Embedding Cultural Awareness in School Leadership and Practice

What does it mean to be culturally aware in a school? How can it positively impact your school environment – for staff, for students, and for families? What are HMC schools doing well?

At this term’s HMC Deputy Heads’ Conference, Yasmina Koné, Deputy Lead at HMC Gold Partner Hemisphere Education was joined by Katie Shapiro, Senior Deputy Head at Bancroft’s School and Dr Clare Ives, Senior Deputy Head at Sevenoaks School to explore these questions. They shared practical frameworks, honest reflections, and concrete examples of how schools can imbed inclusion into their day-to-day operations. Drawing on the experiences of the schools working with Hemisphere Education, here are three key insights and actions for any school seeking to embed a more inclusive, culturally aware environment.

Embed cultural awareness into pastoral care

Equip all staff with the tools to engage with issues of identity, race and belonging. While EDIB leads and champions often take the lead on addressing challenges for students with protected characteristics, the goal is for every member of staff – regardless of background – to feel confident to support students.

Being culturally aware is really about showing care - knowing your pupils, understanding where they’re coming from, and making space for their voices. That’s what builds trust and makes conversations around identity meaningful.

Katie Shapiro, Bancroft’s School

At Bancroft’s, the pastoral system is based on a House system where strong relationships are built between Heads of House and pupils from their point of entry. These connections, nurtured over time, foster a true understanding of their pupils including an appreciation of their unique family backgrounds and cultural contexts. When issues of identity arise, it is often the House staff who serve as the first and most trusted point of contact, offering sensitive and informed support, tailored to the individual needs of every pupil.

This benefits staff too – when all staff are confident in supporting students from diverse backgrounds, the responsibility doesn’t fall disproportionately on a small number of colleagues – often those with protected characteristics themselves.

Action:

Create protected time for staff to engage with racial literacy and cultural awareness training as part of ongoing professional development. Identify how staff can apply the lessons to relationships with students, colleagues and families.

Small actions, repeated often, create impact

Creating an inclusive school culture isn’t always about large-scale interventions – often, it’s the everyday gestures that have the most lasting impact.

At Sevenoaks, regular EDI updates have become a consistent touchpoint for sharing new initiatives, building staff understanding, and normalising inclusive practice. For example, this year’s focus on a religious observance policy included guidance around Ramadan and other fasting periods, helping staff to respond with greater empathy and cultural awareness. These small, ongoing updates have helped build cultural competency across the school, without overwhelming staff.

Another powerful example is getting names right. In an international school community, pronunciation can be a challenge — especially in high-pressure moments like prizegiving. But the attempt to say a student’s name correctly signals effort, care, and respect.

Action:

Make inclusion visible in everyday practice – from getting students’ names right, to playing music from all over the world, to having inclusive classroom displays and uniform policies. Embed this into daily practice and provide regular staff and student updates.

Stylized illustration of a person speaking to another person, whose eyes are closed. A green speech bubble connects the two heads, symbolizing communication or idea sharing.

Stylized illustration of three diverse figures representing different professions—a man in a turban, a judge with a gavel and white wig, and an astronaut in a space suit with a planet emblem

Cartoon-style drawing of a child sitting at a desk with an open book, eagerly raising one hand while smiling, suggesting active participation or asking a question.

Equip students with the tools to be inclusive

At Sevenoaks, the introduction of Hemisphere led to zero high-level peer-to-peer behavioral incidents at the start of the academic year. Previously, the beginning of each year saw a spike in high-level sanctions as new students adjusted to the school’s diverse environment and navigated cultural differences.

To address this, Sevenoaks integrated Hemisphere into the joining pack for all students ahead of the 2024-25 academic year, alongside a clear outline of the school’s values and student code of conduct. Students report feeling more empowered to call out discriminatory language, and better equipped with the tools, confidence and understanding to uphold school values and foster positive peer interactions from day one. There is still work to be done, but being able to refer back to the training, and knowing that Year 2 and 3 training will reinforce cultural competency, is reassuring.

Action:

Consider how you actively develop the cultural competency of your students. How is your inclusion work linked to your school’s values and code of conduct? To the wider world? Make the connection explicit – show students how understanding identity, respecting and celebrating difference, and building inclusive habits will positively impact their experience at school and beyond.

Want to take your school’s next step?

Hemisphere is partnered with HMC schools across the UK, supporting cultural awareness to be daily practice for every staff member, every student, every day.

At Sevenoaks, we had been doing consistent work on DEI for many years - but we wanted a framework that stitched it all together. Hemisphere has been part of that journey. Every year brings a new student cohort. You’re never ‘done’ with this work.

Dr Clare Ives, Sevenoaks School

Book a chat with Yasmina to see how Hemisphere works in practice and find out more at www.hemisphereeducation.com.

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