Suffolk One students celebrate their different cultures

Jon Wright - BBC News, Suffolk
·2 min read
A crowd of young people in colourful outfits from Asia, Africa and Europe
Students represented countries from across the globe, each taking a moment on the catwalk [Jon Wright/BBC]

Young people have been celebrating different cultures through fashion, food, music and conversations.

Students from Suffolk One sixth form in Ipswich organised the day, which has been running for three years.

Teigan, 17, said: "My mum's side of the family is from England, my dad's is from Barbados.

"It's about educating everyone around us about everyone's culture, even their own cultures, they'll learn things about themselves."

The day was previously organised before the Easter holidays, but a small fire in the college kitchen meant it had to be postponed.

Four teenage girls stand in front of a school sign
Students Eva, Saamya, Adeline and Teigan helped to organise Culture Day [Jon Wright/BBC]

According to the 2021 census, 80.9% of Ipswich residents were born in England, 2.7% were from Romania, and 1.8% from Poland.

Eva, 16, said: "I was born in Portugal, so my mum's Portuguese but my dad's from Mozambique in Africa.

"I think, if you're not someone who travels around the world often, you can come here and see people on the catwalk dressing up in their cultural dresses.

"You can go get henna [temporary tattoo] here, and it's all in your school, you're not travelling far to see all of this culture."

Saamya, 17, said: "I was born in Bangalore [India] and my dad's from Punjab."

"I think having this day is a way of being different but we are one."

Students stand alongside a chef by a cooking counter top
Chef Nureen Glaves gave a cooking demonstration making Jamaican "stew-down" [Jon Wright/BBC]

The college, rated by inspectors as "outstanding" in 2022, has 2,200 students and is part of the Eastern Education Group.

Head of pastoral support Sue Calvino said: "I was born in Ipswich, but my family is actually from Switzerland, Sweden and Iceland.

"One of the activities we do is we have a massive world map and we get students to put dots on the map of where they're from and it's like a visualisation of how far and wide we all are from.

"We are such a lovely community here, we're very inclusive, we embrace one another and we need to celebrate that.

"So that students are proud of their culture, but also we are proud of everyone's culture and this is such a great day to show that."

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and X. Got a story? Email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp 0800 169 1830