Eton is a wholeheartedly welcoming place with a genuine sense of belonging for our community: all boys, all staff, and all families; without exception, without exclusion. Establishing a culture of acceptance, diversity and inclusion is essential to our ethos.
All schools have a duty to prevent a pupil from having their self-worth diminished, or their ability to achieve impeded, by bullying of any kind. We aim to identify and remove barriers to a boy’s fulfilment. We do not all have to agree, of course. Inclusion Education teaches us how to disagree well, and to coexist kindly, with our different perspectives.
The work of Inclusion Education in the last five years has been brilliant in building bridges.
Boy from B Block (Year 13)
Eton educates boys to understand the rights of all people to live freely within their identity, without discrimination; to do otherwise would be to fail in our duty to prepare Etonians for life in the wider world.
2023 saw the College’s first large-scale celebration of ESEA (East and South East Asian) Heritage Month.
The pupils’ moral development is excellent, including the way they respect and value diversity and demonstrate sensitivity and tolerance to those from different backgrounds and traditions.
ISI inspection, December 2021
Pupil Voice, Societies, Talks and Awareness Celebrations
The Feminism Society, LGBTQ Society, Disability and Accessibility Awareness Society (DAAS), Cicero Society, and African Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Oriental societies are all active inclusion forums. Of course, inclusivity is a theme that is at the forefront of many other societies.
Celebrating cultural diversity is a valued aspect of College life and, through the societies programme, boys and Masters arrange events throughout the year to heighten awareness and appreciation of our whole community. Eton marks awareness days/weeks/months, such as Black History and LGBTQ+ History Months and International Women’s Day, with symposia at which staff, boys, guest speakers and other schools join to educate and celebrate through assemblies, talks and performances. 2023 saw the College’s first large-scale celebration of ESEA (East and South East Asian) Heritage Month. This included visits from the Filipino and South Korean Ambassadors, a concert of East Asian music, a 1,500-year-old Japanese tea ceremony, and various other events.
The Inclusion Education Committee oversees the development of Inclusion Education in the School, whilst boys run their own inclusion society to mark Etonian diversity with other events such as Lunar New Year. Eton Pride is celebrated in June. The Eton Experience series of talks, which is organised and presented by boys, are open to parents and cover the Black, Asian, Jewish and Muslim experiences of Etonians.
The Faiths Forum brings together boys of different faiths, and with the Faith Tutors co-ordinates important days of religious observance. On Holocaust Memorial Day we have been privileged to hear from Holocaust survivors.
