National award for lower school's success with diversity programme

Pinchmill Lower School, in Felmersham, won a School of the Year Award, following a project with sixth form students from Biddenham.

Headteacher Vanessa Coleman said: “At Pinchmill, a small rural lower school with a population of mainly white British children, we were faced with a challenge of providing our children with opportunities to experience a variety of ethnicities, cultures and religions.

“With this as our focus we began a project, with the help of Mike Berrill, from Biddenham International School and Sports College, for us to work alongside some of their sixth form students.”

This involved staff at Pinchmill working through the Grass Roots Equality and Diversity Programme with the Biddenham students who visited weekly to work with pupils.

They completed a range of activities from support in the classroom, to cooking and dance sessions. The school was then assessed for the Investors in Diversity award based on equality, diversity and inclusion, and achieved a Stage 2 Award.

At the Investors in Diversity Grand Awards Evening in Birmingham the school was ranked 27th in the top 100 award winners, and received the National Centre for Diversity Grand Awards 2016 School of the Year Award.

Mrs Coleman added: “The children, staff and governors are extremely proud of this achievement. We accomplished this through the commitment to make our school a community where everyone is equal and valued through our teaching and learning about acceptance and respect.”