Equaliteam Blog- 24.2.20

This week in the Equaliteam meeting we discussed our upcoming Anti-bullying day.

The children shared ideas of what they thought we could do on the day, including hosting an assembly for their peers in the morning to introduce the day.

They also thought:

We could tell people how to address it, where to get help

Show people how to reflect somehow, be kinder to people

Make things for our friends to show them we care about them

Role play- role playing the bully and victim, experience bullying in the role play

Hot seating a pretend character who bullies or a victim to see how they felt

Play games

Have worry boxes in every class

Watch this space for updates on our plans for the day!

Equaliteam Week 3

This week in the Equaliteam, we spoke about different families and how important it is that we welcome every family into our school. We discussed why we thought we should be so inclusive:

• We want to be friendly
• It is fair
• So that everyone can feel safe, loved and included

The Equaliteam created posters to display in the school:

Equaliteam Meeting: Week 2

This week in Equaliteam club we looked at the representation of Gender Diversity in pictures and displays in our school. We started at the front of the school, looking at posters on show to demonstrate what our school is all about.

The children were impressed with the Equal representation of girls and boys, however they wondered about having more photos of girls in sport to promote this. 

Next we looked in the library and we discussed displaying books that would suit everyone, as well as finding a way to encourage boys and girls to read different books and not be afraid of 'stereotypical' books which they would usually avoid.

We shared some of our ideas with Mrs Moore and she said we had made her think about the representation now too.

Equaliteam Meeting: Week 1

During our first week of Equaliteam club we introduced ourselves and discussed what Equality meant to us. We spoke about the protected characteristics and how we must include everyone in our school.

We shared some ideas of successful things we have done in the school so far as well as ideas of what the children thought we could do better.

Reception: Zero Discrimination Day

To celebrate Zero Discrimination Day, the school came together to challenge discrimination in its many different forms and celebrate the diverse country that we live in. The Equali-team delivered an assembly that informed us all about different people and different ways of life. During the day, children throughout the school took part in activities that celebrated difference and challenged stereotypes.

In Reception, we had a visit from Julian Peedle-Calloo and Adele his sign language interpreter, who taught us a number of different signs used by the deaf community to communicate. Two of the children's favourite signs were 'rainbow' and 'gold'!

Gold

Rainbow

 We then spoke about different families and shared stories from our our lives with our partners. We discussed how our families and ways of life were different to our friends, and decided that this was actually something to celebrate! 

"It would be so boring if we were all the same!"

-Ethan

We read The Family Book by Todd Parr as a stimulus for discussion. During choosing time, we wrote our own Family Books, focusing on celebrating differences between one another's families and experiences.

Equaliteam Meeting 21.11.18

This week the Equaliteam met on Wednesday with brand new members!

We took the time to introduce ourselves and Miss Clarke and Miss Lawrence explained what the Equaliteam is all about.

The children shared ideas for making the school equal and fair for everyone. Our first job was to update our Child Friendly Anti-Bullying Policy, as the children felt that bullying was an important issue to raise to ensure everyone is aware of the school's stance on bullying. Below is a copy of the policy.

During our next meeting we are going to discuss these ideas further and see what positive changes we can make to equality throughout Windhill21

It's OK to be different!

In Reception this week, the children have been sharing stories about different kinds of families. We wondered whether it was better to be the same as other people or to be different. 

"I think it's nice to be the same because your 

friends will like the same game as you"

"I think it's nice to be different because you can 

be good at different things"

 Although we had different thoughts about it being better to be the same or different to our loved ones, we all agreed that it was OK to be different and that differences should be respected and celebrated!

We made some equality posters and read books about different families during CIP.

Pupil Forum

Thank you once again to all our class represents for another successful and interesting Pupil Forum.  This week’s discussion centred around the pupils’ views on Equality at Windhill 21.  The children all spoke clearly and had clearly brought some strong opinions from there classmates. Findings from this lively discussion will be shared with the children in assembly and added to the website.

Sports Day Results

Well done to all the children for a fantastic effort on sports day! 
The results were as follows:

Mexico 2034

Sweden 2014

India 1994

Canada 1963

France 1954

Equality Day at Windhill21

Today we celebrated Equality at Windhill21

We started the day with an assembly led by the Equaliteam
In the assembly the Equaliteam explained what Equality was and what it looked like in our school.

Throughout the day the children had the opportunity to take part in Equality themed lessons such as:

• P4C based on gender stereotypes, different families and emotional literacy.
• Designing their own Equality posters to be displayed in school
• Lessons celebrating the diverse cultures Windhill21 pupils represent
• Making posters to show how they, themselves are unique and special

Here are a few photos from throughout the day

Reception coloured in flags to represent the cultures of their families

They also shared a story 'And Tango Makes Three' and discussed how the penguins would feel

Year 1 looked on a map of the world and spoke about where their families come from, they coloured in wristbands with their flags

Year 3 wrote a diary entry in response to watching a film based on gender stereotypes

Year 5 had a P4C lesson based on the story 'Bill's New Frock' and wrote response questions based on characters they watched in a thought provoking equality film

What is equality?

We understood from today that everyone is equal and deserves to be treated the same regardless of their gender, race, beliefs or preferences. We symbolised our understanding with equality posters.

Equality Day Year 6

Year 6 have embraced Equality Day. The children have been exploring all about who they are, what makes them special and what makes them different to others. The children have taken part in a philosophy for children session discussing questions such as “Should we always be ourselves?” “Why and when would we not be true to ourselves?” We’ve had some fantastic discussions!

Can girls really be heroes or warriors?

After reading the Paperbag Princess by Robert Munsch,  this was the question that we debated. There were some interesting views derived from our understanding of mental and physical strength, meaning of gender and drawing on historical evidence and debating the extent to which fiction represents real life.

Celebrating geographical diversity

We identified our roots in different countries and produced a class display to celebrate our diversity and demonstrate that we can be friends even if we have different cultures or roots in other countries.

Gender equality

Year 4 started off Equality Day by looking at gender equality. We thought it was preposterous that anyone would think that a boy couldn’t be a dancer or a girl couldn’t be a builder so we blew away this idea (literally)! We reflected our thoughts in poems.

Equaliteam Meeting 31/1/18

This week in our meeting we focused on looking around the school for our poster: Different Families, Same Care displayed. We found that it wasn't displayed in some rooms and others had them in the windows for parents but not in the classroom for children. Our action for our next meeting is to create anti-bullying posters to display around the school.

Equaliteam meeting- 17/1/18

Today we held the very first Equaliteam meeting.
The following children attended the meeting today:-
Ella
Ines
Sam L
Killian
Zain
Tom H
Rory
Leo

Alyssia

Today we all introduced ourselves, talked about our responsibilities being part of the team and talked about bullying and why people would bully. Zain said that bullying meant over and over again.

Sam said that it can happen for a long time.