TOWERSJUNIORSCHOOL

/ Name of School / Towers Junior school
Review Date / October 2014
Date of next Review / October 2017
Who reviewed this AUP? / HT / Governors

Promoting Race Equality

Towers Schools Governors’ Statement

Rationale

Towers Schools value their pupils equally. We recognise and value Britain’s rich multicultural heritage and celebrate the diversity of its people. Therefore, we value and respect each other, whatever our race, language, culture or religion. We view the world community as a source of inspiration and as a means of shaping understanding and promoting fairness, tolerance and respect. Racial bullying is when people are treated unfairly. We do not tolerate any racist behaviour or unfair treatment in our schools.

What is racist behaviour?

Racism in any form is damaging to society and more specifically, to those groups and individuals against which it is directed. Racial harassment is defined as any form of behaviour that has the effect of threatening, intimidating, ridiculing, humiliating or undermining the perspective of a person or groups on racial or cultural grounds. Race and culture relate to colour, race, ethnicity, traditions and nationality. Although religious intolerance is not related to racial intolerance, it is a recognised factor of potential conflict between groups.

Racist behaviour includes:

Physical abuse including pushing or touching

Verbal abuse including unfair comments, jokes, name calling and insults

Graffiti including writing words or drawing pictures that hurt people

Treating people differently and less favourably

Refusing to cooperate with people from other ethnic groups

Wearing racist badges or carrying leaflets which are offensive

Recruiting or encouraging others to join a racist group

Making unpleasant comments about people’s lifestyle or work within the school

Making fun of someone for behaving in a different way or wearing different clothes which reflect cultural individuality

Making gestures or faces which are threatening, such as standing aggressively, staring or whispering.

Damaging someone’s property

Encouraging others to do any of these things.

Promoting Race Equality Policy

Introduction

This policy sets out the school’s approach to promoting equality, diversity and community cohesion. It is the statutory duties on schools topublish a race equality policy. This policy should be read in conjunction with our Community Cohesion Policy.

Mission Statement: Transforming the way we think, learn and work together for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Aims

We aim to ensure all children in our care become:

successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve

confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilling lives

responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society

We will achieve this by:

Inspiring our pupils to enjoy learning for life, in a stimulating and creative 21st century learning environment

Encouraging high expectations, building on good relationships and shared goals to support and guide our pupils towards achieving their full potential

Providing a secure environment in which everyone feels valued, and is given equal opportunity to flourish and succeed

Maintaining a positive ethos which motivates pupils to succeed, and raises their confidence and selfesteem

Establishing a culture of mutual respect and consideration, and encouraging a sense of

community

Helping children to understand and value the wider world in which they live, to appreciate othercultures and to develop moral, social, and spiritual awareness leading to an appreciation of a diverse and pluralist society.

Promoting Equality

The overall objective of TowersJuniorSchool’s Equality Policy is to provide a framework for the school to pursue its equality duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, promote equality of opportunity, and promote good relations and positive attitudes between people of diverse backgrounds in all its activities.

Through the Equality Policy, TowersJuniorSchool seeks to ensure that no pupils, staff, parents, guardians or carers or any other person through their contact with the school receives less favourable treatment on any grounds which cannot be shown to be justified. This covers race, ethnic or national origin, language, religion or belief, gender and gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, age, responsibility for children or other dependants, trade union or political activities, social class, where the person lives or spent convictions.

The principles of this policy apply to all members of the extended school community, pupils, staff, governors, parents and community members.

Context of the School

TowersJuniorSchool is set in a leafy area of Hornchurch, not far from Romford in the London Borough of Havering. At present the area has a low ethnic minority representation although this is increasing.

The ethnic composition of pupils at TowersJuniorSchoolis mainly White British at 81% with 19% of children from a range of ethnic minority groups. Whilst there is some linguistic diversity in a school this is minimal in comparison to some schools. Therefore we have a strong commitment to enrich the linguistic experience of all pupils. To this end MFL has high priority in the curriculum and the linguistic background of local community members is, and has been, used to offer OSSHL activities. The religious diversity of pupils is reflective of the community the school serves. Parents may, in consultation with the Headteacher, withdraw their child from assembly, collective worship and faith related curricular activities on religious grounds.

TowersJuniorSchool is an inclusive school therefore there is no discrimination applied regarding admissions. The admissions policy for Towers is determined by the local authority.

Statement of Values

We value all members of the school community equally; we celebrate their diversity and work to meet their individuals.

We believe that discrimination on the grounds of colour, race, ethnicity, culture, traditions and nationally are totally unacceptable and will work to combat and prevent such behaviour within the school. We also recognise that religious intolerance even when not necessarily related to racial intolerance, is discriminatory and is also unacceptable.

We recognise that racism is damaging to society and more specifically to groups and individuals against which it is directed. In any instances of racism we will work with both the victim and perpetrator to support and counsel.

We share concerns about institutional racism and will work to ensure that neither our school, nor any organisation with which we work, is institutionally racist.

Teaching and Learning

We actively seek opportunities within our teaching programme to promote positive attitudes to ethnic difference, cultural diversity and racial equality through:

Raising awareness and appreciation of the richness of different cultures

Challenging prejudices and stereotypes

A classroom ethos of mutual respect between all children.

