Ally Week at WIS

Last week, our school had our first ever Ally Week, and what will hopefully be the first of many. This was a week of education, support and fun events that helped shine a light onto issues of discrimination and inclusion that affect LGBTQ+ communities. To be an ‘Ally’ is to show support and provide a space for those who may experience discrimination.

Ally Week is the product of the dedication and hard work of students and teachers to create an event that appropriately supports the LGBT community and raises awareness for the challenges that they may be facing. The idea was brought about from student voice, as students wanted there to be a way for West Island School to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. It evolved even further as aims were developed and plans were made.

Our main aim was to raise awareness of the challenges the LGBTQ+ community faces. To do this, during the week there were assemblies that focused on educating students and teachers about the LGBTQ+ community. We placed a heavy emphasis on the importance of language used, identifying what harmful language may be and discussing the impact that our words can have on others.

Some of the events that occurred were assemblies for the entire school, lead by student leaders. Year 10-12 were lucky to have a guest presentation by Bess Hepworth, CEO and founder of Asia Pacific LGBTQIA charity Planet Ally. Her speech was engaging, inspirational and informative. We also sold bracelets throughout the week, held a school casual dress day in which you could wear casual clothing or dress as a Superhero/Super Ally on Friday. Also on Friday, we held an ID Chalkathon in which a rainbow was created near the canteen on the 5th floor – a huge collaborative effort by our Dynasty leaders and students. Congratulations to Song and Yuan who had the most students participate! Overall we were able to raise over $17,000 for charity Planet Ally, who will use these funds to help train, counsel and advocate for the LGBT community during their ‘Rainbow Families’ forum, held in Hong Kong this year.

We believe that Ally Week is exceptionally important because as a school we want to promote inclusion and diversity. We want to be allies of the LGBTQ+ community and an example to other schools in Hong Kong.

Thank you to Mr Sammons and the leadership team for allowing us to do this, Ms Oxford, Ms Fu and Ms Hannaford for bringing it all together, and Planet Ally for helping us educate and inform.
Thank you to our fantastic student leaders who planned and organised the week.

Freya Boerner