Story by: Karen Lindner, WAB Early Years Coordinator & Curriculum Coach & Chris Clark, WAB Senior Communications & Content Specialist
Investigations into inclusion. Explorations of culture. Discussions about open-mindedness.
During the annual Celebration of Diversity in WAB’s Elementary School, students took part in these in-depth, impactful learning experiences alongside the costumes, food, and flags that filled the school’s hallways.
“Both identity and diversity are complex and multifaceted. Inquiring deeply into our own identities, and the identities of others, helps us all to appreciate the complexity of identity, to avoid stereotyping, and to recognize that each of us have commonalities as well as differences,” WAB Early Years Coordinator & Curriculum Coach Karen Lindner said. “Diversity makes our community much more interesting, challenges our thinking and our perspectives, helps us grow and ultimately makes us stronger.”
Our mosaic of diversity is one of WAB’s Core Values. The Celebration of Diversity is one part of the Elementary School’s global awareness calendar of events designed to engage our community in exploring issues of identity and belonging, and how diversity in all its forms brings a richness to our collective experience.
Diversity is also an integral part of the International Baccalaureate’s Mission: “We promote intercultural understanding and respect, not as an alternative to a sense of cultural and national identity, but as an essential part of life in the 21st century.”
Senior Grade 1 students explored the story of Lemon the Duck, who has a physical disability, and how a community is enriched by people of diverse abilities working together.
Lemon the Duck has a physical disability. Lemon's friends all helped to make a difference by designing some equipment that enabled Lemon to bring people together and ultimately enrich the community. At WAB, we embrace diversity in ALL its forms, in order to create a better world through education.
Friday was Identity Sharing Day, where children were encouraged to share aspects of their identify by wearing traditional dress, bringing an artifact to share, or offering a short performance for their classmates.
Ngaia, one of WAB’s youngest learners in the Early Childhood Center, wore a Greek headdress, a New Zealand flag, and a hand-knitted jersey from her Nana to showcase the various aspects of her identity that have personal significance. This example was particularly poignant to me, as it demonstrates that so many members of our community identify with different nationalities, communities, families, and homes.
“As an international school, we bring together people from many backgrounds, and our community is so much richer as a result,” Karen said.