Red Oak Primary School, Lowestoft

Carnegie School of Education (Leeds Beckett University) - LGBTQ+ Award

The LGBTQ+ curriculum at Red Oak has had a positive impact on our students as they actively use resources independently, recommend them to one another, and accept openly all forms of relationships/gender identity as “norm”.  Staff at Red Oak are encouraged to support new staff joining the school.  Staff would also be actively encouraged to talk to potential employees.  Language used in the classroom is avoidant of distinguishing “boys and girls”.  Gender stereotypes in conversations are pointed out and challenged with pupils.  School assemblies help to raise awareness of bullying and derogatory language, difference and diversity are the subjects are celebrated across the school through diverse displays, books and images.  The whole school participates in events including Mental Health Awareness Week, Anti-Bullying Week, and dedicated diversity days in school.  Achievements of LGBTQ+ role models (e.g. Tom Daley, Gareth Thomas, Nicola Adams) are celebrated.  Specific focus is given to aspirations and career days which aim to help children shift away from gender specific careers (e.g. science).  We have been working hard to achieve an award in recognition for all our hard work and dedication towards promoting diversity at Red Oak and we have now been recognised as a LGBTQ+ Gold Award school from Leeds Beckett University for our commitment to Inclusion. They noted some key points in our validation report and identified that we were excelling in all areas:

They noted: 

"LGBTQ+ inclusion is not an add-on at Red Oak, the team have worked incredibly hard to ensure that there is a strategic approach to inclusion and this is evident in the palpably inclusive culture of the whole school. The team should be incredibly proud of their work in this area, they truly believe in LGBTQ+ inclusion and this is clear across the school." - Leeds Beckett University December 2021

Please click on the link to access Suffolk LGBTQ+ information and support services:

https://www.suffolkarchives.co.uk/sharing-suffolk-stories/pride-in-suffolks-past/lgbtq-information-and-support-services/