We promote equality and community cohesion by:
- Ensuring that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.
- Working hard to make sure that the school is a safe and secure environment for everyone.
- Recognising that people have different needs, and we understand that treating people equally does not always involve treating them all exactly the same.
- Recognising that for some pupils extra support is needed to help them to achieve and be successful.
- Making sure that people from different groups are consulted and involved in our decisions, for example through talking to pupils and parents/carers, and through our School Council or other committees.
- Aiming to make sure that no-one experiences harassment, less favourable treatment or discrimination because of their age; any disability they may have; their ethnicity, colour or national origin; their gender; their gender identity or reassignment; their marital or civil partnership status; being pregnant or having recently had a baby; their religion or beliefs; their sexual identity and orientation.
- Developing good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development.
The main information can be found in our Equality Targets and Action Plan document below.
Equality-Targets-and-Accessibility-Plan-July-2022
SEND – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
If you’d like to read more about how we deal with SEND at our school, you can do so on our SEND page:
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
British Values & Equality
The DfE have reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs”.
The Government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy and these values were reiterated in 2014. At Newport Infant School these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy
- We have a school council with representatives from all three Years Groups which meets regularly. The aim of the meetings is to seek the children’s views and opinions on a range of school issues. Every child on the school council is voted in by their class.
- Through our curriculum children are taught about and encouraged to respect public institutions and services. We do this by inviting into school a range of visitors from the local community as well as making visits into the local area.
- We focus on identifying and solving problems, understanding that people can have different points of view.
- Working with others is a key principal in our Building Learning Power and we regularly build opportunities into the curriculum for this, both within each class and across year groups.
The rule of law
- The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced at Newport Infant School. Visits from outside agencies such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.
- Children are taught the Golden rules of the school, as well as our core values for each half term. Pupils are taught reasons behind our school rules, and how our values link with this. They know the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when rules are broken. We promote being a caring, respectful and responsible citizen throughout the life of the school. For more information, please read our school Anti-Bullying Policy and Behaviour Policy in the Policies section of our website.
Individual Liberty
- At Newport Infant School, pupils are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for all our children to make informed choices, through a safe environment and an empowering education. Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and are taught how to exercise these safely, for example through our E Safety and Personal, Social and Health Education work.
- We have ‘Super Sue’s Safety Crew’ who help support the pupils to know their rights and how to keep themselves safe.
- The Eco Committee encourage pupils to make decisions and promote looking after the environment. They try to support the pupils to understand how we all have a responsibility for our environment and that our actions affect the planet.
Mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
- Mutual respect is at the heart of our values. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect.
- We expect all our children to show good manners, and provide opportunities for them to practice and develop their skills in sharing, taking responsibility and listening to others.
- The school community gets involved in fundraising for different groups and charities. For example, we always take part in Children In Need and Comic Relief, as well as other charities. Sometimes we have fundraisers to support our own school community, for example when a child needed a new wheelchair, we held a fundraising event to help reach the total needed.
- Our curriculum helps our children to explore the issues of sharing, caring, friendship and loneliness and fairness.
- Different faiths and beliefs are explored and celebrated through assemblies, and our RE lessons. The children are taught that people have different faiths and beliefs and that these should be accepted. Children within our school with different faiths are encouraged to share their practices and special celebrations.