Equalities

‘The school’s ethos celebrates each child as an individual.’

West Hove Infants School (WHIS) seeks to foster a warm, welcoming and respectful culture. This allows us all to question and challenge discrimination and inequality, resolve conflicts peacefully, promote equality and work and learn in a safe environment.

Our federated junior school, Hove Junior School, is very proud to be an IQM Flagship School. The IQM report can be read here.

We are committed to the development of cohesive communities both within our
School’s physical boundaries and within our local, national and global environments.

Our school embraces the aim of working together with others to improve children’s educational and health and well-being outcomes and notes the rights set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

We recognise that there are both similarities and differences between individuals and groups but we will strive to ensure that our differences do not become barriers. Barriers can take the form of limiting participation, access and learning.

Instead, we create inclusive processes and practices, where the varying needs of individuals and groups are identified and met. We therefore cannot achieve equality for all by treating everyone the same. We believe we all have equal rights, but may have different needs.

We link our work on equality to our duties under the Education Reform Act 1988 to provide a balanced and broadly based curriculum which:
• ‘promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society; and
• prepares such pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life’

We recognise and welcome our equality duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 and have due regard to the need to:
• Eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act,
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it,
• Foster good relations across all characteristics – between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

We recognise that it is unlawful to discriminate against a pupil, prospective pupil or a member of staff by treating them less favourably if they have protected characteristics:
• age (staff only)
• sex
• race
• disability
• religion or belief
• sexual orientation
• gender identity
• pregnancy or maternity (staff only in primary schools)
• marriage and civil partnership (staff only)

We take seriously our duty to show due regard and this is evidenced through minutes of meetings and through the completion of equality impact assessments.

We welcome the involvement of and feedback from the school community on the information and objectives published. We also actively aim to recruit parents and carers who belong to protected groups to our governing body and Parent Teachers’ Association to ensure a balanced reflection of our community. Please speak to the Head teacher with any feedback or come to one of our meetings for groups of parents and carers.
To find out more about our school approach to equality please read our Equalities and Diversity Policy.

Other relevant school policies which highlight our determination to comply with the non-discrimination provisions set out in the Act are:

• Anti-bullying
• Attendance
• Positive Relationships (Behaviour)
• English as an Additional Language
• Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

All curriculum policies and plans, in particular Personal, Social, Health and Citizenship Education also reflect our non-discriminatory ethos and commitment to equality.

These policies and plans are all available on our school website for parents and carers to read at any time.

Vision and values

Our School believes that all children and young people have the right to be healthy, happy and safe, to be loved, valued and respected and have high aspirations for their future.
Inclusion is the process of taking necessary steps to ensure that every child is given equality of opportunity to develop socially, to learn and to enjoy community life.
Our school vision statement begins:

Our shared vision includes attaining the highest possible outcomes for all our children, where inclusion of all learners is a central goal. We seek to provide all our learners with the best possible start to life and we will aim to act as a conduit for the necessary support services wherever possible. We embrace the principles of ‘Every Child Matters’ and extended services and will work towards these goals. Personal, Social, Health Education and Citizenship (PSHE & C) will be at the heart of our school.
Children will thrive in a secure and caring atmosphere where high standards of behaviour, social manners and achievement are paramount. We will try to ensure that all our children leave school with a positive disposition for learning so that they will become lifelong learners. We will maintain a broad and balanced curriculum and will always try to enrich this curriculum further so that children are fully equipped for life in a diverse society.

The following information outlines:
• The current diversity within our school
• Our approach to promoting equalities through our Equalities and Diversity policy and action plan
• Our specific equalities objectives

Equality Information and objectives

1. Contextual Information

Our Infant School is one of the largest in Europe. We are a six form of entry, based over two sites less than two miles apart. Our larger, four-form entry site is based at School Road and sits next to the linked junior school. Our smaller, two-form entry infant site (previously at Connaught Road) is now co-located with the linked junior site at Holland Road. Both the infant and junior schools are currently two separate schools, but are linked as ‘Hove Learning Federation’ and work extremely closely together.

Our catchment is largely from the area that is local to each site. Both infants’ sites are treated as two separate schools for purposes of admission. We have become an increasingly culturally and socially diverse as our school has expanded.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals (FSM) is below national at 19.38%, but above average for the city (2022 National: 22%, 2022 Brighton & Hove 16%). There are significant differences of FSM eligible children between sites (HR: 27.2%, SR: 16.66%).

