Unity Group

In the last week of June, the academy community came together to celebrate its first ever Pride Week. In tutor times that week, students learned about the origins of the LGBT+ civil rights movement in the black civil rights movement and the Equality Act that protects everyone’s rights to celebrate their difference and be protected from discrimination.

All year, a growing number of students in Years 7 to 11 have attended Unity, the academy’s LGBT+ student group, or engaged with the group via its Google Classroom. The group is led by Mr Burton and they explore topics generated by the group in lively discussions and activities every week, often making presentations themselves. Their confidence and self-belief has grown hugely as the year has gone by and they proudly identify as members of the LGBT+ community. Twenty-eight students and a large number of staff came together at the end of Pride Week for an after school Pride Party, where our new mascot, Abe the gnome, was named.