Teachernet, Case study 9

Case study 9

Teaching pupils to value diversity in Sheffield

School name: St. Catherine's Catholic Primary School

Region: Sheffield

Type of organisation: Primary school

Brief description of the project: St Catherine's is situated in a multi-cultural area and supported by funding from Burngreave New Deal for Communities — this enables the school to provide a wide range of adult and family learning activities (within school hours, Tuesday evening and Saturday morning) and extended school provision ie Breakfast Club from 8am daily, 12 extra-curricular clubs, holiday and Saturday clubs. Adult provision is available to the whole community, including parenting classes, Spanish, French, ICT, Creative Arts, First Aid and English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). The RE curriculum contains a significant multi-faith dimension, complemented by trips to the local Mosque, Synagogue, Sikh Gurdwara and Hindu Mandir. Recent assemblies focused on the theme of "light", including Collective Worship focusing on Jesus, Eid, Diwali and Hanukah. Speakers visit from other faith groups and the headteacher is in contact with a member of the local Islamic community to ensure that Muslim pupils receive good quality spiritual development. In addition, the school introduced 'Celebrate Roots Week' where all pupils can find out more about different cultures and explain to other pupils where they come from. A range of different events are celebrated from St George's day to Diwali, to highlight important dates in the British calendar and the calendars of other religions. A rich cultural education has been built into the National Curriculum, in particular in geography. In geography, pupils concentrate on finding out about a specific country and this interest has been developed to build international links with Spain, Zambia and the USA. The school has also held workshops for parents to explain the school's plans for community cohesion in an attempt to reduce tensions, tackle negative perceptions and to help parents to understand the school's approach. According to the headteacher, '"As a staff we feel that the majority of our work on community cohesion is delivered and evidenced in the quality of relationship which exist between children of all faiths, staff of all faiths and parents of all faiths."

Outcomes

Pupils, staff and parents all understand the school's ethos, aims and goals: that the school will not tolerate any form of racism and that teaching about diversity is a high priority for the school.
Children are enthusiastic to learn and appreciate different ways people live in this country and internationally. According to Ofsted: "There is an atmosphere of harmony and spirituality in the school which unites children from many backgrounds".
The school's outward looking approach has enabled them to be included as a valuable part of the local community. The significant impact the school makes to academic attainment in the area is now celebrated in the wider community. Through a commitment to community engagement the school was included in a neighbourhood approach to funding via New Deal for Communities and at the same time included in an EAZ. This involvement has ensured that local schools work together for the benefit of the wider community that they serve. One very positive outcome has been the development of a wide range of extended school provision which is now embedded in school.
The activities and learning which take place in school encourage learners from the community to come into our school. Sharing a Community Education Co-ordinator between two schools has been a real success with learners from both communities benefiting from participating in joint learning in both school environments. This enables personal contact, the removal of cultural barriers and the development of friendships.

Success criteria: Building on firmly established foundations for a tolerant and open minded school, the school will continue to work with other schools and faith groups both locally and internationally. The strong and cohesive staff will continue to develop the Catholic nature of the school offering high quality spiritual education for children of all faith backgrounds. The international linking has been a huge success in terms of appreciating other cultures and the school is planning visits to the countries involved to broaden the pupils' understanding and experience. The headteacher makes sure that school staff tackle negativity and racism and deal with it straight away. As a result the children know what is expected of them and there has been a significant improvement in the way the children are more open to learn about other religions and cultures.

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