The proportion of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) is above national and city rates at 15.8% (2022 National: 13%, 2022 Brighton & Hove 12%). The proportion of children with an Education and Health Care Plan is above national and city rates at 2.6% (2022 National: 2%, 2022 Brighton & Hove 1%).

Our largest group of pupils is currently those of White British heritage. The rest of our community represents a wide range of ethnic groups. A large number of our pupils speak English as an Additional Language (EAL-currently 22.06%, as of May 2023). We are very proud of the ethnic diversity of our community and do everything that we can to reflect and celebrate this.

Our school benefits from a very rich cultural and linguistic diversity. The table below provides collated information (May 2023) held about us nationally, from within Brighton and Hove local authority and from our own in-school data.

 

Pupils / Students on roll as of May 2023	Total: 485	Girls: 53.6%						Boys: 46.4%
Attendance 2021/22	94.97%
Total ethnic minority pupils	37.93%
	Any other Asian		1.6%		Kurdish			0.2%
	Any other black		0		Indian			1.3%
	Any other group		0.4		Iranian			0.82%
	Any other white background		6%		Irish			1%
	Any other mixed		4.7%		Pakistani			0%
	Arab		3.5%		White and Asian			4%
	Bangladeshi		1.8%		White and Black African			2%
	Black African		1.6%		White and black Caribbean			1.8%
	Black Caribbean		0		White British			62.1%
	Black Sudanese		0		White Eastern European			1.8%
	Chinese		1.6%		White Western European			3%
	Info not obtained		0.2%		Refused			0.6%
The most common other languages spoken/understood apart from English	Albanian 1.45%		Arabic: 3.9%			Chinese: 1.45%	Persian/Farsi:  1.85%
	Portuguese: 1.45%		Russian: 1%				Turkish: 2%
Other languages other than English spoken mainly in pupils’ homes	Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Japanese, Kurdish, Lithuanian, Malayalam, Pashto, Persian/Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Telugu, Turkish, Vietnamese, Wolof.
Number of different languages spoken altogether	29			% EAL:  22.06%
Disability	1.03 %
FSM	19.38%
SEN register	15.8%
EHCP/Statement	2.6%
LAC/Special guardianship	0.8%
Sexual orientation	We are aware that children in our school may grow up to identify within the LGBTQIA community. We also know that our parents and carers will be represented across all the protected groups.
Religion	Buddhist	0.2%		Christian				16.9%
	Hindu	0.6%		Jewish				1.1%
	Muslim	12.6%		No Religion				65.9%
	Other religion	1.23%		Refused				1.7%
	Roman Catholic	0%		Sikh				0 %
	Unknown	0.4%
Gender identity	We are aware that there may be children in our school community who question their assigned birth sex and work closely with families where this occurs. We also ensure that our parents and carers may wish to be known by non-binary pronouns, which we both acknowledge and respect.

 

2. Fostering Good Relations

At WHIS we are committed to minimising discrimination and are aware of the requirements of the Equalities Act to do this. We follow up any incidents of discrimination with due diligence for all pupils in our school communities and their families. We recognise the importance  in facilitating aftercare with our families to support restorative practice.

What we already do well

In our school, we take pride in the range of work we do to foster good relations between peers and between children and adults in the school community. We acknowledge and celebrate and both our differences and similarities as well as actively teaching and promoting inclusion and respect for all.

Parents complete regular questionnaires: February 2023

Our results show:

• 96% of our children feel happy at school
• 99% of our children report that they feel safe at school

 

Teaching and Learning

• One of curriculum drivers is ‘diversity’. Our curriculum, resources and learning environment reflects and celebrate the diversity of our children and their families, providing all children with a wide range of opportunities to learn about other cultures, nationalities and religions
• Our resources and displays, including reading materials and signage, reflect the Multilingual and multi- cultural nature of our community
• Our bi-lingual children and families receive support from the Ethnic Minority and Achievement Service (EMAS)
• We recognise the critical role home and first languages have to play in the
• development of English language learning and in children’s cognitive development
• Our PSHE &C curriculum and opportunities help children to develop empathy, understanding and respect for differences and similarities
• Our assemblies promote respect and tolerance of others and encourage adherence to our school’s ‘Golden Rules’ and ‘Behaviour for Learning’

