Equality & Diversity in Milton Keynes
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M62338 Learning & Development Equality & Diversity in Milton Keynes Equality & Diversity in Milton Keynes Ethnic Minority Achievement Support Service Contents Contents 3 Section 3 – Religious Beliefs And Foreword: Corporate Director – Places of Worship Learning and Development 4 Bahá’í 74-76 Context: Ethnic Minority Achievement Buddhism 77-78 Adviser 5 Christianity 79-80 Introduction 6-7 Hinduism 81-84 Academic Performance of Minority Islam 85-87 Ethnic Pupils 8-18 Judaism 88-90 Sikhism 91-93 Section 1 – Communities The African Caribbean Section 4 – Guidance Community 20-22 Assemblies 96 The Bahai Community 23-24 Codes of behaviour 97 The Bangladeshi Community 25-26 Dress codes and school uniform 98 The Chinese Community 27-29 Extended holidays 99-100 The Filipino Community 30-31 Festivals 101-102 The Ghanaian Community 32-34 Naming 103 The Indian Community 35-37 Race equality 104 The Irish Community 38 Refugees and asylum seekers 105-108 The Italian Community 39-40 School Meals 109 The Japanese Community 41-43 School visits and Extra-curricular The Nigerian Community 44-45 activities 110 The Pakistani Community 46-47 Strategies for the creation of a The Polish Community 48-49 multicultural ethos 111-113 The Somali Community 50-53 Translation 114 The Sri Lankan Community 54-56 The Traveller Community 57-59 Section 5 – Appendices Section 2 – Languages and Writing Multicultural Organisations and Systems Suppliers 116-135 Bengali 62 Milton Keynes Local Infrastructure Chinese 62 Organisations (LIOs) 136 Farsi/Persian 63 Glossary 137-138 Gujarati 63 Acknowledgments 138 Japanese 64 Marathi 64 Polish 65 Punjabi 66 Somali 66 Swahili 67 Tagalog 68 Tamil 69 Turkish 70 Twi 71 Urdu 72 Contents Page 3 Ethnic Minority Achievement Support Service Ethnic Minority Achievement Support Service Foreword Context I am pleased to support the second edition of the valued The first edition of “Equality and Diversity in Milton For learning to be truly effective we have to help and successful guidance ‘Equality and Diversity in Milton Keynes” was published in 2002 in response to children to bridge the gap between home and school Keynes’. schools’ need for accessible information about the and to make sense of the different cultural contexts in main cultural groups in Milton Keynes. It was well which they are required to operate and learn. High Milton Keynes is a place of opportunity: to think differently, received and has become the basis for many standards will only be achieved when children feel to embrace evolution and to champion change. Nowhere schools’ cultural awareness training. Its impact has secure, valued and if their cultural needs are being spread Council, city and nation wide. However, met. can these challenges be more evident than in our Children culture is constantly adapting and diversifying, so it is and Young People’s Plan. The overriding challenge for us important to re-launch this guidance, taking into Milton Keynes Local Authority (LA) is committed to all is to create an environment where we enable our account the changing face of Milton Keynes and the raising achievement by providing equal access to children, young people and communities to achieve the children and young people in our schools. learning for all children. This guidance demonstrates our commitment to the Council’s Equal Opportunities best possible physical, personal, educational and social The purpose of the guidance is to: and Race Equality Policies and provides advice and outcomes. support to all staff working with minority ethnic Increase schools’ understanding and awareness • children and communities. It remains important for school staff to have a secure understanding of each individual of minority ethnic children and communities pupil’s culture and background in order for pupils to reach their full potential. “Equality and • Equip staff working with minority ethnic children Whilst we have endeavoured to expand this guidance Diversity in Milton Keynes” has been successful in raising awareness of the cultural and and young people to challenge stereotypes, to cover a wider range of communities, it is not social richness our diverse communities bring to Milton Keynes, the specific