'Children flourish in environments that promote diversity, equality and inclusion.'
Our school is committed to ‘Aim High’ and ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, carers, and parents who form part of our school community and receive services from our school. We aim to promote an ethos of inclusivity and to celebrate the diversity of all those who are connected with our school to ensure all groups prosper regardless of the protective characteristics.
At Almond Hill, we aim to foster good relationship between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. We promote friendship, tolerance, and understanding of uniqueness. This may be achieved through teaching in RE and PSHCE lessons, in reading text and stories from different cultures, learning a modern language or exploring music from different parts of the world for example. We discuss world and current issues in assemblies and invite our children to lead assemblies. We promote links with our local community and welcome visitors with special knowledge to support our learning and understanding.
Equality is ensuring individuals or groups that are not treated differently or less favourably on the basis of specific protected characteristic, including areas of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.
Discriminatory behaviour often stems from ignorance. A lack of understanding of different cultures, beliefs or lifestyles is often a factor in things like bullying.
It’s essential to educate young people about equality, diversity, identity and human rights so that they learn to respect others, celebrate diversity and recognise prejudice and discrimination.
As children get older, they’ll increasingly find themselves in positions where issues of inequality and discrimination can impact them: in school, in further education, in work and in wider society.
Teaching children about their rights and the rights of others is important, and knowledge of the Equality Act 2010 will mean children can speak out on issues related to equality, now and in the future.
Diversity involves promoting and celebrating the differences between us. It’s associated with promoting human rights, and is based on principles like dignity and respect. It requires taking into account and valuing people’s different backgrounds, knowledge and experiences, and creating an environment that makes positive use of these differences.
Equality involves making sure everyone has equal opportunities, ensuring that nobody is treated differently because of protected characteristics.
Diversity involves considering the differences between people and valuing these differences as a positive.
Children in Year 5 celebrated Hanukkah this week with Mrs Start. They enjoyed some yummy food like doughnuts (which have a particularly special meaning to Jewish people) and chocolate money to symbolise the Gelt. A big thank you to Mrs Start for 3 wonderful afternoons.
Year 4 had an inspiring and enriching day on their Faith Tour to a Church, Mosque and Gurdwara. They listened attentively to all the Faith leaders, asking insightful questions and impressed all the adults and leaders with their knowledge. Key facts in RE has been a focus this term and the children demonstrated their sticky learning brilliantly! In the church, children explored artefacts over thousands of years old. In the mosque, children listened to an example of the daily prayer call. In the Gurdwara, children ate their lunches in the Langar kitchen and watched the Chaur (brush) being waved over the holy book. Some comments were:
Gurdwara leader - "You could be leading this session with all your knowledge."
Christian leader - "Your questions and observation skills are very detailed!"
The year 4 staff commented on the polite manner and behaviours of the children, including their respect for the different faiths. Well done year 4
