Ashfield Park Primary School has been celebrating the cultural diversity found within its own school. A recent themed week has enabled pupils to widen their experience and understanding of what is culture and how Britain is a very diverse country to live in.

The week started with Year 2 dressing in costumes to represent countries with which they have connections: may it be family members or a country that intrigued them. Children in all classes were encouraged to bring in artefacts and to share stories and facts about their family’s background. This alone uncovered a fascinating, hidden wealth of cultures at the school, with children discussing their own lives and that of their relatives from as far afield as Egypt, Russia, Ghana and Pakistan. In reception and Year 1 the response to the week was tremendous, with parents supporting their children through bringing in national costumes, food for their classes to taste and from this a range of learning opportunities arose to discover more about these countries and cultures.

Year 4 spent each morning cooking recipes from Turkey, Rumania, Poland, Egypt and Sri Lanka and then sampling dishes such as falafels, Snow White cake, Basbousa and Kulfi. Through these practical culinary sessions the children now have a greater appreciation of the cultural way of life of five of their class mates.

Year 5 concentrated more on finding out about the difference between the terms migrant, immigrant and refugee. This started with a visit to Drummond’s fruit farm at Hom Green, where the children were allowed to pick their own strawberries, followed by a tour of the packing room and then discovering how most of this work is undertaken by the seasonal workers from Bulgaria and Romania, whose working day starts at 4.30am to ensure the strawberries are harvested in prime condition. Much to their delight, Mr.Ben Drummond very generously gave each child a punnet of strawberries to take home.

Not forgetting diversity of language, throughout the school everyone has been learning to say basic phrases in up to twenty different languages and in Nursery this experience was extended with a mother reading a Czech story to the youngest members of Ashfield Park School.

Their theme will continue this week as they will be visited by Ugandan teachers. This will mark the launch of a fund raising campaign by Ashfield Park to sponsor the making of wooden desks for the children at the link primary school in Namatumba, Uganda, who at present still sit on the floor for many of their lessons.