'The special qualities, differences and abilities of everyone in our Almond Hill community are valued and celebrated'
Miss Porter - Diverity Lead
Equality and diversity at Almond Hill
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.
What is equality?
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.
How is the Equality Act 2010 relevant to young people's lives?
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.
What is diversity?
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.
What’s the difference between equality and diversity?
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.
Gemma Kier, author and founder of The Abilities In Me Foundation has kindly donated her entire book series to our school library. We are really proud to add these books to our library and look forward to sharing them with the children. Gemma will also be visiting our school in July to host an assembly for all year groups. June 2023
Abilities in Me Assembly
Gemma and Max from the Abilities in Me Foundation visited us on Tuesday to host assemblies for both the lower and upper school. I am incredibly proud to tell parents how impressed they were with our school, our ethos and our children. The children really engaged in the assemblies answering questions and showing respect and understanding to those within the ‘Abilities community’. We were very lucky that Gemma donated her entire book series to our school library but if you or your child are interested in purchasing any of Gemma’s books for home, they are available to purchase through Amazon. July 2023
