Equality and Diversity

We are committed to creating a positive learning and working environment that is free from discrimination, harassment or victimisation and place equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do:

All College policies and procedures go through the Equality Impact Assessment procedure
Annual staff and student surveys include Equality and Diversity questions and analysis
The Group’s Equality and Diversity Committee monitors our commitment with a diverse cross-college membership comprising of senior management, teaching and support staff, students and representatives from the Governors and Corporation
We embed equality and diversity in the curriculum and tutorials
Staff undertake regular CPD to improve their understanding and practise of issues related to Equality & Diversity
The Group supports the embedding of Equality and Diversity through its E&D Lead Governor, who sits on the Group’s E&D Committee and reports back both to the Quality Committee and the Board itself

In addition to fulfilling its legal obligations, the Group actively promotes awareness of an inclusive society through its students’ work in a variety of initiatives, learning materials and events that include Black History Month, British Values, Anti-bullying Week, International Women's Day, Holocaust Memorial Day and Mental Health Awareness Week. We've also had a variety of speakers and workshops from such organisations as Stonewall, Gender Matters, Refugee Action, and The Ark, as well as the local Muslim community.

We also work with the local community, through FREsh, a registered society promoting equality, diversity and the elimination of unfair treatment and discrimination within and beyond Shropshire. Other involvements within the community include the Shrewsbury LGBT History Festival in February.

British Values

The college is dedicated to promoting values that help develop a strong sense of community and social and moral responsibility. Here students from the College tell us what democracy means to them as a students at SCG, how they exercise Individual liberty at College, adhere to the rule of law and are tolerant of those of different faiths and beliefs.

Black History Month
At Shrewsbury Colleges Group we would like to raise awareness of and celebrate Black History Month with a range of activities this month. One of our activities is interviewing staff and students to learn more about their culture, traditions and ancestry.
Tanisha Moore (Creative Media)
Ancestral/birth country: Jamaica and England
Something about Jamaica that people may not know: Rastas or Rastafarians are people in Jamaica who are part of a religion. Jah means God.
Favourite childhood memories: Competing in dance.
Favourite traditional foods when growing up: Rice, peas, and chicken. Curry goat and fried dumplings.
Favourite music, hobbies and TV programmes when growing up: Reggae, dancehall, and RnB.
What Black History means to me: Communities coming together to celebrate culture and learning about my ancestry.
How I think the college should celebrate and raise awareness of Black History: Educate people who know nothing about different cultures, and have people of colour come in to tell their stories.
Activities you think the college should organise to celebrate race and culture this year: Culture days.

Chris Marenya (Engineering)
Ancestral/birth country: Zimbabwe.
Something about Zimbabwe that people may not know: Victoria Falls is one of the seven wonders of the world and is located on the Zimbabwean border.
Favourite childhood memories: The Zim concerts and street football.
Favourite traditional foods when growing up: Sadza and Gango.
Favourite music, hobbies and TV programmes when growing up: Amapiano, Afrobeats and Zimi dance.
What Black History means to me: Black lives are being celebrated. How I think the college should celebrate and raise awareness of Black History Educate people with more posters around the college for awareness.
Activities you think the college should organise to celebrate race and culture this year: Culture days.

Valerie Mosupye (Preparation Routes Teacher)
Ancestral/birth country: South Africa.
Something about South Africa that people may not know: South Africa is unique in having three capital cities; Pretoria, Cape Town and Bloemfontein.
Favourite childhood memories: My dad taking me horse riding on the weekends.
Favourite traditional foods when growing up: There are so many! I love Biltong it is similar to beef jerky but better. My favourite meal has to be pap with chakalaka and boerewors. My favourite go to breakfast has to be amagwinya (vetkoek) with atchaar.
Favourite music, hobbies and TV programmes when growing up: My favourite type of music is heavily influenced by what I heard around the house growing up so it would have to be RnB, Hiphop, and Jazz. I love athletics and used to run for Shropshire when I was in secondary school. I used to love playing Super Mario on the Sega. I didn’t watch a lot of TV growing up, I was always playing outside.
What Black History means to me: Black History to me is an opportunity to reflect on history, promote learning and encourage progress towards a future built on equality, justice and pride for all. It is a meaningful time to honour Black identity and culture as an important part of our shared history.
How I think the college should celebrate and raise awareness of Black History: The college could also include black history throughout the curriculum, and invite black guest speakers, local authors, historians and community leaders.
Activities you think the college should organise to celebrate race and culture this year: African and Caribbean food festivals, music performances, and art exhibitions.

