayed and made available around school as a reminder that everyone has the right to help with their mental and physical health and to encourage compassion and empathy within our school community.
We want to continue celebrating the importance of empathy and equality, so in the coming weeks we will be taking part in a ‘Unitee’ competition. This is a competition organised by the ‘Global Acts of Unity’ campaign, that aims to spread the message of tolerance and unity among young people by challenging them to design a t-shirt (or ‘unitee shirt’) inspired by the theme of unity. We are looking forward to seeing all the creative and original designs created by our students!
Mrs Hall, Deputy Headteacher
and Miss Starkie, Equality Lead