The information below is an overview of what we think will be most useful and interesting to our families. Other detailed information in regards to equality, diversity and inclusion can be found by clicking on the links above. 

At Stanford Infant School, we want everyone to feel welcomed and included as we believe that children will learn better in a school where everyone feels equally safe and welcome.

We recognise that each person is an individual with their own specific needs, story and contributions. We believe everyone has the same rights but may have different needs and so making school ‘fair’ for everyone is not about giving everyone the same things.

We endeavour to achieve a safe, inclusive and welcoming environment by encouraging everyone to recognise and acknowledge what we all have in common as well as valuing and celebrating our many differences.

As well as teaching the children about equality and diversity generally through the whole curriculum and particularly through our PSHE curriculum, we also look for regular opportunities to discuss these ideas with the children in assemblies and aim to reflect these values in our day to day interactions with the children and whole school community.

We have clear expectations of acceptable language and behaviour towards others, we teach children to be respectful and polite and kind. We directly address ‘put downs’ and prejudicial language and our playgrounds are safe places to be where children are confident they will be looked after if things go wrong. Our vision and position around equalities and diversity is clear and strong. Our current School Development and Improvement Plan has equalities, diversity and inclusion firmly embedded.

At Stanford Infant School we want: Gender Equality

Our vision:

A school where every child can explore their identity freely without fear or put down. A school that respects and supports children’s gender identities whether they accept, question or want to change the gender ascribed to them at birth.

How we promote gender equality?

We recognise that there is still incredible pressure in society to conform to gender specific roles / looks and we need to teach children about this. Stereotyping means expecting girls and boys to behave or look a particular way, we value individuality and this includes individuality in children who don’t want to act or dress in a way that is ‘typically like a boy’ or ‘typically like a girl'.

Staff use language carefully to reflect gender equality (for example: we wouldn’t say ‘ladies first’, we would teach the children about letting each other through a door as a polite thing to do; we would talk about fire-fighters not firemen; police officers not police men or women; nurse not male nurse which suggests a man as a nurse is unusual).

Teachers avoid asking children to get into boy and girl groups / teams.

We teach the children about stereotyping within the curriculum and we challenge stereotypes through the books we read to children and the choices of images we present.

We analyse all our data by gender to check for patterns that might need to be addressed.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

We don’t tolerate gender put-downs (for example: calling a boy ‘a girl’ to make him feel bad; calling a girl a tomboy because she plays football)

We try to make sure reading books reflect our gender equality policy, our reading team have recently audited our book selections with equality and diversity in mind. If you find a book that you think gives the wrong message, please tell your child’s class teacher – we won’t be offended (some may slip through the net and we will be able to use them to teach children about gender equality).  We do have books that are obviously aimed at girls or boys and we know these appeal to children – we are more worried about stories that give stereotypical messages about girls’ or boys’ roles in the world.

At Stanford Infant School we want: Family Equality

Our vision:

A school where all family types are celebrated as equally special, where all members of our community recognise that children need to be proactively taught that other children’s families can be different to their own family type and that there is no “right” way to be a family.

How do we endeavour to make all families feel equally valued and help children from different family types get on well together?

We use the term ‘grown ups’ as a general term rather than ‘mums and dads’ to refer to children’s significant adults so that children who live with one parent; 2 mums; 2 dads; foster parents or who live with extended family don’t feel that their own family make-up is not included. We ask club providers to use this language too. Not only do we avoid certain language, we also actively talk about different family types and children regularly hear all family types recognised in our language. We buy books that include a variety of family types.

We will celebrate families in special ‘Good to be Me’ weeks regularly over your child’s time in our school and within the RSE* / PSHE curriculum. Our hope and experience is that celebrating family diversity encourages children to share and therefore educate other children about the variety of family types in our community.

We are proactive in encouraging both parents from separated families to engage with school.

We have displays and posters showing different family groupings.

We realise that there are financial inequalities between families at Stanford Infant School and, via our Poverty Proofing audit, aim to ensure no family or child is excluded from a school event or activity for financial reasons and that we do not add stress or embarrassment to families.

We recognise that children who are adopted into families or fostered often have specific needs and may need additional care. We are  sensitive to areas of the curriculum / the calendar year that may affect children. We know that change and transition are sensitive times for children with attachment difficulties and will work with parents/carers to support this. We can also celebrate fostering or adoption days if children would like to do so.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

We don’t tolerate any put downs about families and deal with them seriously – we take any put-down as an opportunity to educate children about diversity and equality.

We teach children about homophobia and homophobic put-downs. The casual use of ‘gay’ as a negative adjective is never tolerated and children are taught why this can never be acceptable.

We never leave children out of trips because their grown-ups can’t afford to pay for them.

At Stanford Infant School we want: Disability Equality

Our vision:

A school where all children thrive because their individual needs are recognised and catered for. A school where all children have a 'can do' attitude for themselves and for others. Where we teach children to celebrate difference and that difference is not about lack or less but about rights, needs, attitude and access. Where children understand that equality is not about everyone getting the same but about everyone getting what they need.

How do we promote disability equality and help all children get on well together?

If your child is joining our school and has a disability we recognise that you will need additional time with school staff so you can tell us about your child’s needs (you are the expert) and for us to explain how we will work towards meeting your child’s needs.

