Looe Community Academy held its second Diversity Day on 1 March.

The day is part of students’ continuing education about how to respect differences and navigate social situations where they are being called upon to not be bystanders to hate.

In a packed programme, students learnt about Hindu deities and learnt some banghra moves with the excellent Charlotte Richards from InspirAsian Dance based in Truro. They also learnt how to make Hamantaschen in cookery; a food traditionally eaten during the Jewish festival of Purim. In a thought-provoking session, students were challenged on what is, and what isn’t, acceptable when it comes to the language used about race. This was facilitated by Black Voices Cornwall, a charity set up in 2020 to bring change to people experiencing isolation, prejudice or discrimination in Cornwall. Other students reflected on people’s experience of autism in the excellent BBC documentary by Chris Packham, “Inside our autistic minds”, which the BBC have commissioned a second series of.