OAKDALE
JUNIOR SCHOOL
Race Equality Policy
Reviewed: 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015
School context
Oakdale Junior School is situated in South Woodford and serves a community that is
culturally and socially diverse. Our pupil population is changing over time to include
an increasing number of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds and more pupils
for whom English is a second language. Currently around 70% of our pupils are from
minority ethnic backgrounds and around 40% speak an additional language.
Aims and values
At Oakdale we value and promote diversity because every child matters. We strive to
ensure that everyone in our school is treated with respect and dignity and that they
are given fair and equal opportunities to develop their full potential. We
acknowledge and value all ethnic and national groups represented in our school
community, including asylum seekers, refugees and travellers. We actively promote
race equality and good race relations, and racial discrimination in any form is not
tolerated. Our aims reflect these values:
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All pupils will feel secure, valued and respected and be helped to develop a sense
of personal and cultural identity.
All pupils will be given the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
All pupils will respect and view differences in others positively.
All discrimination will by challenged whenever it manifests itself through
unwitting prejudice, thoughtlessness or racial stereotyping.
All incidents of racial harassment will be reported, recorded and responded to in
compliance with the school’s procedures for combating racism.
All staff will be aware of and fulfil their responsibilities in relation to race
equality.
All staff will be aware of and fulfil their responsibilities in relation to the Prevent
strategy.
The school will work in partnership with parents and the wider community to
promote race equality and community cohesion.
Leadership and management
Promoting race equality and raising the achievement of minority ethnic pupils is the
responsibility of the whole school staff. Below are listed the responsibilities of
particular staff:
The Governing Body will:
 Ensure that the school complies with the Race Relation legislation.
 Ensure that the policy and its related procedures and strategies are
implemented.
 Ensure that all current policies are assessed for their impact on different ethnic
groups.
The Headteacher will:
 Work in partnership with the governing body to ensure that the policy and
related procedures and strategies are implemented.
 Ensure that the Race Equality Policy is readily available and that the staff, pupils,
parents and guardians, and visitors and contractors to the school know about it.
 Ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities under the policy and are
given appropriate training and support so that they can fulfil their
responsibilities.
 Treat seriously all incidents of racial discrimination and take disciplinary action
against staff or pupils who racially discriminate.
 Ensure that additional grants and resources are appropriately targeted and
monitored.
 Monitor and report racist incidents to the governing body and the local authority
following our racial incident reporting procedure.
 Identify a member of staff responsible for coordinating race equality work.
All staff will:
 Deal with racist incidents and challenge racial bias and stereotyping.
 Ensure that they do not discriminate against anyone for reasons of race, colour,
nationality or ethnic or national origins.
 Keep up to date with the law on discrimination and take up training and learning
opportunities.
Teaching staff will:
 Ensure that pupils from all ethnic groups have full access to the curriculum.
 Have high expectations of all pupils.
 Promote racial equality and diversity through teaching and through relations
with pupils, staff, parents and the wider community.
Curriculum subject coordinators will:
 Review and monitor policies and planning in their own curriculum areas to
ensure that race equality is promoted and that the curriculum content reflects
the cultural diversity of the school.
The Inclusion Leader will:
 Coordinate work on race equality.
 Attend training on race equality and disseminate information to staff.
 Keep up to date with current thinking and be familiar with literature and
resources relating to race equality.
Visitors and contractors will:
Be aware of and comply with the school’s race equality policy.
Curriculum, teaching and assessment
Staff will strive to ensure that:
 Teaching methods encourage positive attitudes to ethnic difference, cultural
diversity and racial equality.
 Racial equality and ethnic diversity are promoted and racism, discrimination and
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extremism are challenged in all areas of the curriculum.
Curriculum planning takes into account the ethnicity, background and language
needs of all pupils.
Curriculum content draws on areas of interest to pupils from all ethnic groups.
Resources and teaching materials reflect and celebrate ethnic and cultural
diversity.
Teaching methods and styles take account of pupils’ ethnicity and stage of
English language development.
Assessment outcomes are used to identify the specific needs of ethnic minority
pupils and to inform planning and the allocation of resources.
Assessment methods are checked for cultural bias and action is taken to remove
any bias that is identified.
Teaching groups and sets are organised fairly and sensitively and facilitate the
raising of achievement and self-esteem of pupils from all ethnic groups.
