We celebrate and promote diversity explicitly with pupils through the use of a wide range of books. Books provide a safety net for pupils to explore new or complex issues linked to LGBT, families, diversity and equality. Through books children are encouraged to talk about the book and explore themes such as different families, what love means and how we are all different yet all the same.
To achieve this, every week the children participate in a class assembly or circle time where teachers engage their class in the story text.
Examples of some of the texts pupils explore are…
Pupils comments after reading the books include…
“It would be boring if we’re all the same.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if everyone in the world loved each other and just got along.”
“It doesn’t matter if your tall or short, have different skin tones, were born in a different place, or have blue eyes or brown eyes, we can all be friends here and get along.”
“Love is love. You can be who you want to be.”
Everybody at The Oaks belongs and everybody is accepted for who they are! The nurturing, caring, warm ethos of the school embeds this through every day. Everybody has the right to be treated equally and our strong sense of inclusion enable this at The Oaks.
To enrich the work in school, we have close links with Action Transport Theatre, a local theatre group who create performances and workshops for schools linked to social or current issues and ideas. Our Year 3 and 4s went to the theatre to watch Happily Ever After, a play about two princes who fall in love and get married. At the end of the play pupils were led through a discussion about what it means to be gay and practised what their responses might be if a friend told them they are gay. Pupil comments included….
“Gay is okay.”
“You can love who you want to love.”
“I’m still your friend.”
Action Transport Theatre also bring their work into school. For example the group have brought in the Adrift production. This production and workshop supported pupils in explored themes linked to gender, equality, acceptance and tolerance of others. A group of our Key Stage 2 pupils then went on to develop their own Adrift production which they performed at The Storyhouse in Chester. Follow the link to explore their website: http://www.actiontransporttheatre.org/   
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Our work on diversity links to our work on equality, SMSC, RE and Global Learning.