Cultural Day brings the world to St Philip’s

We were delighted to celebrate Cultural Day with the whole school taking part in different activities designed to give students a taste of different parts of the world. Classes rotated around the activities during the afternoon and had a chance to sample food, dance, music and try on traditional dress. We are incredibly grateful to all the staff and families who organised activities and brought a little bit of their home cultures into school for us all to try.

There was American Football on the field which was popular with the Year 7s who have been learning the sport in PE this term. Also outside was Sweet Tin Sounds, one of our parents who brought the Caribbean to Chessington and gave everyone the chance to play the steel pans.

In the new Willow block, there was the opportunity to try Turkish culture and traditional costumes. There was a video of the whirling dervishes but although everyone enjoyed spinning in the floaty costumes, no-one quite managed to achieve the trans-like state of this traditional form of Turkish meditation. There was also the chance to listen to African music and have a go at drumming.

Elsewhere in the school we were grateful to the parents who brought in beautiful clothing from Pakistan and the even more delicious pakora to try. From the same sub-continent, we had saris from India and everyone enjoyed learning how to wrap these beautiful fabrics, which was very much a team effort.

There was plenty of other delicious food on offer including spinokopta from Greece, kibbeh from Syria and barn brack breads and crisps from Ireland. After filling up on delicious food from around the world, students also had the chance to try traditional Irish dancing.

There were craft activities on offer too with students making and decorating paper cones to be filled with sweets from Germany. There was also a quiz about famous English artists and where they came from in the UK which triggered lively debates about music preferences.

The day was suggested by the Equality and Diversity student committee as a way of celebrating each other’s cultures and had been months in the planning. Overall it was a resounding success, sparking much debate about food, music, art, dance and culture around the world.