PRISM Blog Post 10/01/2022 - 

What’s in a name?

Since the lower school LGBTQ+ club started in summer of 2021, we have discussed various names. From funny (SWAG club) to straight to the point (LGBTQ+ club), nothing has really stuck. Perhaps it’s because our vibrant LGBTQ+ community is difficult to label: we have a wide range of identities in the group, from pupils who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and straight, to pupils who are non-binary, transgender, asexual, pansexual, and more. If we were to put all the letters together, we’d have something like an LGBTQNBAPPAFQS group, which would probably be overkill. We’re also mindful that nobody should be left out – to spread inclusivity, we make sure that we are inclusive too. In that sense, most names seem to miss someone out, which just doesn’t feel right.

So, instead of focusing on who is in our groups, we are going to focus on what the groups do. Both lower school and sixth form have their own groups, and the goal of the group could be summarised under the name PRISM:

Pride

Raising Awareness

Inclusive Education

Support

Mentoring

The PRISM groups meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at lunch. Tuesday is the 6^th form group, which is overseen by Dr B Jones and Ms S Atkin (held in Dr Jones’ room). Wednesday is the Lower School group, which is overseen by Mr L Day (held in Mr Day’s room). Each group sees between 20 and 30 regular members, totalling 50 members of the school population who regularly attend. That’s about 4% of our student population. On average in the UK, about 6% of people identify as LGBTQ+ - which means we’re reaching a good proportion of our LGBTQ+ pupils. The other 2% could be pupils who don’t feel the need for a club, aren’t yet out, or haven’t quite figured themselves out yet. Regardless, our door is open to everyone and anyone in school who feels like they could find friendship, support, or understanding.

Mr Day is also available to speak and meet with parents and guardians who may have questions, or want more support for their LGBTQ+ child. If you would like to get in touch, just drop an email to lewis.day@sharemat.co.uk

PRISM Blog Post 12/01/2022 

Student Reps and BASE visit

We’ve had a busy week at our PRISM clubs!

Our Sixth Form group voted for their student reps, who will help to represent the rest of the group in order to have greater impact. They already have some great ideas, including a filmed tutor resource which is in the making. Congratulations to our reps!

In lower school, pupils were treated to external visitors from Kirklees’ The BASE, which is a substance use and harm reduction charity. The students requested this at the start of the year, as we had discussed the fact that LGBTQ+ people are 3 times more likely to use recreational drugs than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. We also discussed why this is: LGBTQ+ people often only have bars and drinking venues to socialise in and the community has higher rates of mental health issues. It is clear that we need to act to educate and support young LGBTQ+ people in making safe and healthy choices.

The pupils found the session really interesting and learnt a lot about the risks involved in substance use, harm reduction, and the support available at the BASE. The workshop leaders were engaging and won the group over quickly. Particular highlights were an activity where the group moved around the room in order to classify different substances, and plastic sealed containers with examples of different substances so that pupils recognise these and understand the risks involved if they encounter them in future. It was great to see all of the group so engaged and discursive, and hopefully they will consider their safety when faced with potentially harmful substances in future.  A huge thank you to the BASE for providing this workshop!