We recognise that helping your child to be equally included may need specific support and we will work with you and other agencies to ensure we do this well.

Disabilities can affect a child’s achievement or social experience in very different ways. Although achievement is a major factor, we also are clear that a child’s social experience is vital to a good education and can help your child achieve a positive social experience in a variety of ways.

We teach children about disability equality through the curriculum via specific units of work as well as our general language and attitude.

Our staff are trained in the use of Makaton and also receive training in Autism Awareness, DLD and Attachment Awareness.

Occasionally, and with parental consent/involvement, we support disabled children to teach their peer group about their specific needs to enable children to support and understand those children better. Children respond to this incredibly well. Difference is often obvious to children and this benefits from being discussed and accepted openly to support positive relationships. Children have become so confident about their differences that they have been enabled (as older primary children) to talk to their whole class or the school about their own disabilities (eg severe dyslexia or autism) and this has always had a positive impact.

All children at Stanford Infants have equal access to all of school life. This includes clubs (your child may need support to attend and we can provide this) and trips.

Children may become diagnosed with a learning disability during their time at Stanford Infants. We have clear pathways to diagnosis of specific learning difficulties / disabilities and parents/carers will be involved with this process and given information about support offered as a result. You are welcome to discuss any concerns about your child’s development at any time and will receive information about additional support at least twice a year. Please come and talk about anything you don’t understand or anything about which you would like more information.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

We treat put downs related to ability/disability seriously. These can include put downs pertaining to high attainment (eg: geek; nerd) or low ability / attainment (eg: thick; stupid). Such put downs are unusual.

At Stanford Infant School we want: Race and Heritage Equality

Our Vision:

A school where all our children and school community feel valued as individuals and feel confident and proud to share their cultural heritage and global connections. A school where all our children and community recognise and celebrate the contributions that all humans have made across time.

How do we value all the children’s cultures and help children from different communities get on well together?

Through our curriculum planning, we find as many opportunities as possible across all subjects to teach the children about other cultures and ethnicities and to give use examples of humans with a wide variety of skin tones.

We teach children about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller cultures in the curriculum and assemblies and include trailers / vans in discussions (and play resources) about ‘homes’. We have books about GRT culture for the children to read. We hold assemblies to celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller month.

We make sure toys, displays, books etc. reflect a range of people across British culture and across cultures from around the world, we avoid stereotypes.

We have Refugee Week assemblies and teach the children about refugees as part of the curriculum.

As a school we believe that the history and contribution of People of Colour from Britain and from the rest of the world should be embedded in the daily life and learning of our school. While we work towards this goal (see our Anti Racist Schools Action Plan) we will continue to celebrate Black History Month during October.

We celebrate all the children’s languages and invite members of our community to come and talk about their cultures. We try and use children’s languages regularly (eg in answering the register).

Our EAL Leader holds coffee mornings with parents/carers.

Good To Be Me weeks and PSHE units help all children understand and respect our range of identities.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

We do not tolerate racist comments / put-downs are never tolerated.

How we would like to improve our work:

We are developing our curriculum by having an anti racism lead in each year group team who can specifically be looking for gaps in representation and proactively working with our Anti Racism school steering group to develop resources and curriculum content ideas.

We want to develop our school physical/visual environment so that all children are regularly exposed to the wide variety of humanity that exists in our world. To increase representation of skin colours and cultures in our school. This includes curriculum developments (every subject leader’s action plan aims to develop diversity within their curriculum area) and every day learning and teaching practice (eg resources; worksheets; PowerPoint images; displays).

At Stanford Infant School we want: Religious or Belief Equality

Our Vision:

A school where religious/belief education plays an important role in helping to keep our community an understanding and inclusive place in which to live. Where faith is seen as something that can have a positive impact. A school where all children can explore spirituality and faith in a safe and open environment and feel at ease asking questions and examining the positives and negatives of religion and Belief, while learning how to be respectful in disagreement and differing view points.

How do we value all the children’s beliefs and help children with different beliefs get on well together?

We value the diversity of religious belief and other philosophical beliefs (eg humanism) within our local and wider community. We also respect the right to have no religion or belief.

Our Religious Education and Worldwide Views curriculum gives our children the opportunity to develop an understanding of their own and other people’s beliefs and therefore helps them live in a diverse society.

We invite representatives from different faiths and communities to speak in our RE lessons. Children also make regular visits to different places of worship within our community.

Our assemblies programme includes exploration of important ideas and stories from different faiths.

Children are encouraged to ask questions and explore the big ideas raised in stories from a range of faiths.

We use language carefully and have an agreed Language Code. For example: we don’t refer to ‘Christian names’; we use BCE (Before Common Era) /CE (Common Era) alongside BC/AD; we would always say “some people believe …..”

We respect the right of families to celebrate key religious festivals and authorise absences accordingly.

We respect the religious wishes of families regarding participation in school celebrations (for example Christmas performances).

We recognise that the wearing of religious dress and symbols can be an important expression of an individual’s religious identity.

What we avoid/don’t tolerate:

Put-downs related to belief or religion are never tolerated.

How we would like to improve our work:

We would like to include more members of our school community to come and talk about their faith and how this affects their way of life.

We are aiming to make sure all religions and special religious festivals celebrated by our families are also celebrated in/through school.

We aim to plan more opportunities for children to talk about their own beliefs.