With a distinguished career spanning the legal, education, and public sectors, Caroline Anukem brings a wealth of experience to her role as the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Lead at Beaconsfield High. Caroline's position before joining us involved representing the Secretary of State at the Home Office, where she concurrently held the crucial role of EDI Lead for the Central London Division. 

Caroline's journey is marked by a unique lived experience, positioning her as an ideal facilitator for driving and improving EDI at Beaconsfield High. As an excellent communicator, she applies a panoramic EDI lens to every aspect of education, ensuring that inclusivity is embedded at its core. Caroline is dedicated to shaping a future where diversity is celebrated, and equity is not just an aspiration but a lived reality. 

If you have any questions or would like to talk about equality, diversity, and inclusion you can email Mrs Anukem directly.  

Throughout my time at Becky High, I have always looked up to the Senior Prefect Team, and so it truly is a privilege to say that I am now a part of it too. Diversity Equality and Inclusion is something I have always been passionate about and I can’t wait to continue amplifying student voice, so that everyone within the school community feels both celebrated and supported. We have recently established a DEI student newsletter which I greatly look forward to developing and continuing, alongside beginning a “Global Citizenship Day/Culture Day” within school. 

Nikita, Year 13 

I am delighted to have been chosen for this role! In this DEI position, I will represent Becky High with resilience and commitment, striving to make an effective, positive contribution to our already remarkable school. By supporting and being there for any member of the school community, I hope to cultivate a diverse environment of creativity, innovation, and empowerment. Specifically, I want to strengthen student voice within the school by celebrating different ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds. 

Reeya, Year 13 

Our inaugural Global Citizens Week showcased the diversity and unity within our school community. The heartbeat of this initiative was, without a doubt, our students' voices, echoing the need for a platform to embrace and appreciate our multicultural community. 

The sixth form hub was transformed into a living canvas of cultures with displays featuring clothing, fabrics, artefacts, biographies, literature, tableware, and tea sets from around the globe. Year 7 students learnt and sang national anthems from different countries and all students enjoyed our mouth-watering Global Food Festival with dishes prepared by their peers. We held a Culture Dress Day with a diverse array of cultural attire showcased by students and staff alike.  And finally, our fashion show was a spectacular visual journey into the heart of our collective global heritage.

Our students took the stage with powerful and inspirational assemblies that paid tribute to the incredible contributions of black women. Mrs Anukem attended the prestigious Penna Black History Month event networking with several remarkable women, including former Olympian Donna Fraser OBE. The canteen served dishes from black heritage, including curry goat, rice and peas, fried and boiled plantain, mac and cheese, Jollof rice, pepper stew, and jerk chicken. As a grand finale, our gospel choir enchanted us with a soul-stirring folk song.    

Rev Chalmers spoke to sixth form about his experiences growing up in Apartheid South Africa as a white person, and his journey to the realisation that what was going on, was wrong. His story of resistance was heart -warming and harrowing, as he endured suffering, knowing he was still one of the more privileged people in the movement. gospel choir enchanted us with a soul-stirring folk song.  

Nikita confidently led our Diwali assemblies this year, bringing the spirit of this significant festival to life, and sharing some personal experiences of how the celebrations differ.   Diwali, often referred to as the "Festival of Lights," is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in India and by the Hindu and Sikh communities around the world. The assemblies looked at the different significance between the Hindu and Sikh communities   

We conducted a student diversity, equality and inclusion survey to help us understand how our students perceive DEI across the school. Based on the survey and conversations with students across the school, we invited Just Like Us, a charity, which shares the lived experiences of LGBT+ young people at school. Just Like Us hosted virtual assemblies for all year groups, sharing the diverse experiences of young people in the LGBT+ community.    

We led a school wide conference in collaboration with The Global Equality Collective: Uncomfortable Conversations - Overcoming Toxic Masculinity in Schools. The conference was attended by 16 schools and we received some incredibly positive feedback for those that joined us. The key note speaker was author, writer and speaker Hira Ali (pictured)

This was created by us to help parents have conversations about race at home. It was created with author and blogger Uju Asika, who wrote Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World. Uju makes an uncomfortable conversation safe and accessible for all parents and we are so happy she will be a part of our webinar series.  We also welcome a group of six students from our own community and The Beaconsfield School, and they discuss their own lived experiences of racism.