Equality and Diversity

Please find our policy at the bottom of the page.

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, Shenstone School aims to ensure that no one experiences less favourable treatment, harassment, victimisation or discrimination.

There are nine protected characteristics that the Act protects us from.

They are:

1. Age
2. Disability
3. Gender reassignment
4. Race
5. Religion or belief
6. Marriage or civil partnership
7. Sex
8. Sexual orientation
9. Pregnancy and maternity

• We do our best to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.
• We make sure the school is a safe, secure and stimulating place for everyone to feel happy and reach their full potential.
• We recognise that people have different needs, and we understand that treating people equally does not always involve treating them all exactly the same.
• We recognise that for some pupils extra support is needed to help them to achieve and be successful.
• We do our best to make sure that people from different groups are consulted and involved in our decisions, for example through talking with pupils, parents and carers, and through our School Council.

The nine protected characteristics are promoted through our…

School values

Behaviour policy

Equality Policy

School development plan

Assemblies

Role modelling by adults

The resources used in the curriculum

Our engagement with parents

Pupil voice

School council

British values embedded throughout the curriculum, days of observance and British celebrations

Our engagement with outside agencies

The children’s personalised communication systems

Religious Education (RE)

Relationship and Heath Education (RHE)

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

Sporting, Art and Cultural events

Educational Visits

Visits out into the local community

Embedding the nine characteristics promotes:

Self-esteem and self confidence

Valuing our differences

Respect for other cultures

An acceptance of other people’s beliefs and opinions

An understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination

Celebrating Diversity 

The children of Shenstone school have worked with parents and a local artist Steffi Berghmans to create artwork from all around the world. This culminated in an amazing parade of the children dressed in their cultural costumes or an outfit of their choice to celebrate their differences and uniqueness! The pupils also waved a flag from their county.

The school worked with the non-profit organisation; A New Direction. It was A New Direction who gave us funding to help buy the art resources we needed to create the art exhibition which followed the parade. 

Lynne Brackly says ‘The I Am Festival celebrates the creativity of deaf, disabled and neurodivergent young people and the fantastic work our network schools do in and beyond the classroom. Shenstone School’s I Am Me Parade and beautifully curated art galleries gave us an amazing whole- school response to our theme of activism. This was diversity and inclusion in action.’

Parents commented that, "It was nice to have such an inclusive place for my child to be who she is"

"Seeing all the different cultures, dresses, bright colours. The children all enjoyed it and loved being dressed up."

"I enjoyed seeing how happy the children were wearing their traditional dress and seeing their parents too."

Click here for more information on the 9 characteristics in primary Schools from the School Alliance UK https://safeschoolsallianceuk.net/

Phonics at Shenstone

At Shenstone School we use the Read Write Inc Program for teaching phonics for reading and writing. Teachers work with the Literacy Lead to identify children that will benefit from the Read Write Inc Program and they begin their phonics journey. Children learn through an individualised multi-sensory approach.

Teachers adapt the Read Write Inc Program to be meaningful for each child, for example rather than teaching a complete Read Write Inc lesson in one session, activities will be broken down into several activities throughout the school day.

All teaching staff within the school receive Phonics training to ensure that pure sounds are used in all classes.

Children who are working at a pre-phonics level access the Shenstone Pathway to Phonics Program. This is a working document developed at Shenstone School that highlights activities that children at Shenstone School do on a daily basis to prepare for phonics learning. It also provides a bank of ideas for teachers to access for teaching pre-phonics skills e.g. Attention Group to develop attention skills, action songs to develop listening skills, dough disco to develop fine motor skills.

Need support to say the sounds correctly? Please watch this short video

https://youtu.be/yln6PpV1G1I

For more videos to support parents with Read Write Inc phonics, please click here

Relationships & Health Education (RHE)

Relationships and Health Education

At Shenstone School we are committed to supporting the emotional health and wellbeing of all our pupils, staff and parents/carers. 

We have high expectations for all our pupils and strive to ensure that their individual
needs, interests and abilities are recognised and met. Our Shenstone Values are at
the core of all we do.

Our core purpose is to:

• Encourage and celebrate achievement for pupils at every opportunity.
• Provide a safe and happy learning environment for everyone and to provide opportunities and experiences for the children to build self-esteem and confidence.
• Help children to create and maintain positive relationships.
• Promote a sense of teamwork across the entire school community.
• Work to engage and be a positive influence within the local community.

Delivering the Curriculum

At Shenstone School the Relationships and Health Education Policy is taught
through the EYFS Framework and our bespoke Shenstone Stepping Stone
Curriculum, especially focusing on delivery through PSED and Science.

Relationships Education focuses on teaching the fundamental building blocks and
characteristics of positive relationships including:

• Families and people who care for me
• Caring friendships
• Respectful relationships
• Online relationships
• Being safe

See the link to our RHE Policy - https://tkat-shenstone.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/key_information/Relationship-and-Health-Policy-September-2023-W.pdf?t=1720020640