Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Equal opportunities for all
Differences and similarities celebrated
Involved, valued, welcomed and safe

At HDPS, we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race and culture, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. 

We have formed a dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group, made up of governors, staff representatives from ARPS and mainstream classes and parents/carers. The EDI working group meet half termly to ensure EDI is embedded and developed throughout the school community. Please see our half termly bulletins available on our website.

The Equality Act 2010 requires schools to publish information to show how we are working to:

• Eliminate discrimination
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Foster good relations between groups of people

The protected characteristics – which relate to a primary school – are:

• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Gender
• Sexual orientation
• Race
• Religion and belief

Other groups of pupils we believe it is also important to consider are:

• Children Looked After/ children who were previously looked-after
• Young carers
• Pupils eligible for free school meals or living in poverty

This document forms part of our published information and is designed to show information that will be most useful and important to our families. On the school website, there are also associated documents: Anti-Bullying Policy, Relationship & Sex Education Policy, Emotional Health & Well-being Policy, Overarching Equality Policy, Equalities Statement and Objectives, Accessibility Plan and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education) Policy. 

At HDPS we strive to treat each member of our community as an individual; to make each individual feel valued and to teach our pupils to do the same. Trying to achieve this for all our pupils involves us learning what we all have in common as well as celebrating our many differences. We recognise that children learn best in an environment where everyone feels safe, valued, and welcome in an inclusive way. At HDPS we are privileged to have an ARPS as a central part of our community which offers a unique and specialist setting to embrace Equality, Diversity and Inclusion on many levels. We believe everyone has the same rights but have individual needs and it is vital to ensure that all aspects of school life are ‘fair’ and appropriate and not necessarily always the same for everyone. 

We teach the children about equality, diversity and inclusion embedded throughout the curriculum, through regular opportunities in assembly, School Council, educational visits, visitors and we aim to reflect these values in our day to day interactions with the children.

We teach children about insults and suitable language and the impact of prejudicial language.  We make every effort to make our playgrounds safe and enjoyable places to be.  We place a high priority on regular training of staff in areas such as first aid and positive handling techniques. We value our ‘Pupil Voice’ input and their views and opinions are regularly sought in a variety of ways, including School Council with equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do.

Disability Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• We celebrate different abilities in many ways whilst also supporting the specific needs children may have. We teach children to celebrate difference and that difference is not about lack or less but about rights, needs, attitude and access. We teach the children that equality is not about everyone getting the same but about everyone getting what they need and what will help them the most.
• Each child is unique and we prioritise the time to consider their bespoke needs.  We value and act upon the contribution from parents/carers and from specialist professionals to ensure a child’s needs are fully met. 
• We recognise that SEND can affect a child’s achievement or social experience in very different ways and we strive to support individuals and remove barriers to their development wherever possible. Through social development and interaction our aim is to increase confidence and self-esteem to enable our children to achieve their fullest potential. 

How we promote disability equality and help all children get on well together:

• We teach children about disability equality through the curriculum and it is embedded in our wider school ethos. 
• In our ARPS provision, staff and children use Makaton as an aid to communication.  This is shared in the wider school, for example in assemblies, concerts and presentations to foster good relations between those with protected characteristics and those without.
• We use technology, such as Soundfield, to aid communication in ARPS classes and whole school assemblies.
• We use symbolised resources to aid written communication and understanding throughout the school.
• We celebrate the successes of all our children and encourage peer support.  As appropriate, with parental/carer consent/involvement, we support children with disabilities to teach their peer group about their specific needs. Difference is often obvious to children and this benefits from being discussed and accepted openly to support positive relationships. Children have become so confident about their differences that they have been enabled (as older primary children) to talk to their whole class or the school about their own disabilities.             
• All children at HDPS have equal opportunities to access all areas of school life. This includes clubs (support or adaptions are offered as appropriate) and trips including residential trips in Years 5/6.
• Children may become diagnosed with a learning disability during their time at HDPS. We have clear pathways to diagnosis of specific learning difficulties/disabilities and parents/carers and outside agencies will be involved with this process and fully supported. Parents and carers are welcome to discuss any concerns about their child’s development at any time and will receive information about additional support regularly.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• We talk to the children about different skills, achievements and abilities and avoid labels associated with ability. They are specifically taught how to include everyone and how to listen to each other’s ideas respectfully.
• We treat insults related to ability/disability seriously in line with our Behaviour for Learning Policy.

