Events
Recent and upcoming events
DCHS Pride Club runs each week and we have loads going on:
on 'quiet' weeks we do craft activities and write to our penpals in other schools
sometiems we have visitors such as Nathan who worked at the Stonewall Inn, New York, and our beloved Mr Gay Europe winner Tall Paul
we've met with the local police to talk about hate crime
we watch videos and discuss things that are in the news
we prepare resources like assemblies for the rest of the school
we run activities at least once a term, with support from The Duchess's High School Trust
we've taken part in dance classes with Stu Hatton and Tony the Doll
we've met important people such as the High Sheriff of Northumberland and the Police & Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness
we've visited some important LGBT+ friendly spaces, such as Baltic and Newcastle Catherdral
On the day we set up a stall and offered free face painting to members of the public, allowed visitors to help us colour in our Pride pictures, and even gave some temporary tattoos out with an LGBT+ theme to help spread the love.
In the summer we went along to Gay Day at The Alnwick Garden, where we saw 'friend of the club' Tall Paul Dennison WIN the Mr Gay Europe title
And this is one of our TWO huge banners that we took with us to Gay Day, paid for by the DCHS Trust. We put up our banners with pride every Thursday and every other chance we get!
Here you can see some of our visitors from Victim Support and Northumbria Police. They have been in to talk to Pride Club but also have done some one-to-one work with people who have suffered hate crime and with some of those who have committed hate crime.
In the summer of 2023 we are looking at a programme of RESTORATIVE JUSTICE to help us continue working to eliminate hate crime and prioritise our protected characteristics.
One DCHS parent gave the club all these rainbow laces to show his support!
In 2022 we worked with artists Richard Bliss and Zoe Murtagh to explore ideas about gender. We made felt and pipe-cleaner flowers to put around school as a way to reclaim spaces in school as gender-neutral and safe.
Pride Club have run bake sales to help us pay for trips out, and we work closely with Climate Club.
We believe that all forms of positive activism are important and valuable to the DCHS community.
We are due to present at the Culture Bridge North East 2022/2023 Imagine If conference, date tbc - watch this space!
Our friend Lavendar Love sent us her recycled swimwear costume which we will be displaying in school. We've talked about drag and how it relates to expressing gender identity - something we know that isn't always linked to sexuality or gender identity.
We made a fantastic display of all of our thoughts about being LGBT+ and put this up in school.
We also had support from local businesses (like Co-op) and other peer groups - the BTEC Hair & Beauty students helped to teach us some makeup techniques, so we wrote them these 'thank you' cards :)
We marked the Queen's Jubilee by designing and painting this Pride corgi. He went to a local park with other corgis designed by Primary Schools as part of a corgi-trail.
One of our proudest moments... working with year 10 and 11 students to get 'pride ready' for our bespoke dance class at school. It got us in the mood for Prom and we are definitely going to welcome Stu and the team back into school soon!
Trans Remembrance Day 2022
Three of our students were commended for their creative work, entered as part of Trans Remembrance Day 2022. You can read their work here:
Here is a speech by one of our students which explains a little about the impact Pride Club has had:
This student spoke to the Police & Crime Commissioner and also to The Duchess's High School Trust. They did a fantastic job!