Race Equality Policy

Newtown C.E. (Voluntary Controlled) Primary School

Race Equality Policy

1. Introduction

1.1 At Newtown Church of England Primary School we are committed to providing the best possible education for every child within a caring and supportive ethos; where all members of our community are valued and respected and given the opportunity to realise their full potential. Within our school ethos and in striving for the highest standards of academic achievement and behaviour, we do not tolerate bullying and harassment of any kind. This policy helps to ensure that our school values children's individuality, irrespective of ethnicity, attainment, age, disability, gender or background. It is therefore important that our school takes a proactive and sensitive approach to the promotion of race equality.

1.2 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 - PSHE, Behaviour, Equal Opportunities, Inclusion and Special Needs.

1.3 The General Duty requires us to have due regard to the need to:

- eliminate racial discrimination ;
- promote equal opportunity;
- promote good relations between people of different racial groups.

1.4 The specific duties require 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.

2. Aims and Objectives

In our school we aim to tackle 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 all pupils feel safe, 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 and display work;
- regular consultation with parents/carers and members of the local community, so that they are well informed of our policy and procedures;
- 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 racist and aggressive behaviour.

3. Teaching and Learning

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

- ensure quality 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 values 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 challenging targets;
- make the best of all resources to support the learning of all groups of pupils.

4. Leadership, Management and Governance

4.1 Our school will be proactive in promoting racial equality, good race relations and tackling unlawful racial discrimination. The diversity our society is addressed through our schemes of work that reflect the programmes of study of the National Curriculum. The content of the curriculum reflects and values diversity. It encourages pupils to explore bias and to challenge prejudice and stereotypes. Teachers are flexible in their planning and offer appropriate challenges to pupils, regardless of ethnicity. All incidents of racism are now recorded and reported to the governing body by the Headteacher.

4.2 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 co-operation in a lesson, due to the ethnicity of a pupil. Any adult witnessing an incident or being informed about an incident should follow these procedures:

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

5. Responsibilities

- the governing body is responsible for ensuring that the school fulfils its legal responsibilities and that this policy and its related procedures and strategies are implemented;
- the Headteacher is responsible for implementing the policy; for ensuring that all staff are aware of their responsibilities, are given appropriate training and support and for taking appropriate action any cases of unlawful discrimination.
- there is a member of staff responsible for co-ordinating racial equality work and dealing with reported incidents of racism and racial harassment.
- all staff are expected to deal with racist incidents that may occur; to know how to identify and challenge racial and cultural bias and stereotyping; to support pupils in their class for whom English is an additional language to incorporate principles of equality and diversity into all aspects of their work.
- visitors and contractors will be made aware of and expected to comply with the school's race equality policy.

6. Policy, Planning and Review

6.1 We will ensure that the principles and procedures above feature in all policies and practices especially:

- pupils' progress, attainment and assessment, including ethnic monitoring;
- behaviour, discipline and exclusions;
- pupils' personal development and pastoral care;
- teaching and learning;
- admissions and attendance;
- the content of the curriculum;
- staff recruitment and professional development;
- partnership with parents and communities.

6.2 We will ensure the implementation of the policy through:

- Audit. Whole school (see LEA audit tool). Staff with responsibilities for areas outlined above will undertake race equality audits. (See Learning for All or Ofsted's Evaluating Inclusion')
- Action Plan. This will be developed focusing on areas for development and staff training.
- Awareness. The core policy will feature in the school's prospectus and all teaching and non-teaching staff will have their own copy.
- Where possible we will make use of additional resources available through LEA services provided under the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant.

6.3 Monitoring and Evaluating the Policy

- the PSHE Co-ordinator, Headteacher/deputy Headteacher will collect, study and use quantitative and qualitative data relating to the implementation of this policy;
- the progress and targets of ethnic minority pupils will be monitored on a termly basis in line with the school's assessment policy/pupil tracking system;
- school self reviews and policy reviews will include race equality impact questions and can be used to inform planning and decision making;
- results of reviews, monitoring and assessments will be made available to parents and the community through newsletters and the annual report to parents.


Date reviewed by the governing body: September 2004



Date for the next review of this policy: September 2005 Back to top