How we would like to improve our Disability Equality work:

• To increase representation of disabled people in our school - see our separate Accessibility Plan.
• This includes curriculum developments (every subject leader’s action plan aims to develop diversity within their curriculum area) and everyday learning and teaching practice including historical/scientific contributions of disabled people – see our Equalities Statement and Objectives.
• Increase peer use of Makaton across the school.
• To further develop children’s understanding of individual needs and different ways of playing to improve social experiences for some disabled children. 

Gender Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• Stereotyping means expecting girls and boys to behave or look a particular way. We recognise that there is still incredible pressure in society to conform to gender specific roles/looks and we need to teach children about this.
• We value individuality and this includes individuality in children who don’t want to act or dress in a way that is ‘typically like a boy’ or ‘typically like a girl’.
• We respect and support children’s gender identities whether they accept, question or want to change the gender ascribed to them at birth.

How do we promote gender equality?

• The school community carefully consider the way pupils are organised and the language used to avoid inadvertent segregation. We encourage everyone to be respectful to all our community and visitors. 
• Staff do not ask children to get into boy and girl groups/teams in PE.
• Staff do not line up children in boy/girl lines e.g. for lunch and assemblies.
• We give careful consideration to certain gender specific clubs or activities e.g. we do run girl-only sports clubs because research has shown these sporting activities are often dominated by boys and so we positively discriminate.
• We make sure that there is a gender balance to our pupil surveys; school councils, etc., so that we hear the voice of boys and girls equally.
• We teach the children about stereotyping within the curriculum and we are conscious about checking toys/displays/book corners.
• We challenge stereotypes through the books we read children; choices of images we present, etc.
• We analyse all our data by gender to check if there is an issue we need to address (e.g. improving the attainment of boys in writing).

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• We don’t tolerate gender insults.
• We try to make sure reading books reflect our gender equality policy. If you find a book that you think gives the wrong message, please tell your child’s class teacher – as we recognise some may slip through the net and we will be able to use them to teach children about gender equality.   We do have books that are obviously aimed at girls or boys and we know these appeal to children – we avoid stories that give stereotypical messages about girls’ or boys’ roles in the world.

How we would like to improve our Gender Equality work:

• We are creating more sporting opportunities for girls and in particular competitive team events.  
• We want to support more boys to explore activities deemed typically ‘female’.
• We aim to increase children’s understanding of gender stereotyping and sexism and begin these discussions earlier, from the beginning of EYFS. This includes curriculum developments (every subject leader’s action plan aims to develop diversity within their curriculum area) and every day learning and teaching practice.

Race and Heritage Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• We value all our children as individuals and recognise the diversity of racial and cultural heritage within our community. 
• Through our curriculum planning, we find as many opportunities as possible to teach the children about other cultures and ethnicities.
• We make sure toys, displays, books etc., reflect a range of people from different cultures and avoid stereotypes.
• We have themed assemblies and teach the children about diversity as part of the curriculum.
• We celebrate Black History Month in assemblies and are developing a more diverse/hidden history curriculum.
• We hold a ‘Bring yourself day’ in which we celebrate and respect the range of cultural backgrounds across the school.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• We teach children about cultural insults and do not tolerate their use; racist comments are treated seriously in line with our Behaviour for Learning Policy.

How we would like to improve our work:

• We are developing a proactive ‘everyday’ curriculum to explore similarities, differences and uniqueness from EYFS.
• To increase representation of ethnicity and cultures in our school. This includes curriculum developments (every subject leader’s action plan aims to develop diversity within their curriculum area) and every day learning and teaching practice.