Ellie Chanda (A Levels)
Ancestral/birth country: Zambia.
Something about Zambia that people may not know: Zambia was colonised by the British in 1888 and gained its independence in 1964. Zambia has the largest copper mine in Africa.
Favourite traditional foods when growing up: Nshima (sadza in Zimbabwe) with tomato soup, scrambled eggs, and Kalembula.
Favourite music, hobbies and TV programmes when growing up: My favourite TV programme was Zuba, the story of an innocent, rural teenage girl who has to leave her family and education behind to do a maid’s job. My favourite game was Mancala.
What Black History means to me: Black History to me is recognising all of the black figures and their struggles, recognising how far black people have come, and the difference in how we are regarded in society.
How I think the college should celebrate and raise awareness of Black History: The college could give a platform to black students who wish to share a message or stories of their lives. Also, give academically well-performing students a spotlight for their achievements.
Activities you think the college should organise to celebrate race and culture this year: Different races could wear traditional clothing to college.

Sophia Roberts (A Levels)
Ancestral/birth country: Malawi.
Something about Malawi that people may not know: Funerals in Malawi are a celebration of life, meaning lots of music, dancing, and food that friends bring for the deceased family.
Favourite childhood memories: Playing at my relative's house with my cousins, trying to find lizards.
Favourite traditional foods when growing up: Malawian cucumbers are significantly different from English cucumbers. They are sweet, light green, and squishy and taste more like fruit than vegetables. Also other traditional fruits like malabe and bamba.
Favourite music, hobbies and TV programmes when growing up: Malawian musician Piksy is the most famous musician whose music is almost like rap.
What Black History means to me: Recognising and celebrating the differences in culture.
How I think the college should celebrate and raise awareness of Black History: Show both positive and negative aspects of history, such as integration and segregation, but also history personal to the counties themselves.
Activities you think the college should organise to celebrate race and culture this year: Trying different foods from around the world and displaying decorations such as flags.
Do you have anything else you would like to say? Personally, I have never seen Malawia represented before. It's a country often forgotten about, perhaps due to the minimal amount of immigrated Malawians, as it's one of the poorest countries in the world.
Reggae
Reggae is a musical genre developed by Jamaicans of African ancestry in the late 1960s. Reggae bands incorporate musical elements from many genres, including Jamaican folk, ska, rocksteady, calypso, American soul music, and rhythm and blues.

Amapiano
Amapiano is a South African music genre that originated in the 2010s and combines house, jazz, and kwaito music. The name 'amapiano' comes from the Zulu word for 'pianos' and the genre is thought to have originated in the townships of South Africa.

Boerewors & Pap
Boerewors translated directly from Afrikaans means farmer's sausage. It is traditionally served inside a bread roll or with pap which is a traditional porridge made from mielie-meal (ground maize).
Transgender Awareness Week

Every year between 13-19 November, people and organisations around the country participate in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility of transgender and gender non-conforming people and address the issues that the community faces. This one-week celebration leads up to the Transgender Day of Remembrance, which memorializes victims of transphobic violence and occurs annually on 20 November.
We can all show our support as trans allies by taking a stand against oppression, bullying and harassment. By just taking the time to listen and learn, you’re already helping and we hope that the resources on this page are a good start.
Personalised messages for Transgender Awareness Week

A personal message from LGBTQ+ advocate Desmond Napoles

A message from The Times bestselling author and campaigner Shon Faye.
Pride

At college, Pride Month represents an opportunity for us all to reflect on who we are as a diverse college community and to support LGBTQIA+ colleagues and students, enhancing their voices and understanding the difficulties they face, while celebrating the valuable contributions they make to life at the college.
Throughout the month of June, we have a range of activities that in the past have included fascinating and inspiring talks from human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, asexual rights activist Yasmin Benoit, and an expert in Shropshire’s lesbian and gay history.