MANGOTSFIELD School students played a central role in organising a festival celebrating diversity and cultural differences.
The school’s Culture Week was held at the end of March and included a range of activities and competitions planned by pupils, from music quizzes and painting competitions to dance displays.
A “cultural dress/ wear the colour of your flag day” was held for staff and pupils, and included face painting and a DJ set in the school canteen from a Year 11 student playing music from across the world.
A school spokesperson said: “With a school community from all over the world, there are lots of differences to celebrate, and this is one of the many reasons school leaders are so proud of their community.
“One of the highlights of the week was students performing dances on the main stage one lunchtime, with a packed main hall giving them a standing ovation when their performances had finished.
“Staff and students alike commented on what a wonderful celebration of the school’s diversity it has become.”
The school also recently held a careers week, where volunteers from a variety of industries gave presentations to Year 7 and 8 students about their companies and jobs.
The guests came from a variety of sectors including engineering, construction, sport, technology, energy business and finance.
Also taking place before the Easter holidays was the school’s Science Week, where 40 pupils from Year 7 to Year 9 took part in a contest to research and design solutions to challenges humanity may face in the future in the home, transport, health sector or space.
They then had to write about their research in a report suitable to be sent to the government.
The school spokesperson said: “Students demonstrated great ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking, applying science to solve problems.
“We are now waiting, with fingers crossed, to see if any of our teams have won a national prize.”
On a lighter note, the school’s science technicians made ice cream using dry ice, serving up more than 250 portions of vanilla, chocolate and lemon ice cream.
The school also held a ‘challenge day’, where pupils had the chance to go off-site and/or off-timetable to go on subject-related trips or try new activities.