鶹Լ

Diversity

In short...

Themes: diversity; difference; prejudice.

Summary: An assembly about personal identity, featuring the voices of primary school children celebrating the fact that we are all unique…and yet all the same.

Resources: the .

The video

The video begins with a KS2 pupils describing her experiences of diversity. She talks about her friends coming from many different backgrounds and religions, and her family living around the world. She discusses the community she lives in and describes it as a welcoming place, with people from lots of different places. She is then joined by other KS2 pupils who discuss what diversity means to them.

The video ends with an explanation of what prejudice means and some of the benefits of living in a diverse society.

Duration: 3' 54"

Last words: '…variety is good for all of us.'

Video questions

During the video the pupils answer the following questions:

  • Have you ever been treated differently? (They include times they have been left out because of their race or gender.)
  • What does diversity mean to you?
  • Is it good to be different?
  • What would you do if someone was being nasty to someone else because they looked different?

Key links

Download / print the assembly framework ready for use

Assembly framework (pdf)

Click to display the image full-size

Image: diversity

Suggested framework

1. Entry music
. This is a song from a West African performer, but you could choose a song from a culture represented in your school.

2. Introduction
Begin by asking pupils what their favourite lesson in school is. Take a selection of answers and point out how different everyone’s favourite is. Now imagine that you only got to do maths, all day every day, and never got to have a go at doing something different. Would it get boring? Say that we have a 'diverse curriculum', which means learning about lots of different things and having a wide variety of activities. This makes school much more interesting. We also have diversity in the types of people there are in the world - different heights, different hair colour, different likes and dislikes - and that diversity of people and cultures makes life more interesting too. Tell everyone they'll now watch a short video about diversity.

3. The video
The duration is 3' 54" and the final words are: '…variety is good for all of us'.

4. After the video
Ask pupils to spend a few moments thinking about the ways in which they are different from the people next to them. Do they look different? Do they like different things? Do they have different strengths and weaknesses? Can you think of a friend that has been able to teach you something new, because they come from a different place or speak a different language?

5. Time to talk
You could ask some of the questions asked on the film:

  • Have you ever been treated differently?
  • What could you do if someone was being treated badly because they were different in some way?
  • Is our community welcoming to all people, like the community of the girl in the film?

6. Opportunity to sing
. Suggestions from 鶹Լ collections below.

7. Opportunity to reflect
Ask pupils to think about all the things that make them who they are: their looks, their strengths, their religion, their family and their culture. You might be similar to other people in our school community, or you might be very different, but we are all welcome and we are all part of a wonderful, diverse world.

Opportunity for prayer
Dear God (or your standard form of address)
Thank you that you have created a diverse world full of differences.
Thank you that having a diverse community gives us new ideas and new perspectives.
Help us to learn from all the people around us and see the good in everyone.
Amen.

Suggested songs

'All together as a family' (All about our school, no 15).

'Build up' (All about our school, no 12)