Religious or Belief Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• We value the diversity of religious belief and other philosophical beliefs within our local and wider community. We also respect the right to have no religion or belief.
• We recognise that an understanding of religious/belief education plays an important role in helping to keep our community a tolerant and inclusive place in which to live.
• Our Religious Education curriculum gives young people the opportunity to develop an understanding of their own and other people’s beliefs and therefore helps young people live in a diverse society.
• We regularly invite representatives from different faith communities to speak in our RE lessons and assemblies. Children also make visits to different places of worship within our community.
• Children are encouraged to ask questions and explore the big ideas raised in stories from a range of faiths.
• We respect the right of families to celebrate key religious festivals and authorise absences accordingly.
• We respect the religious wishes of families regarding participation and exclusion in school celebrations (for example Christmas performances and birthday assemblies).

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• Insults related to belief or religion are never tolerated and are treated seriously in accordance with the Behaviour for Learning Policy.

How we would like to improve our work:

• We would like to include more members of our school community to come and talk about their faith and how this affects their way of life.
• We are aiming to make sure all religions and special religious festivals celebrated by our families are also recognised in/through school.
• We aim to plan more opportunities for children to talk about their own beliefs.

Family Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• We value all family types as equally special and recognise that children need to be proactively taught that other children’s families can be different to their own family type.
• We will celebrate the diversity of our families in our ‘Bring yourself day’ and through curriculum areas such as Relationships and Sex Education/PSHE. Our hope and experience is that celebrating family diversity encourages children to share and therefore educate other children about the variety of family types in our community.
• We use resources that include a variety of family types.
• We realise that there are financial inequalities between families at HDPS and we ensure no family or child is excluded from a school event or activity for financial reasons and we ensure that we do not add stress or embarrassment to families. 
• In Relationships and Sex Education, we teach the children that babies are conceived in different ways (conception teaching formally happens in key stage 2 but questions can begin before then and will be answered in an age-appropriate way) – a parent/carer meeting always takes place before RSE education lessons.
• We recognise that children who are adopted into families or fostered often have specific needs and may need additional care. We employ a Family Liaison Officer and staff are trained in attachment theory. We are sensitive to areas of the curriculum/the calendar year that may affect children.
• We know that change and transition are sensitive times for children with attachment difficulties and will work with parents/carers to support this. We can also celebrate fostering or adoption days if children would like to do so.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• We don’t tolerate any insults about families and these are dealt with in accordance with the Behaviour for Learning Policy – we also take any insults as an opportunity to educate children about diversity and equality.
• We teach children about homophobia and homophobic insults. The casual use of ‘gay’ as a negative adjective is never tolerated and children are taught why this can never be acceptable.

How we would like to improve our Family Equality work:

• We are aiming to increase visual representations of different family types throughout the school.

• We are consulting on using the term ‘grown ups’ as a general term rather than ‘mums and dads’ to refer to children’s significant adults so that children who live with one parent; two mums; two dads; foster parents or who live with extended family don’t feel that their own family make-up is not included.
• We would ask club providers to use this language too. Not only to avoid certain language, we would also actively talk about different family types so children regularly hear all family types recognised in our language.

Staff Equality at HDPS
What this means to us:

• HDPS is committed to promoting equality of opportunity for all staff and job applicants.  We aim to create a working environment in which all individuals are able to make best use of their skills, free from discrimination or harassment and in which all decisions are based on merit.
• We do not discriminate against staff based on the protected characteristics: age, disability, gender re-assignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
• In respect of staff recruitment we reiterate our commitment to equal opportunities in all adverts and monitor our recruitment process.
• We have undertaken relevant training and highlighted equality expectations and responsibilities. This has provided all staff with the opportunity to reflect on and consider equality, equity and inclusion issues for all staff and pupils including those with any protected characteristic.
• We are committed to ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion expectations are included in the induction process of all staff.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

• We do not tolerate acts of discrimination or harassment in the school community.  We are committed to ensuring that any form of harassment is dealt with both sensitively and speedily. 

How we would like to improve our Staff Equality work:

• Continue to develop unconscious bias and equality training for all staff.

All new staff to have read ‘sexual violence and sexual harassment’ as directed by Keeping Children Safe in Education and referenced in Safeguarding and Behaviour for Learning policies. 

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