At Black Horse Hill Infant School, we aim to teach the children to recognise and celebrate difference. We have a duty to prepare our children for modern life in Britain. In school and their future workplace they will be working alongside peers and colleagues of different race, religion, gender, age, disability and sexual orientation. It is paramount that future generations are able to celebrate differences, accept the views of others and treat each other with respect, even if they disagree. We expect our children to express their views with kindness and consideration for the feelings of others. Our key message is that we are all equal and we all belong.
When designing our curriculum we gave much consideration to promoting equality across all subject areas. Inspirational role models were chosen to represent the many communities across modern Britain and to challenge stereotypes. Many of our role models are significant individuals who have themselves fought for equality for example Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafazi, Emmeline Pankhurst and Nelson Mandela. Staff choose resources carefully so that they reflect the children in our school and communities across modern Britain.
Assemblies are carefully planned and delivered to raise our children’s awareness of equality, diversity, religious beliefs and celebrating being unique. Visitors are regularly invited in to enhance and develop children’s understanding of life in modern Britain.
We participate in equality raising awareness events such as Black History Month, Neuro Diversity Week and Refugee week but we firmly believe equality should be promoted all year round and this is reflected in our curriculum.
Over the past few years, we have invested a significant amount of funding in our school and class libraries. We know how important quality, inclusive and representative literature is in developing children’s understanding of the diverse world in which they live. Through stories young children can be exposed to challenging themes which will provoke thought, deliberation and empathy.
