Equality at FHC

Fieldhead Carr Primary School is committed to ensuring equality of provision throughout our school community.

To achieve this, we set an annual Equalities Objective. This objective sets the tone of development work for the year and is the focus that all stakeholder groups coalesce around. We measure impact and set next steps at the end of each year.

Our Equality Objective for 23-24 is:

  • To deliver high quality training to all staff around

We will monitor these objectives through:

  • Working party feedback
  • EAL audit from the Local Authority
  • Staff review of PSHE curriculum following each block of training to ensure content is reflected in the provision we offer to children
  • Working party review of the Canon of literature annually

To see the process of Equality delivery in our school please see the section below detailing the annual objectives, the impact review and next steps.

Equality Objective 19-20

  • Identify opportunities in the Assembly and the wider curriculum to look at other cultures/countries, study famous people from ethnic minorities to begin a wider discussion about the values of individuals.

Impact:

  • Variety of perspectives in Assemblies have been widened to give children a better experience of life other than their own
  • Quality of social engagement through assembly driven whole school initiatives has deepened children’s connection to the wider world eg: support of PADFRAS as a focus for thankfulness and Harvest
  • Range of visitors for children to experience has widened slightly
  • Range of music from other cultures & communities as part of singing practice has developed significantly throughout the year and feedback from children has been very positive

Development going into 20-21:

  • Introduction of new PSHE approach and CREW session throughout school to develop children’s understanding of themselves and others. (Please see PSHE page)
  • Upper KS2 Life skills curriculum- passion projects and social action as a weekly part of their learning

Equality Objective 20-21

  • Review the diversity or perspective in all elements of the new curriculum- Canon of Literature & Music Appreciation, PSHE
  • Access parent working parties to QA the provision we are delivering to see if it is fit for purpose for our developing school context.

Impact:

  • The Canon of Literature was reviewed by a working party of parents from a variety of ethnicities. Discussion was had about the volume and quality of some of the text choices and substitutions were made from suggestions that parents and families had used effectively in their own families. Additional texts were ordered and added to the cannon with immediate effect. A recent ‘Classroom Reading’ learning walk showed a good sample of these books in prominent position in class libraries and also a review of KS2 ‘silent Readers’ showed these books to be effective in circulation.
  • Music Appreciation curriculum- Reviewed by working party of parents with music backgrounds. They surmised that the content was broadly representative but suggested the addition of black and Asian performers within the genres of music rather than the addition of new genres which could appear to be tokenistic in their inclusion. The working party is working on the document to make suggestions for artists to include in the document- this will continue into 21-22
  • Crew drop in’s and review of Crew books have highlighted consistent good practice regarding learning for life. Parent drop in for Crew has been suggested for 21-22 to support parents in understanding the new approach to dialogue about self, place in the world and sense of self

Development going into 21-22:

  • with a growing number of families of middle Eastern decent, we will run the working group again to allow for review of texts to reflect strong stories and role models from these communities. Working party group has already been constituted
  • addition of new artists into the genres as per working party suggestions
  • plan for parent access to CREW – parent learning sessions

Equality objective 21-22

In response to parent feedback- Parent Survey 21-22
  • Audit staff confidence on delivering culturally sensitive issues and develop a high-quality training offer to support this work in response to the developing diversity of the community.
Impact:
  • staff feedback sessions have allowed us to create a training profile for the whole school team, pinpointing areas of specific development needed
  • contact with working party has provided a few ‘lived experience’ staff meetings to begin the journey on this objective- feedback from staff was that it had immediate impact on the way they approached certain aspects of their interactions with children
  • contact made with the Local authority to provide specific training blocks for staff as per the audit
  • using the diversity of the FHC workforce to share more lived experience has helped to open up a wider dialogue on equality in our school
  • Parent feedback re: diversity of the workforce being more reflective of the school population has been universally positive

Development going into 22-23:

  • Parent feedback and staff feedback feel that the diversity of the Governing body needs reviewing in light of vacancies to ensure there is representative
  • Source more specific training as the Local authority provision has not covered the content we had hoped for

Equality Objective 22-23

  • Source new governors to fill vacancies and create a more representative Governors in line with the changing demographic of the school

Impact:

  • The additional governors have been invaluable in reviewing processes and procedures throughout school- Food, Curriculum, visitors into school, Parent communication
  • Parents have reported feeling able to use the parent governors effectively to support them when a problem arises
  • Attendance at the Governors led ‘Every Parent Matters’ sessions have increased and so we have received feedback to school on a wider range of issues
  • ‘You said- We did’ following ‘Every Parent Matters’ has been well received by parents

Development going into 23-24:

  • Continue to build on this practice as it is quite new and needs embedding

Equality Objective 23-24

  • Undertake the Local Authority EAL Audit to review the provision in school and set an EAL action plan

Ensuring Equality of provision at FHC

We are required to demonstrate how we meet the aims of the general public sector equality duty; Equality is a golden thread that is interwoven through all that we do at Fieldhead Carr Primary School and can be evidenced across our curriculum, our approach to cultural awareness and inclusion as well as in staff recruitment. As an example the steps being taken to promote equality are included in the following policy documents which can be found on the Policy Page – please note that this list is not exhaustive and you will see evidence of equality across all aspects of our school life, as well as this website:

  • Accessibility Plan
  • Accessibility Plan Action Plan
  • Anti-Bullying
  • Anti- Racism
  • Behaviour
  • Care and Control
  • Equality
  • Inclusion
  • PSHE
  • SEND
  • Supporting Pupils with Medical Conditions

Please view the information on the School Vision document and the Curriculum pages to see examples of how learning at FHC offers children an opportunity to see the diversity represented in the wider world and to find their voice to questions and understand their place in it.

Please refer to our ‘Children Taking Action’ menu to see children being active in shaping the world through supporting each other and taking concrete steps to make change in the world.

Please also view our Gallery page which shows the variety in learning and the diverse population of the school.

Protected Characteristics

At Fieldhead Carr Primary school we will not discriminate against, harass or vicitimise any pupil, prospective pupil, member of staff or other member of the school community because of their:

  • Sex
  • Age
  • Race
  • Disability
  • Religion or belief
  • Sexual orientation
  • Gender reassignment
  • Pregnancy or maternity
  • Marriage and civil partnership

Our school is committed to not only eliminating discrimination but also increasing understanding and appreciation for diversity.  Please see the PSHE page for further information about our coverage of the protected characteristics.

We want a work force which reflects the population of Leeds.  We will guarantee that no redundancy is the result of direct or indirect prejudice.  All disciplinary procedures are non-prejudicial, whether they result in warnings, dismissal or other disciplinary action.  We have also adopted the HR policies agreed by Leeds City Council including:

  • Equality Policy
  • Grievance and Bullying and Harassment Policy
  • Schools Work and Families Policy

Prejudice is not tolerated and we are continuously working to promote an accepting and respectful environment for our school community.

Our Commitment

Our school is committed to ensuring that there is equity in the experience for all members of our community. Should you feel there is something we need to be aware of that could help us in our journey or if there is something you are not happy with, please contact hello@fieldheadcarr.leeds.sch.uk and one of our team will make time to discuss this issue with you.