News

Race and Equality Aware school

January 2022

Dear Parents and Carers,

In April 2021, we started our journey to become a Race and Equality Aware school.  We asked parents, staff and children to complete an online questionnaire to help us plan our journey and was incredibly grateful for the number of responses we received. Following the questionnaire, we worked closely with the Redbridge Educational Psychology Service who supported us with developing an action plan that helped us identify the many strengths the school already has as well as areas where we can continue to improve.

Since the last questionnaire, we have been working towards the following objectives:

• To give all children, staff and families a sense of belonging where they feel welcomed, comfortable and part of a school family

• To ensure children and staff are happy and feel safe resulting in an increase in emotional and physical wellbeing, impacting both academic and personal performance for all

• To develop open-mindedness and empathy, allowing children to see that not everyone has the same experiences that they do

• To help children and adults see that their actions have consequences for other people

In order for us to meet these objectives we have carried out a number of actions that we will continue to adapt and develop as the year progresses. Below are some of the actions we have started:

• Our website can now be translated in to a number of languages allowing all of our families and visitors to access key information and read about the wonderful school and community we have.
• We have begun to provide translated copies of key information for parents and have appreciated the positive responses we have had since doing this.
• Our newsletters are provided in a format that can be translated via our website, again allowing all of our families to access key information.
• During Black History Month children created books that represented their own culture and ethnicity for their book areas. We continue to invest in books that will allow children to see positive representations of themselves through their learning.
• We are developing a staff board in school where staff share their own culture and identity allowing our children to relate to adults in the school and see staff that represent them.
• We have looked at our core texts and have begun to introduce more high quality books that show a wider range of ethnicities.
• Diversity and Inclusion day allowed children to learn more about each other’s similarities and differences and how these can help make their friendships and lives special.
• Our Wellbeing Ambassadors took a lead with developing a whole school pledge about respect that had input from every child in the school.
• Our Dare to Dream project is allowing children to see, meet, and be inspired by, successful individuals who they can relate to.
• Aldborough Takes Action was established which teaches children about issues in the local and global community, identifying how they can help others as well as develop their own empathy. These campaigns also teach children about charities and organisations that can help their community such as homeless shelters and foodbanks.

Our children have been a big driving force in the success of many of the above actions and we are very proud of them for their enthusiasm and support of their peers, as well as their confidence and pride when sharing information about their own lives.

We would now like your input on how you feel our journey is developing. In order to gain your views we have emailed you a letter, translated in to other languages, with a link to the questionnaire. We really encourage everyone to take part as you will be contributing to your child’s school journey to ensuring it is a safe and welcoming space for all staff, students, and their families.

Please can we ask you to complete the survey by Friday 4^th February 2022.

If you have any questions, or would like any support or information, please speak to Miss Mullaney

We thank you in advance.