Celebrating Diversity

At Penllergaer, we strive to treat each member of our community as an individual; to make each individual feel valued and to teach our pupils to do the same. Trying to achieve this involves us all learning what we all have in common as well as valuing our many differences. We think that children will learn better in a school where everyone feels equally safe and welcome. 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 thing.  

At Penllergaer, we celebrate equality and diversity through our lessons, assemblies, national and local events, day-to-day interactions, circle time and general school ethos. We promote tolerance, acceptance,  understanding and respect for everyone. We want to instil these values in our pupils, encouraging them to be engaged in issues surrounding race, gender and other aspects of diversity. We celebrate diversity through wall displays, resources, books and moving images, we have a well resourced library which includes storybooks suitable for all ages and encourage community visitors.  

Here are some examples of how we celebrate diversity through our curriculum:

Health & Wellbeing – Recognising and celebrating differences between ourselves and others.  (e.g Autism awareness days, Anti-bullying week)

RSE – Recognising and celebrating that there are many different types of families. Sharing stories about their family. Recognise and know how to safely respond to and challenge gender and sexual stereotypes and unfair behaviour. Celebrating Diversity Day. Show Racism Red Card workshops. 

Religion & Values Education – Learning about and respecting different religions and cultures. Celebrating broad range of festivals throughout the year.

Humanities – Learning about our World and different cultures. Multiculturalism and migration in Wales.  Celebrating the achievements of key figures in promoting equality.

Literacy – Ensuring a broad range of stories / materials reflect our diverse world.  Class discussions about national and local events that affect diversity – (e.g. Black Lives Matter, Black History Month)  Exploring Modern Foreign Languages.

Science – Celebrating cultural and gender diversity through a balance of scientists (challenge stereotyping in our examples we give children)

Maths  - Ensuring broad range of examples used which challenge stereotyping – problem solving in maths

Expressive Arts – Multicultural art and diverse range of artists.  Listening, responding and making multicultural music.