Our vision at Lakelands is to equip our pupils with the knowledge and skills to be compassionate and generous and to embody the school motto of “Be the Change”. That means that by having mutual respect and building positive relationships, they will be equipped to be global citizens - forces of positive change in the world.

At Lakelands, not only do we tackle racism but we are striving to be actively anti-racist. Anti-racism work is featured on our school development plan, including training for all members of staff. We have also adopted the Halo Code for our uniform policy.

In education, we talk about books being windows and mirrors - mirrors so that pupils see themselves reflected in the books that we read or windows so that our pupils can learn about and explore the lives of children from various cultures and races. We have sourced books that represent all groups of pupils, from all backgrounds. We are also careful not to have books in school that depict racism through stereotypes and caricatures. Our new Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum is centred around a spiral approach where pupils revisit themes of respect, stereotypes and bullying every year.

We have also completed an audit on our curriculum and tried to ensure that all groups of people are represented (including the teaching of protected characteristics - see Curriculum Overview for more details).

These are some examples:

EYFS:

• Small world people featuring people from various cultures and backgrounds (including those with disabilities)
• Picture books - a number of our books on our Literature Spine feature Black children as central characters including Ruby’s Worry and Look Up
• Images around the classroom and through teaching feature children of all backgrounds.

History:

• Year 1: The contributions Mary Seacole made to nursing
• Year 3: Cheddar Man (when studying the Stone Age)
• Year 5: How Britain expanded their Empire and the consequences and impact on all groups of people
• Year 6:
  • WW2, including the contributions of Asian and Black people
  • The Windrush Generation and influences on civil rights, art, music and the economy

Geography:

• Year 2: Comparison studies of cities around the world. We compare Colchester to Nairobi as a multicultural, metropolitan city and not a place in rural Africa, which can further reinforce negative stereotypes.
• Year 3: Cities around the world and their main exports

English:

• Year 2: The Proudest Blue
• Year 4 - Benjamin Zephaniah - The British Poem
• Year 5 - Maya Angelou - Caged Bird
• Year 6 - The Rabbits

Art (Artist Studies)

• Year 5: Chila Kumari Singh Burman
• Year 6: Frida Kahlo

Music (Charanga)

• Year 2: Historical contexts: R&B, Motown, Soul
• Year 3: Reggae
• Year 4: Gospel
• Year 5: Jazz, Hip Hop, Motown
• Year 6: Music and Identity

Science: Scientists who changed the world (Years 2 and 5)

There is always work to be done; we are always looking for more ways to be anti-racist and will we be constantly reviewing our policies and systems accordingly. We welcome feedback from our parents and local community with regards to this work whilst we all strive for a common goal for the children in our school.