• Children learn about different faiths and celebrations such as: Diwali, Eid, Chinese New Year, Hanukkah, Passover, Christmas and Easter
• Many of our topics are based upon countries from around the world e.g. Rain-forest, Nelson Mandela
• Music lessons incorporates music from around the world
• Children also learn about and visit their local area e.g. local parks, museums, library, places of worship, shops and the beach
• Our children take part in local events, celebrations and festivals such as ‘Let’s Dance’ and the Brighton Festival Children’s Parade

Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS)

We also foster good relations by working closely with the local authority EMAS who support our bi-lingual children and their families through in class support and family liaison.
EMAS have also helped us to review our specially prepared ‘Starting School’ booklet for parent/carers who speak English as an additional language (EAL).
This booklet includes a considerable wealth of information including details of our school uniform, school timings, clubs etc. This booklet contains many photographs to help our EAL parents understand the content.
One of our teachers has been identified by the local authority as a teacher who ‘makes a difference’ to the EAL families in Brighton and Hove.
Our EAL link teacher has also been asked to disseminate our good practice to other schools within the local authority at conferences and training events. We have also hosted ‘Family Learning’ for the local authority which has supported our EAL parents.

We also aim to foster good relations by:

• Our active and inclusive School Council which meets regularly. The council has discussed discussed issues and barriers to learning and formulated recommendations. They also discussed ‘Do you feel safe in school?’ and ‘What helps us to feel safe?’ which highlighted and reinforced existing and new systems used in school such as , Restorative Justice, The Golden Rules, the Rainbow Room, Feelings displays in each classroom and the ability to be able to approach any adult who works in the school.

• Providing annual staff training on at least one aspect of equality and diversity
• Ensuring the whole school environment and curriculum reflects the diverse community within which we live. We aim for all pupils in our school to see themselves reflected in the stories we read, the assemblies we hold and in our displays and curriculum
• Giving clear messages about expectations as part of our school values. This includes regular learning opportunities and celebrations which make use of the Equality Calendar. For example, pupils learn about Diwali, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year and other religious and cultural festivals
• Constant review and development of the PSHE & C curriculum so that it provides opportunities to explore values and attitudes, understand similarities and differences and builds understanding of different groups and our own identities. For example, we have worked with the national charity StoneWall and been published as a school that leads teaching in promoting family diversity and equality
• Encouraging visits and visitors to enrich the curriculum, including the Police Neighbourhood Schools Officer and the fire service. (Please see our PSHE curriculum map which shows the learning by year group in more detail)
• Supporting local and national charities. Our School Council decide which local charities our fund raising events will support. We also take part in National fund raising events such as ‘Red Nose Day’ and ‘Children in Need’. This charity work also helps to foster good relations with our local community and gives pupils an awareness of others less fortunate than themselves

• Holding an annual ‘Refugee week’ which includes both assemblies and individual lesson plans, challenging media messages about refugees as a homogenous group and encouraging welcome to our shared community. In the past we have fund raised for the locally founded School Bus Project, which provides education for children in refugee camps.
You can read more about our approach to fostering good relations in the following policies:
• Learning and Teaching
• English as an Additional Language
• Equality
• PSHE & C Education

Fostering good relations objectives

• To continue developing materials and practices which support the induction of our EAL children, especially those children who arrive mid-year
• To continue EMAS training for staff

 

 

3. Eliminating Discrimination

Pupils show a very good understanding about bullying and the different types of bullying, such as cyber bullying. Incidents such as name-calling or unkind behaviour are extremely rare and if these do occur pupils are confident that staff would deal with issues immediately. Equality of opportunity is well promoted and records show that there have been no recent incidents of bullying, racism or discrimination.
Exemplary behaviour makes the school a happy and calm place. Pupils are always friendly and polite. They show respect, care and consideration for each other and staff, reflecting the courtesy shown to them by all staff. Behaviour is consistently very well managed, which makes a strong contribution to a positive climate to learning. Pupils understand the rewards and sanctions well and are keen to please.
Pupils get on with each other extremely well and enjoy all aspects of the school. They have exceptional behaviour for learning because of the school’s caring and supportive ethos. All pupils report that they feel cherished and safe.
Pupils feel extremely safe and well looked after. They like attending the before-school club and trust the staff, knowing they always listen if there are any problems.
The overwhelming majority of parents who responded to Parent View or who spoke to inspectors state that the school does all it can to ensure the well-being of their children.

