Race Relations Act
Article posted by School Administrator
1. Introduction
In this school, St Edmund’s Nursery, we are committed to tackling racial discrimination and promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations. We are committed to achieving race equality to meet our statutory obligations under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. We will do this by working in line with the Commission for Racial Equality Standards ‘Learning for All’ and by working towards the recommendations of The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry (2000). This policy explains what this means for our school community and how we put it into practice.
2. Rationale.
A commitment to race equality is a shared commitment to educational excellence and equality for all sections of our school community. It helps us to focus attention on improved planning, decision making, resource allocation, monitoring and evaluating our achievements as part of the raising standards agenda.
Our policy encourages more appropriate and effective personal training and development for staff and governors to ensure we improve pupil engagement with their learning, job satisfaction for staff, parental engagement and representation of under- represented groups within all levels of our staff and our governing body.
3. Commitment
Our school will actively promote race equality, oppose racism in all its forms and foster positive attitudes. Through this, we will provide a positive learning and teaching environment for the school community as a whole. We will do this by:
- Treating all those in the school community ( pupils, staff, governors, parents and the community) as individuals who are respected and valued for their abilities, beliefs, experiences, aspirations and potential.
- Creating a school ethos which promotes and reflects racial equality develops understanding and challenges myths, stereotypes, misconceptions and prejudices;
- Encourages everyone in the school community to have a positive self image and high self esteem so that they develop their full potential
- Having high expectations of all the school community and helping them fulfil their aspirations.
- Facing equality issues openly, positively and effectively
- Identifying and removing practices, procedures and customs which are discriminatory, replacing them with approaches which are fair, accessible and relevant
- Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing outcomes to secure continuous improvements in all that we do;
- Being open and fully accountable about our policy, its implementation and its effects.
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4. Roles.
Promoting race equality and raising the achievement of all pupils is the responsibility of the whole school. This policy outlines the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved and connected with the school so that everyone knows what is expected of them.
Governors
The governing body, having consulted with staff, pupils and parents, has agreed this policy. It will monitor the impact of this policy by reviewing the action plan annually. The Governing body will communicate the progress of its review to the schools and to parents.
Head teacher
The head teacher will demonstrate through personal leadership the importance of this policy. She/he will ensure that all staff are aware of it and understand their roles and responsibilities.
Teachers
Teachers will contribute to the development of the policy and understand clearly their own role in implementing it.
Pupils
Pupils will contribute to the development of the race equality policy and be made aware how it applies to them. They will be encouraged to treat each other with respect and to report incidents of a racial nature to an adult.
Parents
Parents will be consulted on the development of the policy, particularly on aspects relating to communication and parental involvement. They will receive regular reports on the progress made in implementing the policy.
(Further details on staff and governor roles and responsibilities are contained in Appendix 2)
5. Implementing the race equality policy
This policy is put into action through our action plan for promoting race equality and raising the achievement of minority ethnic pupils. The action plan identifies key objectives, links to other plans, actions, responsibilities, resources, timescales, success indicators and targets as well as how the policy will be monitored and evaluated. The action plan will be part of the School Improvement Plan. Our governors will monitor its delivery and impact.
6. Monitoring the Race Equality Plan
Our school will monitor the impact of this policy and action plan on pupils, parents, governors and staff from different ethnic groups. We will monitor the impact of our policies on the attainment levels of all our pupils. We will collect information about pupils’ performance and progress, including by ethnic groups. We will analyse it and use it to examine trends. We will also monitor other areas that could have an adverse impact on pupils’ attainment such as:
- Exclusion
- Racism, racial harassment and bullying
- Curriculum, teaching and learning (including language, faith and cultural needs)
- Punishment and rewards
- Recruitment
- Membership of the governing body
- Parental involvement
- Working with the community
- Support, advice and guidance
Monitoring information will help us to see what progress we are making towards meeting our race equality targets and aims. In particular it will help us to:
- Highlight any differences between pupils from different groups
- Ask why these differences exist and test the explanations given
- Review the effectiveness of current targets and objectives
- Review other policies and resource allocation decisions
- Decide what further action will be necessary to meet particular needs and to improve the performance of pupils from different ethnic groups
- Rethink and reset targets in relevant strategic plans
- Make links with performance management objectives which should include both quantitative and qualitative data.
- Take action to make improvements.
7. Assessing the impact of the policy As a school we will monitor the impact of this and other policies on pupils, staff, governors and parents from different ethnic groups. We will assess whether the policies have or could have an adverse impact on the attainment levels of pupils from different ethnic groups. We will assess the effectiveness of our policies through existing arrangements for developing and reviewing other school policies.
8. Complaints Procedure
If any governor, member of staff, pupil or parent feels this policy is not being implemented properly then they should raise the matter with the head teacher who will take appropriate action. This may include an investigation and a report on the issue. If there is a formal complaint then the school’s normal complaint procedure will be used. All complaints will be recorded and copied to Education Bradford’s Diversity and Cohesion team for information.
9. Declaration of responsibility
This Race Equality Policy was formally adopted by St Edmund’s Nursery School on
Chair of Governors
Vice Chair………………………………………………………………………………………
Head teacher…………………………………………………………………………………..