Rossett Acre Primary School Receives RED Award in Recognition of Inclusion
Posted 15th March 2024
Rossett Acre Primary School has been awarded the Red Kite Alliance RED Award recognising the schools’ culture of inclusion. The Red Kite Alliance RED Award has been developed to support schools to review, strengthen and celebrate their provision in terms of equality, diversity, respect for individuals and community cohesion. There are over 50 member schools in the Red Kite Alliance and all are encouraged to pledge their commitment to engaging with this award and placing its ethos at the heart of the life and work of their school.
Leaders at Rossett Acre Primary School pledged their commitment to the RED Award in October 2022 and have since been integrating the four strands, made up of 18 key criteria, that need to be evidenced to achieve this accreditation. The four strands are: School-wide Engagement, Actions to Eliminate Discrimination, Actions to Advance Equality of Opportunity, and Actions to Foster Good Relations. More information about the RED Award and its criteria can be found here.
Rossett Acre Primary School was awarded the full accreditation in February 2024 and the positive feedback they received from the assessment process stated that the RED Award ‘Self-Evaluation Progress and Impact’ review and ‘Evidence Pinboard’ were very comprehensive and extremely impressive, demonstrating that Equality and Diversity are certainly not given tokenistic treatment at the school.
The school's Diversity Lead, Claire Dodgson, comments, ‘Central to our school's approach is the adoption of the 'No Outsiders' scheme, with lessons based around a series of common children's picture books. We expect our children to express their views with kindness and consideration for the feelings of others. Our key message is that we are all equal and we all belong; we are all insiders, there are no outsiders in our school. Each week different teachers read a picture book in assembly relating to a diversity, inclusion or awareness event. This is then followed up in class with discussion suitable for the age range of the children, allowing Diversity to be ‘usualised’ within the school community.”
The adoption of this ‘No Outsiders’ scheme and introduction of weekly Diverse Picture Book assemblies are described by assessors as being, ‘clever vehicles for achieving ‘buy in’ from the whole school community, ensuring that all pupils and all staff are actively engaged’.
Director of Red Kite Alliance, Sue Lewis comments, “Equality and Diversity clearly enjoy a special place at the heart of the curriculum at Rossett Acre and is a particular strength of the school. This is achieved through so many different strands, not only in the wholehearted adoption of the No Outsiders scheme, but also with the work of different subject leaders to embed diverse voices and individuals into the curriculum. Pupils are supported to develop as knowledgeable, empathetic global citizens through poetry competitions, sustainability projects and national initiatives such as LGBT+ Pride and Holocaust Memorial Day, as well as through involvement with local community organisations including Vida Grange care home, Artizans, Henshaws and Horticap.”
Mrs Corrine Penhale, Headteacher at Rossett Acre Primary says, “Achieving the RED Award has certainly been a whole school effort and we are so proud to be recognised for our efforts in promoting Diversity, Equality and Diversity at Rossett Acre.”