Cohesion: Equal Opportunities in School

PEOPLE Policy at Comberton Village College, Cambridge

January 2008Mary Martin

History of Equal Opportunities

• Racial Harassment : Government Guidelines

• EO Policy in school

• Engagement with issues & incidents

• Monitoring & recording of incidents

• Promotion of positive values

Implementation

• Curriculum Audits – redrafting of SOW• Citizenship lessons – promotion of inclusion• Awareness raising of pupils, teachers, parents,

Governors• Drafting of Policies – whole school and for pupils• Creation of procedures for

handling/reporting/logging incidents• Use of Assemblies – pupil voice

Implementation Issues

• Staff & Pupil input into policy

• Integration of sanctions with Pastoral System

• Consistency of response to incidents

• Widening remit to include Gender, Homophobia & Disability

• Maintaining balance of perception about issues – keeping tone positive

PEOPLE Policy Creation

• Pupils’ Equal Opportunities Policy means Learning for Everyone = P.E.O.P.L.E.

• Focus on tolerance re individual identity• Rationale for optimum learning• Challenging of Stereotyping• Appreciation of Diversity• Respect for cultural diversity• Clearly understood procedures

Experience of Implementation

• Policy familiarization required by staff & pupils

• Need to continually update implementation staying attuned to cultural/linguistic shifts

• Analysis of statistics:logging on National Database & internal records

• Response to analysis – adjustments in messages to pupils

CVC P.E.O.P.L.E People

• Analysis of 2005/6 Data – majority of racist incidents occurring in Year 7

• 2006/7 Focus on Induction of new Year 7• Recruitment of 2 PEOPLE people from each

form• 2 Qualities required in candidates: capacity to

LISTEN to fellows & preparedness to act as SPOKESPERSON for wronged individuals

• Letters of application • 20 strong group formed

2006/2007 Evidence • Raised awareness of meaning of Equal

Opportunities among Year 7s – debating of issues• Pupil Voice heard through “OK Survey”: 3 Questions: OK? (not picked on for difference),

OK?(not picked on for wanting to work), OK?(Learning not disrupted in lessons others)

• Incidence of Racism and other EO abuses reduced by 75%

• Development of role of PEOPLE person within a form – “job spec.”

• Lesson Observations improved behaviour of miscreants

• Pupil Participation in Assemblies promoting EO ideas

CVC PEOPLE Structure – 2007/8

• Spectrum Teams formed: • RED = Year 7• ORANGE = Year 8,• YELLOW = Year 9, • GREEN = Year 10, • BLUE = Year 11 • INDIGO ACTION GROUPS = Vertical Groups

comprising all years – INDIviduals who GO beyond own forms and do a bit more …

Indigo Action Groups - Roles

• Induction of Year 7 – links to specific forms• “OK Survey”• Lesson Observations• Peer Mediation• Participation in Assemblies• Recruitment of Year 7 Reds• Work with EBD school pupils on joint projects

e.g. ‘Peace Talks’ film

Future Cohesion and CVC

• Develop PEOPLE Spectrum Model further• Continue to engage pupils in the Diversity

debate – Globalisation• Joint projects with home/abroad

neighbours geared to promote understanding

• Use film to document/promote positive views

• Continue to evolve …