Brighton & Hove City Council is one of the top authorities in the country for promoting equalities and tackling homophobia and homophobic bullying in its schools' according to a leading lesbian and gay pressure group.
PICTURE CAPTION: Children at Elm Grove primary in Brighton are pictured with the school's healthy schools coordinator' James Dawson.
Stonewall has rated the city second in its inaugural Education Equality Index' which aims to help eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for young people across all diversity strands.
Welcoming the accolade' the council's cabinet member for communities' equalities and public protection' Councillor Ben Duncan' said:
"Children these days have very diverse backgrounds. Quite simply we want our children to feel good about themselves' be proud of their family background and respect other people.
"Our schools are committed to creating safe and inclusive communities that celebrate the diverse city that we live in."
The council's healthy schools team works closely with the local LGBT community and Allsorts' a youth project that supports lesbian' gay' bisexual' transgender and unsure young people.
Examples of the work that have taken place in Brighton & Hove Schools include:
- Training to support staff' pupils and students in challenging homophobic language
- The development of the PSHE curriculum in primary and secondary schools to ensure that it values family diversity (case study attached)' includes a range of sexual orientations and explores the impact of homophobia
- Celebrating diversity and positive LGBT role models through events linked to LGBT History Month and through visits by Sir Ian McKellen to two local secondary schools' Blatchington Mill and Varndean
- Allsorts training for peer mentors and School Councils in secondary schools to support students to challenge LGBT bullying
- Training for secondary school staff to enable them to better support LGBT students
Teaching respect – with penguins and plasticine
Children at a primary school in Brighton are using penguins and plasticine in an innovative series of study modules helping them to celebrate their family backgrounds and learn respect for others.
During the first four-lesson module' Year One pupils at Elm Grove primary school get to talk to each other about their families or carers and make plasticine models of their families to help the discussion along.
They also read from and discuss a book called 'And Tango Makes Three' – based on a true story of two male penguins in a New York zoo who successfully raised a chick after being given an egg to look after.
Short modules aimed at Y3 and Y6 pupils look in more detail at diversity issues such as name calling and gender stereotyping in the playground and beyond.
The study modules were created by teachers from Elm Grove' Westdene primary and Stanford junior schools working with Brighton & Hove City Council's Healthy Schools team. Staff at Elm Grove have noticed a reduction in bullying and name-calling since the new modules started.
The modules are now available on the city's online learning platform. Other schools in the city have started using them and Elm Grove has also had calls from interested schools outside the city.
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