The Breck Primary

Race Equality Policy

Introduction

This policy has been written to meet the school's statutory duty under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. General and specific duties are required as follows:
The general duty requires us to have due regard to the need to:

  • eliminate racial discrimination;
  • promote equality of opportunity;
  • Promote good relations between people of different racial groups.

The specific duty requires us to:

  • prepare a written policy on racial equality;
  • assess the impact of our policies, including this policy, on pupils, staff and parents, of different racial groups, including, in particular, the impact on attainment levels of these pupils;
  • monitor the operation of our policies through the impact they have on such pupils, staff and parents, with particular reference to their impact on the attainment levels of such pupils.

School Context: At The Breck we do:

Promote equality of opportunity for all members of the school community

Promote good relations between people of different racial groups where they exist

Ensure that the culture and ethos of the school places equal value on the diverse racial faith and ethnic groups, cultural and linguistic heritage represented in our society.

Recognise we live in a multi-cultural and multi-faith community and we will offer equal opportunities to all.

We accept these definitions:

  • Racism - Conduct or words which advantage or disadvantage people because of their colour or ethnic origin.
  • Racist incident - A racist incident is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.
    • The school has a racial incidents policy procedure. The Head Teacher is responsible for implementing the procedure and ensuring that all members of the school community are aware of, and understand, the policy.
  • Institutional racism - The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

Our school values the individuality of all our children. We are committed to giving all our children every opportunity to achieve the highest standards. Within this ethos of achievement, we do not tolerate bullying or harassment of any kind.

This policy helps to ensure that this school promotes the individuality of all our children, irrespective of ethnicity, attainment, age, disability, gender or background. We aim to reflect the multi-ethnic nature of our society and ensure that the education we offer fosters positive attitudes to all people.

This policy reflects the general and specific duties on schools as detailed in the Race Relations Act 1976 and as amended by the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. This policy must be read in conjunction with other related school policies such as Behaviour, Equal Opportunities and Special Educational Needs.

Policy, Leadership and Management

This policy has been agreed by teachers, support staff and members of the governing body.
The head teacher and the governing body are responsible for ensuring that they policy is communicated, implemented and monitored.
The school makes a commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity, tackling racial discrimination and promoting good race relations.
All staff are responsible for dealing with racist incidents, and being able to recognise and tackle racial bias and stereotyping.
Staff and governors will be given the opportunity to discuss the implications of the policy and any training needed.
All members of staff are entitled to appropriate training, in order that they can play their full part in ensuring that our school promotes racial equality. Training is linked to priorities within the School Development Plan. Funding for professional development is identified within the Standards Fund. Members of the governing body will also identify their own training needs in relation to racial equality.

The school will follow the LEA Guidelines in dealing with incidents of racial harassment.
Any incident of racial harassment is unacceptable in our school.

Incidents could take the form of physical assault, verbal abuse, damage to a pupil's property or lack of cooperation in a lesson, due to the ethnicity of a pupil. Any adult witnessing an incident or being informed about an incident must follow these agreed procedures:

  1. stop the incident and comfort the pupil who is the victim;
  2. reprimand the aggressor and inform the victim what action has been taken;
  3. if the incident is witnessed by other pupils, tell them why it is wrong;
  4. report the incident to the head teacher or deputy head teacher and inform him/her of the action taken
  5. inform the class teacher(s) of both the victim and the aggressor, then record what happened in the incident book;
  6. inform both sets of parents, if appropriate.

All racist incidents will now be recorded and reported to the governing body by the head teacher.
Outcomes of the school Race Equality Policy will be communicated to parents in the annual report from the governors or other similar document.

Curriculum, Teaching and Assessment

The diversity of our society is addressed through our schemes of work that reflect the programmes of study of the National Curriculum. Teachers are flexible in their planning and offer appropriate challenges to all pupils, regardless of ethnicity.

