EDI at Tiffin Girls’ this summer – Aritri Kumar, Tiffin Girls’ School

This Summer term, we have celebrated Turkish Sovereignty Day which commemorates the rise of a new era in Türkiye after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in 1923 with this day also dedicated to children, the creators of the future. We celebrated this together with students taking part in Turkish dancing, an enjoyable way to appreciate the traditions. 

Moreover, students and staff participated in the school’s Coronation Week which honoured the coronation of King Charles III with a range of activities including a Coronation Bunting competition which awarded house points and prizes. The Learning Resource Centre held a vote to find the kings and queens of genres among popular authors as well as played coronation videos on a large screen so students could understand the preparations.

We ended the week with a final house competition, the Coronation Picnic, as classes worked together to decorate picnics and were judged on their creativity, coronation-themed accessories and representation of commonwealth countries. It was a cheerful week and community spirit was undeniable as the main hall was filled with everyone’s hard work, delicious food and coronation-related props.

Coming up very soon on the week commencing the 3rd of July, is a cultural week for Latvia’s Liv minority with many events and activities to look forward to, including a football match, a common sport in Latvia although the national sport is ice hockey, with staff versus staff playing against each other to win. On Tuesday 4th July, there will be fun facts about Latvia’s culture and history throughout the lunch break to intrigue students and staff and teach them more about others’ traditions. Finally, on the 6th of July, we will be having a picnic to honour Ligo, a Latvian festival held every 23rd of June to celebrate the summer solstice with “Ligo” meaning ‘festival’. We will take part in Latvian traditions such as making flower wreaths and daisy chains on the field while celebrating with lots of singing, dancing and eating.

We hope the students will enjoy the activities and the new knowledge and awareness that they will provide and encourage others to do the same as it is an enjoyable way to appreciate the diverse range of cultures present within our community.