Pupils for whom English is an additional language are assessed and supported as
necessary.
Admission, attendance, discipline and exclusion
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Our admission process complies with local authority guidelines and is fair and
equitable to pupils from all ethnic groups.
We monitor attendance by ethnicity and take steps to address poor attendance
in any of our pupils.
Provision is made for pupils to take time off for religious observance.
Our behaviour management procedures are applied consistently to all pupils,
irrespective of ethnicity.
Our procedures for excluding a pupil are fair and equitable to all ethnic groups.
Pupils – personal development, attainment and progress
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We demonstrate that we value the achievements and progress of pupils from all
ethnic groups.
All pupils have equal access to pastoral support if they have emotional needs.
All pupils have equal access to our extra curriculum activities.
Pupils’ attainment and progress are monitored by ethnicity and where data
identifies pupils or groups of pupils who are not doing well, steps are taken to
address the situation.
Attitudes and environment
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All staff take responsibility for implementing this Race Equality Policy and
support the school in fostering a positive atmosphere of mutual respect and trust
among pupils from all ethnic groups.
Clear procedures are in place to ensure that racist incidents, racial discrimination
and racial harassment are dealt with promptly, firmly and consistently.
We value diversity and see it as having a positive role to play within the school.
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We recognise the importance of language to a person’s sense of identity and
belonging and show our pupils that we respect their language skills in their
mother tongue.
We strive to make parents of all ethnic groups feel welcome and comfortable in
our school.
Parents, governors and community partnership
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All parents are regularly informed of their child’s progress and where needed
translation and interpreting services are used.
Active steps are taken to involve parents who have little or no contact with the
school, including those from minority ethnic groups.
People from all communities are encouraged to become governors.
Our premises and facilities are equally available for use by all ethnic groups.
We look for ways to develop our links with ethnic minority community and faith
groups.
Community cohesion
We recognise our duty to promote community cohesion and strive to prepare our
pupils for life in a society which is diverse in terms of cultures, religions, beliefs,
ethnicities and social backgrounds. We help our pupils to learn about and to
understand each other and to value diversity, whilst also fostering in our pupils an
awareness of the things we all have in common. We aim to help build a more
tolerant, understanding and fair society in which all members share a common sense
of belonging that overcomes their differences.
Staffing, recruitment, training and professional development
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All posts are open to applicants from any ethnic group and our recruitment and
selection procedures are consistent with the statutory race relations Code of
Practice in Employment.
We identify and provide opportunities for the professional development of all
our staff.
Staff receive training in effective strategies for working with pupils for whom
English is an additional language.
All staff and governors receive regular training on race equality issues.
Ethnic monitoring
We monitor our pupil population and our workforce by ethnic group in order to
ensure equality of opportunity and high achievement for all groups. Where
underachievement or lack of participation is revealed we take steps to address the
situation.
Our monitoring by ethnic group includes:
 Attainment.
 Admissions.
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Attendance and punctuality.
Exclusions.
Disciplinary sanctions.
Awards and rewards.
Participation in extra-curricular activities.
Staff selection and recruitment.
Staff opportunities for professional development.
Attendance at parents’ evenings.
Participation of parents in school events.
Monitoring information helps us to see what progress we are making towards out
the aims of this policy and the targets on our action planning. In relation to pupil
attainment it helps us to:
 Highlight any differences in attainment between pupils from different ethnic
groups
 Identify possible reasons for these differences.
 Decide on the action to take to bring about improvements.
Assessing and reviewing school policies
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We regularly monitor and review all our policies and incorporate into this
process an assessment of their impact on racial equality.
In particular, we assess whether our policies have, or could have, an adverse
impact on the attainment levels of pupils from different ethnic groups. Data from
our monitoring by ethnicity informs this assessment.
We seek the views of parents on the impact of our policies through
questionnaires and through our Parent Panel.
We seek the views of our pupils on the impact of our policies through the
School’s Council.
Monitoring
The Inclusion Leader will complete an annual impact assessment of the school’s
policies, including the Race Equality Policy, on pupils, staff, parents and guardians of
different racial groups. The results of this assessment will be shared with the
Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team and reported to parents and to the
governing body. Where there is evidence of adverse impact, we will detail the action
to address this in an action plan which will form part of the School Improvement
Plan.
Review of the Race Equality Policy
The Race Equality Policy will be reviewed annually.