St John and St Nicolas Schools Federation holds international evening celebrating cultural diversity

A federation of two Newbury primary schools held its second annual international evening.

The purpose of the evening, which was the brainchild of school parent Ellen Clinch, is to celebrate the many different cultures that exist across St John and St Nicolas Schools.

The event took place on Friday, April 19 at St Nicolas School and school families were asked to bring food from their own culture to share with others.

This led to large amounts of different meals being shared that included Indian, South African, Chinese, Polish and Romanian food.

The federation’s executive head teacher Keith Harvey said: “In recent years, the profile of the schools has changed significantly, with around 150 children across the two schools now speaking English as an additional language.

“Nearly 30 different languages are spoken by families in the schools and finding a way of celebrating this and making sure that everyone feels included in the school community was really important.”

Along with the food, there were cultural performances on the night, with the local Hindu community providing several different performances of cultural dance, poetry and even a quiz, as well as a Ukrainian song and some Irish dances.

There were also prizes available for people coming in the best traditional cultural outfits.

Mr Harvey said that the event was a “huge success”.

He added: “It was a magical evening, where people were able to show off their traditions, but also come together as one positive community.”