Rudheath Primary Academy flies the flag with diversity awareness week

Coinciding wit LGBT History Month, the school's awareness week included opportunities to learn about different cultures, religions, sexualities and genders.

The school-wide initiative saw each class – from reception to Year 6 – take part in activities that taught the importance of diversity through some of the key topical issues.

As part of the week, the school adopted the ‘No Outsiders’ scheme – a method of teaching the nine 'protected characteristics' – and is working towards achieving the Rainbow Flag Award, a national quality assurance framework focusing on LGBT+, inclusion and visibility.

Headteacher Andrew Ross said: “At Rudheath, we are extremely proud of the diverse range of pupils we provide for and it’s extremely important to us that our curriculum reflects the wider world as well as our children’s place within it.

“Our Diversity Week was a great success and brought about a wider understanding of the different elements of diversity and why each should be accepted, embraced and celebrated by all."

Each day of the week focused on a different area, from race and religion to gender identity and celebrating differences linked to sexual orientation.

This culminated in each year group dressing in a different colour of the rainbow to represent the LGBT flag.

At the younger end of the school, the tale of ’Introducing Teddy’ – a story about being yourself – was told and pupils went on to explore what it means to ‘be yourself’ and what makes each person unique with the purpose of challenging stereotypes and introducing the idea of gender identity.

To explore race and religion each year group was assigned a religious festival to celebrate, with Year 2 collecting and donating to Mid-Cheshire Foodbank to represent Zakat, the third Pillar of Islam, before learning about the significance of Ramadan and replicating the celebratory meal of Eid ul-Fitr.

The school, in Gabrook Road, is one of 15 within the Focus Trust.