How Diversity is celebrated Dorothy Barley Junior Academy

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham is a diverse community and at Dorothy Barley Junior Academy we celebrate and value the diversity brought to our school by the children and families we serve. We are committed to meeting the needs of a diverse learner population within a multi-cultural society. We seek to ensure that individuals and communities have equal access to learning opportunities and facilities, and to play an active role in community cohesion.

We will not tolerate any kind of discrimination or harassment on the grounds of age, class, disability, employment status, ethnic origin, gender, marital status, pregnancy and maternity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or special needs.

We ask all our children and staff to work with us to challenge and change negative attitudes, and create a truly inclusive environment where diversity and difference are always respected.

Our curriculum

At Dorothy Barley Junior Academy we value the diverse ethnic background of all pupils and families and undertake a variety of events and lessons to celebrate these. We have found this approach to be enriching for all parties as it teaches tolerance and respect for the differences in our community and the wider world.

Our RE and PSHCE cover a range of learning opportunities which we use to develop our children’s cultural understanding.

We do this by enabling children to:

  • Understand and appreciate the wide range of cultural influences that have shaped their own heritage and that of others
  • Understand and appreciate the range of different cultures within school and beyond our local community as an essential element of their preparation for life in modern Britain
  • To gain knowledge of Britain’s democratic parliamentary system and its central role in shaping our history and values, and in continuing to develop Britain
  • Be willing to participate in and respond positively to artistic, sporting and cultural opportunities
  • Gain an interest in exploring, improving understanding of and showing respect for different faiths and cultural diversity
  • Understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity, shown by their tolerance and attitudes towards different religions, ethnic and socio-economic groups in the local, national and global communities.

Other things we do to promote diversity include:

  • Diverse recruitment
  • Promoting Modern Foreign Languages as an integral part of the curriculum. All children have the opportunity to learn French and the language is championed across the school by a dedicated MFL leader
  • Studying topics across the curriculum which encourage both learning about and learning from other cultures for example: Black History Month (Whole School); Show Racism the Red Card (Whole School); Diversity Biographies (Year 6); location knowledge in geography. Art from different cultures (Whole School); re-telling narratives from across cultures (Whole School).
  • Challenging all forms discrimination or harassment by promoting acceptance, kindness and respect three of our Learning Values and using the PSHCE curriculum to explore for example sexuality& gender stereotypes.