Following several focus groups, meetings, and committees a new King Edward VI Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy has been developed. Thank you to everyone who has participated in the design and collation to date. The strategy incorporates the key priorities identified from feedback received from all the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Surveys run to date, including additional feedback that we have received from governors, staff, and students from across the Foundation.
There are four key pillars to our EDI Strategy, designed to reflect all aspects of school life, focussing on developing our workforce, developing our teaching curriculum and pedagogy, building EDI communities, and developing our student committee. We have devised a series of objectives with key deliverables and measures of progress, and we are now working with EDI Leads in each school to help us to work towards delivering these objectives.
The key priorities identified for this academic year are focused on the main themes from feedback received to date. These are as follows:
- Inclusive recruitment practice to improve diversity of the workforce.
- Learning and Development to improve knowledge and understanding and awareness of equality, diversity, and inclusion in our schools.
- Diversification of the curriculum to improve our teaching pedagogy.
- Greater sharing of EDI resources and collaboration across the Foundation to build networks and improve practice.
- Development and review of our policies to ensure that these are reflective of good practice and procedures.
We have already started work on delivering these objectives. During the summer term, a series of training events were run, focused on Inclusive Recruitment, Diversification of the Curriculum and EDI for Senior Leaders. The key objectives of each training session were based on the feedback received from the staff survey and included additional content provided by the two EDI consultancies (Equalitech and Diverse Educators) that we work with, who help guide our progress.
To help support delivery of our objectives further, we have two Foundation Leaders in Education; Olivia Brechon-Smith, Teacher of Mathematics at King Edward’s School, and Taahira Khan, Teacher of Religious Studies and History at Five Ways. Their aim is to further support the schools with their EDI progress. Teams at the Foundation Office are also involved in the delivery of this strategy.
The Foundation’s mission is to make Birmingham the best place to be educated in the UK and the Foundation is committed to creating an ethos and culture of inclusion in our schools. EDI is a key part of the Foundation’s Strategy, and we want to see everyone thrive. We truly believe in creating an inclusive organisation that values and promotes diversity, equality, and community.
Please do take a look at our strategy when you have a moment. The Foundation is committed to EDI being incorporated in the way that we operate and what we deliver. We encourage more staff to get involved with delivering our objectives, so if you want to be part of the conversation and get involved in our EDI work to make a difference please do get in touch with Ali Bretherton, Head of Organisational Development: [email protected].
When we work together, we can make a difference!
