Equality Statement

Palm Bay Primary School Equality Statement and Objectives

At Palm Bay we are committed to:

• Ensuring that all pupils have access to the curriculum.
• Advancing equality of opportunity by ensuring that teaching, learning and the curriculum promote equality and community cohesion and celebrate diversity.
• Eliminating any discrimination, harassment or victimisation, and ensuring that no one is unfairly disadvantaged due to a protected characteristic.

In a pupil survey (December 2017), 92% of children agreed or strongly agreed with the following statements:

“My school helps me to learn about and respect people in our community.”

“My school helps me to learn about and respect people from different faiths and cultures and to treat everyone equally.”

Palm Bay Primary School supports the United Nations (UN) Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998. Through our policies and actions we undertake to ensure that every child and young person is healthy, safe, are able to enjoy and achieve in their learning experience, and is able to contribute to the wider community. Some examples of how this is achieved include:

• Ensuring our school values of ‘Kindness, Community, Creativity, Inclusivity, Resilience, Thirst for Learning and Aspiration’ permeate all aspects of school life.
• Adhering consistently to our Relationship Policy, which is underpinned by restorative approaches, reflective conversations and logical consequences and is trauma informed.
• Logging and responding to racist incidents and incidents of discrimination and bullying and reporting them to the local authority.
• Being proactive in ensuring that children understand what is meant by racism and promoting the school's anti-racist ethos.
• Taking a totally inclusive approach to the selection of pupils involved in extra-curricular events, including sports and the arts.
• Ensuring that all our classrooms are EAL and dyslexia ‘friendly’ – using consistent visual timetables, signs, symbols and non-verbals throughout the school.
• Celebrating cultural, ethnic and religious diversity through Language of the Month, assemblies and workshops, multi-faith celebrations, PSHE, Philosophy for Children and our RE Curriculum.
• Ensuring children engage in demoncratic processes, including marking significant political events.
• Fostering and maintaining strong local community links including visits to Homefern Retirement Home, Trinity Community Centre’s monthly ‘Friendship Tea’, the ‘Memory Club’ for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s at Margate Bowling Club and our longstanding support for the Cliftonville-based Oasis Domestic Violence Charity.
• Providing additional opportunities for SEND pupils to access Beach and Forest School.

EKC's Equality Statement and Objectives

1. Diminish the achievement and attendance differences of disadvantaged pupils in the Trust

2. Strengthen the Academy curriculums across the Trust to ensure effective teaching of equality and diversity

3. Foster inclusive leadership at all levels across the Trust, to enable diversity of thought and experience to advance our inclusive culture.

For more information on EKC's Equality Objectives, please click here.