What Does Student Diversity Really Mean?

The concept of diversity is integrally linked to Woodstock School. It is one of the first things you think of when you consider the community and a concept valued greatly by staff and students alike. A key element of the strategic plan for the school is maintaining and increasing diversity overall and it continues to be a core value included in the vision of the school.

But what does diversity really mean?

If you ask around Woodstock you'll hear common responses of the value of having diversity:

• Learning tolerance for other people's ideas, religions, cultures, etc.
• Exposure to things that are different that stretch you as a person causing personal growth
• Recognition and celebration of the beauty surrounding you that is amplified when so many who are different can unite and work together in a common goal
• How much we can learn from one another.

These are the tangible results of a diverse community; however, the question remains, "what is diversity" and how do you measure it? This question is important and is constantly in the hearts and minds of our admissions team. In order to maintain the beautiful balance within Woodstock School we need to be intentional about creating it. In the newly approved 2020 Vision for Woodstock School, there has been a carefully crafted mission and action plan stated for increasing and defining student diversity.

Expand Student Diversity

1. Move towards the concept that Woodstock should represent a microcosm of the world by setting challenging annual targets for diversity in accordance with an agreed range of characteristics (e.g. nationality, country of residence, economic status etc.), beginning from a baseline of 40% Indian, and 60% from at least 30 other countries, with no more than 12% from any one country.
2. Make changes to our programme to facilitate recruitment from a wider range of countries:
1. Introduce additional non-AP examination options (e.g. Cambridge Pre-U).
2. Expand ESL provision and training throughout the school, including the possibility of offering an intensive English programme for new students lasting up to one year.
3. Restructure our financial aid and scholarship programmes to support our diversity targets:
1. Create a new scholarship fund to promote geographical and cultural diversity.
2. Grow general financial aid from its current equivalent of 12% annual revenue to support the admission of deserving students; build endowments to enable the removal of financial aid from the operating budget by 2020.

"In the Admissions Office we continue to focus on maintaining and enhancing the cultural diversity of our student body. his past year we were able to be highly selective in our intake of students, and were very intentional in prioritizing strong students who added to the cultural diversity at Woodstock. This is reflected in the composition of this year's intake of new students. Of the new students, 33% were from India, 32% from the rest of Asia, and 35% from the rest of the world, which fits perfectly with the traditional targets set by the board of having one third of the students from India, one third from the rest of Asia and one third from the rest of the world.

"Going forward we aim to increase the number of nationalities and cultures represented at Woodstock, and will be setting challenging annual targets to this effect". ~Kirsten Bradby (Head of Admissions)

With an intentional plan and cutting-edge understanding and implementation of diversity, Woodstock School's vibrant and diverse community will remain secure!