Without a diversity of sources, ideas and opinions, we are failing to fully engage with out student audience. As a largely international school with endless stories to tell, I am always seeking out new ways to represent the voices of our community.

I oversee that we are covering as many events as possible and not missing out on coverage of certain groups within the school. I reported on the Hispanic book display and celebration of UK Black History Month in the fall because I love interviewing people on their identity and making their voice heard, but also because I noticed that these events have been underreported in previous years.

I used the data from sources to compile a quarterly diversity report to track our progress in representing voices within the school. I plan to publish the data for Quarter 3 to be transparent with our audience that diversity is a continual work in progress that we strive toward with all of our content.

Before school began, I met with the Interim High School Principal and Head of School to introduce The Standard – they are both new in their roles – and also explain this document that we wanted the school to sign titled Affirmation of Student Free Expression Rights. This document would ensure that despite changing leadership or UK guidelines, The Standard would be guaranteed press freedoms as a newspaper that operates on the school's budget. The Interim Principal signed the document and reaffirmed to staff members that they are able to tackle any issue or write an opinion piece on any topic as long as it was reported accurately and fairly.  

With a growing staff that has taken over the student population made it more challenging for reporters to interview non-staff members, I knew we needed a clear policy to get rid of as many potential conflicts of interest as possible. The managing team established a new policy and all reporters were required to sign it and fill out a form disclosing their closest relationships in the school: friendships, partners, parents working as faculty and staff. As I'm editing, I consult the list of conflicts of interest to ensure that all interviews were fairly conducted and explore a diverse range of perspectives.

When I think about diversity in reporting, it is not as simple as the topics that are covered or getting "both sides of the story." Our school community is richly diverse, and our reporting must accurately reflect that. I established source diversity as an absolutely essential part of the writing process, and created this source list – including regular reminders in class for editors to update the list every few weeks – to ensure that as many student voices are represented as possible.

 In order to cover events in the school and publish a diverse range of perspectives, the staff should reflect the wider school community as much as possible. For the past two years, I have attended numerous parent evenings and presented to new students about The Standard to encourage students to join and increase the diversity of our staff. The Standard is a place of belonging, and our content can only continue to become more diverse if reporters feel welcome to contribute their voice.