Equality and Diversity

The Equality and Diversity Committee

Following Ruislip High School’s work with the Institute of Physics on gender balance in Physics and other STEM subjects, the school took part in the Institute’s pilot ‘Opening Doors Project’ which aims to look at improving gender balance. As part of this, the school set up an Equality and Diversity Committee which actively examines how schools can improve all aspects of equality across the school. The students have carried out their own research on unconscious bias and have collected data on how students interact during lessons. The Equality and Diversity Committee's work on equality is an ongoing project and students are committed to improving their school environment to make all students feel welcomed and celebrated.

The Equality and Diversity Committee visited the media studios of Argos to incite a change in the way the company advertises its products, particularly toys, to bring them in line with future ASA Advertising. They delivered a pitch including statistics about gender balance in the toys section as well as ethnic diversity in the whole of the catalogue. Students came up with a number of ‘quick wins’ for the company that could be implemented immediately which included careful consideration of gender stereotyping and avoiding upholding these in their catalogue imagery. Ruislip High students were invited back to the Argos Headquarters on Monday 15th October 2018 where the Head of PR and her team showcased a number of phased changes they plan to bring in the future; the students were thrilled to see all the proposed changes to the 2019 catalogue. The committee has future plans to contact other organisations to try and promote gender neutral products and are planning to contact Kinder Chocolate.

“The Equality and Diversity Committee has helped me grow and mature as a person . I can now speak in front of my peers about the impact we are making in our community and school. I am passionate about promoting Equality and Diversity at school and hope we continue to make a difference in the future.” Monica 9B .

“I really enjoy being part of the Equality and Diversity Committee. I feel I am being heard and I want people to know about disability in a positive way . I want to become a voice in Ruislip High School for all disabled students to promote equality through the committee.” Katy 8B