We work in partnership with parents and carers, pupils and the whole school community to prevent all forms of bullying and prejudiced based behaviour.
The results from the 2019 annual pupil questionnaire provides evidence that 94% of pupils feel safe at school and 96% enjoyed being at school.
In the school year 2018/19, 3 prejudice based incidents and one racist incident were reported. No incidents of bullying were reported. No such incidents have been reported for 2019/20 year to date.

All bullying and prejudiced based incidents are recorded using our secure online system CPOMS. This data is regularly collated, analysed and acted upon.
These records are also used to inform our assemblies and the PSHE education curriculum and to support and track individual pupils. Incidents are discussed and reported termly to governors meetings.
Our annual survey for pupils includes questions about keeping safe in school, bullying and friendships and our children know who they can talk to if they are worried.
This data is also analysed and used to measure impact and inform next steps. This data is reported back to the whole school community on an annual basis.
We actively encourage parents and carers to report bullying and prejudiced based incidents to us. We recognise that some groups are more vulnerable to bullying than others and, as such, we are vigilant in our monitoring of this.
Our pupils also take part in ‘Anti Bullying’ week each year and are educated in bullying behaviours and how to access help when needed.
We use a Restorative Justice approach throughout the school and our Inclusion Key Workers especially support those children who require additional support with social skills and friendships.
More recently, we became a local authority ‘School of Sanctuary’ and are recognised to be a school which especially welcomes refugees from all around the world in our community.

 

 

 

 

Eliminating discrimination objectives

• To continue working and improving our work as a ‘School of Sanctuary’ which especially welcomes refugees from all around the world
• To continue being rigorous in our teaching of anti-bullying behaviours, both as part of the curriculum and as part of a national Anti-Bullying Week
• To continue and improve upon our work in creating a harmonious relationships with the parents and carers in our community, enabling them to speak up wherever discrimination’s may arise

4.   Advance Equality of Opportunity

We aim to provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed, and to reach the highest level of personal achievement.

To do this, we:

• Use contextual data to improve the ways in which we provide support to individuals and groups of pupils;
• Monitor achievement data by the protected characteristics (where possible) and action any gaps;
• Take account of the achievement of all pupils when planning for future learning and setting challenging targets;
• Ensure equality of access for all pupils and prepare them for life in a diverse society;
• Use materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community in terms of the protected characteristics, without stereotyping;
• Promote acceptance and engagement with the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs; they develop and demonstrate skills and attitudes that will allow them to participate fully in and contribute positively to life in modern Britain;
• Provide opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own identity and culture and celebrate the diversity within our school community, the local context and wider;
• Seek to involve all parents/carers in supporting their child’s education;
• Encourage classroom and staffroom discussion of equality issues which reflect on social stereotypes, expectations and the impact on learning;
• Include teaching and classroom-based approaches appropriate for the whole school population, which are inclusive and reflective of our pupils.

All groups of children including protected and vulnerable groups make good or better progress and attainment in both the Early Years Foundation Stage and at the end of Key Stage 1.

Our Inclusion Quality Mark re- assessment (2016) noted:

‘Inclusive practice is at the heart of the school’s principles and “no stone is left unturned”, in order that groups and individuals are supported whatever their specific need.’

Advance equality of opportunity objectives

• For our EAL children in YR, to continue to make good or better progress towards age related expectations
• For our EAL children in KS1, to continue to make good or better progress towards age related expectations

 

https://halocollective.co.uk/halo-school/

Policies and external links

Equalities Information and Objectives

Equalities and Diversity Policy

SMSC Policy

British Values at EYFS & KS1

The Prevent Duty

A Local Authority Guide for Parents and Carers -Talking to children about acts of terrorism

Positive Behaviour and Anti-Bullying Booklet

Anti-Bullying Policy

Safe from bullying-Supporting your child

EMAS – Ethnic Minority Achievement Service

Safe in the City