Celebrating differences

Careful consideration of groupings within the class for activities encourages children from different backgrounds to work together harmoniously. A variety of teaching methods and styles take account of the different needs of pupils. Class teachers work closely with TA’s to support children from other linguistic backgrounds where English is a second language.

Curriculum Aims

The curriculum seeks to widen the horizons of all, and the choice of content in all subject areas aims to develop positive understanding and celebration of the world around us including the diversity of world cultures. Through the curriculum our own cultural heritage and diversity is promoted and prejudice, bias and racism is challenged. We draw on the cultural backgrounds and experiences of all members of the school community making experiences positive and real. When appropriate, the experience and expertise of people from local ethnic minority groups is also utilised to further knowledge and understanding and also provide a role model for children within the school.

The school’s PHSCE programme emphasises and supports the personal development of all pupils. Within that, every pupil is offered the support and guidance they need at the time they need it. Individual support takes account of personal and cultural needsspecific to ethnic groups.

Assemblies in school reflect our visions, aims and ethos. They include celebrations of key religious festivals and many assemblies are based on themes within the community cohesion policy. Awareness of human rights, particularly children's rights, is highlighted through specific assemblies during Black History month, Red Nose day, Child Line assemblies etc.

Faiths are studied through the agreed SACRE syllabus in RE and children from all faiths are encouraged to share their culture heritage using their first hand experiences bringing to school artefacts and traditional clothing.

Withdrawal of Pupils

The school ensures that parents are aware of their rights to withdraw their child from RE, Assemblies and Sex Education and respects the parental decision made by any parent who chooses to exercise this right.

Resources

The school takes active steps to ensure that resources which promote a greater understanding of cultural diversity and racial equality are used throughout the curriculum. Displays reflect the worlds and our own, rich and varied cultural heritage. Positive images of people from various ethnic groups are displayed in the school and stereotypes or non-inclusive items are used as a discussion point.

Tracking Attainment and Pupil Progress

We endeavour to ensure equality of opportunity for all our pupils to strive towards excellence. To this end the achievement and attainment of various groups is closely tracked and monitored. Monitoring pupil outcomes by ethnicity allows us to check for any disparities in attainment and progress between and within ethnic groups. The attainment and progress of individual pupils and groups of pupils are tracked as they move through the school so that any underperformance can be identified and intervention programmes initiated.

Tracking Attendance and Punctuality

All pupils’ attendance and punctuality is monitored regularly. Any issues arising from monitoring are followed up on an individual basis. Steps are taken to address issues that could adversely affect the attendance of pupils.

The school recognises the right of pupils to take time off for religious observance and action is taken to minimise the disruption to the education of these pupils.

Behaviour Policy

The school’s procedures for managing behaviour and disciplining pupils are fair and applied equally to all pupils irrespective of ethnicity. The use of rewards and sanctions is monitored by ethnic group and any unjustified disparities are acted upon. The background of any child’s ‘unusual’ behaviour is carefully investigated in case he or she is the victim of unreported racial harassment. Similarly, the background of any child’s disruptive behaviour is carefully investigated including examining any possible complaints of racial harassment against all pupils.

Leadership, Management and Governance

Responsibilities

The Governing Body will ensure that the school complies with Race Relations legislation and work with the Headteacher and staff to implement and monitor the impact of agreed policies.

The Headteacher will ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities and are given appropriate training and support. It will be the responsibility of the Headteacher, and in her absence, a member of the SLT team, to take appropriate action in any cases of racial discrimination.

Dealing with a Perceived Racial Incident

It is the responsibility of all staff to deal initially with any perceived racist incident, identifying and challenging all types of racial bias and stereotyping. Staff will need to record the incident in writing and inform the named member of staff, usually the Headteacher, as soon as is practicable.

The Headteacher, or in her absence a member of the SLT team, will fully investigate the incident. The victim(s) will be supported and their cultural heritage positively reinforced. Sanctions will be applied to the perpetrators in line with the school behaviour policy but they will also be counselled to avoid any repetition. In addition they will be told of the school’s no tolerance stance on racial incidents. Where incidents involve pupils the parents and /or carers of both victim and perpetrator will be informed that the incident has taken place and of the actions taken by the school in response to the incident. It is our expectation that parents will support and work with us.

Any employee who knowingly discriminates against others is acting unlawfully and will be subject to disciplinary procedures.

Raising Awareness

Not all incidents will be reported by the victim, so it is important that all members of the school community are sensitive to issues of racism and take responsibility for reporting incidents themselves. The whole community will be aware of the nominated person responsible for dealing with and reporting incidents and will understand the procedure.

External Monitoring

The Headteacher will ensure that any racist incident is recorded and forwarded to the LA in accordance with borough policy requirements for monitoring. This record does not include any pupil’s individual details.

Internal Monitoring

The Headteacher reports on racial incidents to the Governing body on a termly basis to facilitate their monitoring of trends. The Governors have a duty to ensure a Race Equality plan is in place and is regularly reviewed.

Reporting an incident that results in exclusion, when a case cannot be resolved, when media or police involvement occurs, or if Ofsted cited race or multiculturalism as a key any of concern as an outcome of an inspection the local authority would be informed.

Revised October 2014

Review Date: October 2017 (Unless in the interim new legislation is introduced or there is a significant increase in racist incidents)