BEACONSFIELD HIGH SCHOOL
“We are using the GEC Platform as a staff body to complement our School Improvement Plan and DEI strategy.”
Zahara Chowdbury, Inclusion Champion
Context of School
Beaconsfield High School (commonly known as Becky High) is a girls’ grammar school in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.
The school is committed to embedding diversity, equality and inclusion across leadership practice, staff development and whole-school culture as part of its strategic improvement priorities.
Why did Beaconsfield High School join the GEC?
“We joined the GEC to support our whole school development plan and diversity, equality and inclusion strategy.
The surveys are a great starting point for DEI leads in senior leadership to understand their staff body using an intersectional lens. The GEC Platform is versatile, and the GEC team can support a school in a variety of ways no matter where you are in your DEI journey. All of our staff have access to the wealth of resources and information in the Champion Hub, which directly supports our staff CPD program.
We scheduled the survey to be completed at a staff INSET adapting the GEC guided email. The outcomes were then presented to senior leadership and all staff have access to the Champion Hub to support their understanding and awareness about DEI in schools.”
Zahara Chowdbury, Inclusion Champion
The school used the staff survey as a structured starting point for strengthening its inclusion strategy, ensuring leadership decisions were informed by lived-experience insight as well as policy priorities. Delivering the survey during INSET enabled strong staff engagement and positioned the work as part of professional learning rather than an additional initiative.
Through access to the Champion Hub, staff are able to continue building confidence and understanding in inclusive practice as part of their ongoing CPD programme.
You can also explore how inclusion is reflected across the wider school environment through the school’s School Life webpage.
Inclusion leadership and sector contribution
Due to her specialist knowledge, Zahara Chowdhury is also part of the GEC Circle, the Global Equality Collective’s international network of inclusion specialists supporting schools to lead evidence-informed change.
Zahara founded the Schools Should Be podcast and contributes regularly to national education conversations about representation, curriculum confidence and inclusive leadership. Examples of her work include:
Metro article - One is Five Teachers Uncomfortable Discussing LGBT Topics With Kids
Schools Week - Teachers Need Support to Make the Uncomfortable Comfortable
Students at Beaconsfield High School working with the GEC to co-design student voice surveys, helping shape the framework now used to capture lived-experience insight from over 22,000 students internationally. Guided by the principle “Nothing About Us Without Us,” these workshops ensured young people directly influenced how belonging, safety and representation are understood in schools.
GEC Platform Development – Student Workshops
Beaconsfield High School (BHS) played a leading role in supporting the development of the GEC Platform’s student voice surveys in 2022.
Following commendation from Goldsmiths, University of London for the participatory design approach underpinning the platform, the GEC began the next phase of development focused on strengthening how both staff and student voice could shape inclusion insight across schools. Guided by the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us”, this work ensured that students were not simply responding to surveys but actively shaping the questions used to understand belonging and inclusion across school communities.
BHS worked in partnership with the GEC through a series of student workshops exploring belonging, representation and psychological safety in school environments. Students shared what helps them feel included, heard and safe in their school communities — insight that supports leaders to better understand the conditions that enable participation, engagement and wellbeing across diverse learners.
Students and staff from fellow GEC member schools Royal Grammar School High Wycombe and Dr Challoner’s Grammar School also contributed to this collaborative workshop programme, strengthening the regional evidence base and ensuring a diversity of student perspectives shaped the framework.
These co-design workshops informed the structure of the GEC student survey framework now used internationally and later contributed to the development of Kaleidoscopic Data, a research-informed approach introduced through doctoral research to help schools interpret lived-experience insight alongside traditional datasets. Since this early partnership work with BHS and neighbouring schools, the student surveys developed through this process have gone on to capture the lived-experience perspectives of more than 22,000 students.
“The participation in the GEC presentation just prior was extremely strong and really powerful. I felt part of a conversation, listened to and respected.
Being able to input in real time answers to questions about what makes feel uncomfortable and why...and seeing those responses so clearly presented... was just amazing! There were fantastic actionable take-aways from the GEC presentation. I have already forwarded this to many colleagues and people in the part of government that I work with that I feel would benefit and perhaps also pass it on. Really useful resources!”
Participant of #daretobe
From Insight to Action: Using Inclusion Intelligence to Shape Culture Change
Following completion of the GEC Inclusion Audit, alongside Staff and Student voice surveys, Beaconsfield High School used their lived-experience data to identify priorities for strengthening inclusion and school culture.
Working with GEC coaching recommendations and the Champion Hub professional learning resources, the school began embedding staff development aligned to the findings. Through this process, leaders recognised the importance of involving wider stakeholders — including students, parents and neighbouring schools — to address emerging culture themes collaboratively rather than in isolation.
To support this next stage of implementation, the school invited expertise from the GEC Circle, the Global Equality Collective’s international network of inclusion specialists, to help translate insight into action.
This work formed part of the school’s partnership with the GEC, extending beyond survey insight into wider community dialogue and sector collaboration.
Sector Leadership: “Uncomfortable Conversations – Overcoming Toxic Masculinity in Schools”
In response to national conversations about women’s safety following the tragic murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa, and wider calls across education to strengthen approaches to gender safety and respectful cultures, Inclusion Champion Zahara Chowdhury led a school-wide conference in collaboration with the Global Equality Collective:
Uncomfortable Conversations – Overcoming Toxic Masculinity in Schools
The conference brought together 16 schools, alongside students, parents and staff, creating a shared space to explore everyday behaviours, expectations and policies that shape safety for women and girls both in school and beyond.
The keynote speaker was GEC Circle expert, Hira Ali, author and international speaker on equity and inclusive workplace culture.
The event supported participants to reflect collectively on how schools can:
strengthen cultures of respect
address harmful norms early
support safer environments for girls and young women
involve boys and young men meaningfully in change conversations
translate insight into practical action across school communities
Importantly, the conference demonstrated how inclusion intelligence gathered through the GEC Platform can support evidence-informed dialogue across whole communities — not just leadership teams.
Participant Reflections
Quotes from participants included:
“What was impressive was that the information was up-to-date, well-presented (if a little too quick at times) and highly topical. It was presented without ire and criticism and gave sound, sensible explanations. All the presenters came across to me as authentic and credible - examples of walking the talk.”
“The sessions were of an exceptionally high standard - well informed, interesting and engaged. I enjoyed the variety of key note, panel discussion, presentations and the Head Teacher perspective at the end. We watched this as a group of 12 comprising staff and senior students from our two adjoining schools - single sex girls and single sex boys - and this really enriched the day. We were able to share ideas and perspectives throughout, and have identified actions both as individual schools and jointly.”
“Overall, it was superbly run and extremely relevant and relatable points of view being expressed in a fairly actionable way. It's extremely courageous and amazing to put on such a conference. I am extraordinarily grateful that I was able to take part.”
Conclusion: Leading Inclusion with Evidence and Partnership
Beaconsfield High School’s work with the GEC demonstrates how schools can move from inclusion intention to evidence-informed action by combining leadership audit insight, staff and student voice, professional learning through the Champion Hub, and specialist support from the GEC Circle. From co-designing student survey frameworks now used with more than 22,000 students, to convening regional schools around critical conversations on safety and culture, the school has shown how lived-experience insight can be translated into meaningful whole-community engagement and practical change.
For school and trust leaders looking to strengthen belonging, understand intersectional experiences across their communities, and take confident next steps with their inclusion strategy, the GEC Platform provides a structured starting point — supported by coaching, CPD resources and access to national expertise through the GEC Circle.
If you would like to explore how your setting could lead inclusion with confidence, we would be delighted to start the conversation.