Day of Difference

Hosted by the Citizenship department,Year 10 students were able to engage with issues of migration, immigration and diversity.

In March 2010, two "Day of Difference" events were held at Callington Community College.

The Day of Difference was developed by the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth as an opportunity for students to engage at a deep level with the issues of migration, immigration and diversity. It was delivered as a whole day workshop, consisting of a simulation game in the morning and the chance to encounter visitors from various ethnic backgrounds in the afternoon.

Following an assembly in the hall students were split up into colour coded groups. They were then set the task to develop their own cultural identity and traditions, and finally to present their new identity to the other nations surrounding them. When the students' newly found cultural pride was at its highest they were told that an environmental disaster had hit one of their nations leaving the other countries with the question of how to deal with the refugees now seeking shelter. For many students this was an eye opening experience and the changes some of them underwent during the simulation were incredible.

After lunch the students returned to real life Britain, where ethnically diverse visitors from the Plymouth area gave the students an inside view of what life can be like standing out from the crowd, because of religion or skin colour. 

By the end of the day students had developed a deep understanding of cultural diversity and said that they had realised that:

‘Everywhere you go you see new different people every day. You walk past them and make assumptions about them. But you have no idea what those people are like or what has happened in their life and what they have been through' (Year 10 boy)

For us, all that is left to say is a big Thank You to everybody involved from the Barbican Theatre and all of Year 10 students, who responded so positively to the experience.

Christoph Rippe

(Community Service Volunteer in the Citizenship & PSHEe department)