We aim to provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed, and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. To do this, teaching and learning will:

  • ensure equality of access for all pupils and prepare them for life in a diverse society;
  • use materials that reflect a range of cultural backgrounds, without stereotyping;
  • promote attitudes and value that will challenge racist behaviour;
  • provide opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures;
  • seek to involve all parents in supporting their child's education;
  • provide educational visits and extra-curricular activities that reflect all pupil groupings;
  • take account of the performance of all pupils when planning for future learning and setting targets;
  • make best use of all available resources to support the learning of all groups of pupils.

The services of the EAL Support Service will be accessed by the school to assist those pupils for whom English is a second language. This service will be used to promote understanding of other cultures.

Admission, Attendance, Discipline and Exclusions

The school is committed to ensuring that all processes are fairly applied. If ethnic discrepancies in attendance of exclusions become apparent then this will be addressed to discover causes and to seek positive ways forward. Pupils' Personal Development, Attainment and Progress

  • Attainment is monitored across all subject areas for individual pupils.
  • Under achievement is address with differentiated work, and where appropriate, with additional input by support staff for within the school and from outside agencies. Support is allocated and monitored by the SENCo in consultation with class teachers.
  • Achievement of all students is celebrated in a number of ways, including stickers, Best Work stamps, team points, merits, celebration assemblies, etc.
  • Extra curricular activities are open to all students who self select by aptitude, ability and personal preference.

Attitudes and Environment

In our school, we aim to tack racial discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good race relations across all aspects of school life. We do this by:

  • creating an ethos in which pupils and staff feel valued and secure;
  • building self esteem and confidence in our pupils, so that they can then use these qualities to influence their own relationships with others;
  • having consistent expectations of pupils and their learning;
  • removing or minimising barriers to learning, so that all pupils can achieve;
  • ensuring that our teaching takes into account the learning needs of all pupils through our schemes of work and lesson planning;
  • actively tackling racial discrimination and promoting racial equality through our School Prospectus, Governors Annual Report to Parents, newsletters to parents and displays of work;
  • making clear to our pupils what constitutes aggressive and racist behaviour;
  • identifying clear procedures for dealing quickly with incidents of racist behaviour;
  • making pupils and staff confident to challenge aggressive and racist behaviour.

Parents, Governors and Community Partnership.

  • The Governors - Racial equality will be an agenda item at meetings of the governing body.
  • We have a rolling programme of policy review. When policies are reviewed in future, governors will ensure that due regard is given to the promotion of racial equality within each policy.
  • All parents have the opportunity to discuss the progress of their children at parent/teacher discussion evenings. Parents are also welcome to make an appointment at any other time during the term if they have concerns.
  • Parents are invited to help with school trips and their help is greatly valued.
  • Membership of the Parent Teacher Association is encouraged.

Staffing - Recruitment, Training and Professional Development

The school is required to supply the LEA with employment data related to racial groups employed within the school.
The school is committed to attracting and developing a workforce on a basis of merit.
The recruitment process will be monitored to ensure that there is no ethnic bias.
Professional development opportunities are offered to all staff.
The school will ensure that staff and governors are provided with sufficient training to carry out their statutory duties.

Monitoring and Evaluation

We make regular assessments of pupils' learning and use this information to track pupils' progress as they move through the school. As part of this process, we will monitor the performance of different racial groups, to ensure that all groups of pupils are making the best possible progress. We use this information to adjust future teaching and learning plans, as necessary. Resources are available to support groups of pupils where the information suggests that progress is not as good as it should be.

The governing body receives regular updates on pupil performance information.

School performance information is compared to national data and LEA data, to ensure that pupils are making appropriate progress when compared to all schools, and to schools in similar circumstances. Parents receive an annual questionnaire about the school and this will include some questions about the success of our policies in promoting their involvement in their children's learning. Our monitoring activities enable us to identify any differences in pupil performance. This allows us to take appropriate action to meet the needs of specific groups and to set targets in order to make the necessary improvements.