needs of prejudices, racism and above all to promote possible to include all the variety of backgrounds equality of opportunity represented in Milton Keynes. Further information individual communities and has helped to make sense of the cultural complexity of our and guidance on other minority ethnic communities modern city. • Celebrate the rich diversity of minority ethnic can be obtained from the Ethnic Minority cultures in Milton Keynes Achievement Support Service (EMASS). Milton Keynes’ development and growth are mirrored in our school communities. As the Contribute to raising attainment of underachieving • Kewal Goel population expands and diversifies it is important to maintain this guidance to reflect current minority ethnic children and young people needs. I am sure that this expanded guidance will be valued by all those committed to Ethnic Minority Achievement Adviser raising the standards of attainment and achievement for all our children and young people. • Promote strong working partnerships with all staff in schools, parents and communities. Vanessa Gwynn, To offer effective support for every child in our care, Corporate Director school staff must understand their backgrounds. All Learning and Development children and young people come into school with their own social and cultural experiences and are required to adopt a school culture for learning. This is illustrated in Diagram 1. Diagram 1: The Learning Context English language acquisition process Language operates within a learning context, development the classroom. Socio-cultural factors impact upon the EAL learner’s language, cognitive and academic development. The EAL Learner Cognitive Academic development development Page 4 Foreword Context Page 5 Ethnic Minority Achievement Support Service Introduction These guidelines have been compiled by EMASS in consultation with a wide range of Introduction community members within Milton Keynes. However, at this stage only the majority communities have been included. We will continue to work with the communities to update and extend these guidelines. Table 1: Census 2006 data The communities are made up of individuals; exhibiting richness and diversity in both, beliefs, customs and practices. Therefore, it is not possible to give a complete NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY NCY ETHNIC GROUP N R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 TOTAL representation of all aspects of the communities and their faiths. Any Other Group 1.4 1.3 1.6 1.6 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.3 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.7 1.0 1.3 1.1 Minority Ethnic Groups in Milton Keynes Caribbean was the largest group within Mixed Asian Other 3.1 1.6 1.9 1.4 1.3 1.7 1.6 1.2 1.1 0.9 1.1 0.7 0.9 1.6 1.1 1.3 accounting for 0.7% of the population. The 2001 Census information on ethnicity in Milton Bangladeshi 4.1 1.8 1.8 1.2 1.5 1.6 1.6 1.1 1.3 0.9 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.1 1.6 1.4 Keynes suggested that around 13.2% of the population were from black and minority ethnic group. Milton Keynes Schools Census 2007 Black African 10.4 7.0 6.3 6.4 6.3 6.2 6.2 6.0 6.0 4.8 4.3 4.0 3.8 5.5 4.0 5.7 5.7 In addition 9.3% of the population in 2001 classified The Spring 2007 Schools Census reveals the Black Caribbean 0.4 0.8 0.8 1.0 0.6 0.6 0.9 1.0 1.0 0.6 0.9 0.9 1.0 1.4 1.1 0.9 themselves as being non-white, compared to 9.1% in following. Overall in Milton Keynes, Black and England as a whole. Asian groups were the biggest Black Other 0.9 1.1 1.5 1.1 0.9 1.2 0.8 1.4 1.0 1.0 0.7 1.0 0.7 1.1 0.5 4.3 1.0 Minority Ethnic groups represent about 24.9% of minority ethnic group with a total of 7571 people pupils. This compares with the 2006 findings of Chinese 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.6 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.8 1.2 2.1 2.1 0.8 (3.7%). Over 50% of the Asian group were Indian, 22.9%. who made up 1.9% of the total, Milton Keynes Dual Heritage 5.9 5.5 5.0 6.0 4.9 5.0 5.2 4.7 4.7 3.9 3.7 3.7 2.8 4.0 3.6 5.7 4.6 population. Black or Black British ethnic groups According to the 2007 schools census data, there is Indian 2.1 3.1 2.8 2.6 2.3 2.3 2.8 2.0 1.8 2.0 1.7 2.0 1.9 2.9 3.4 5.7 2.3 accounted for 2.4% of Milton Keynes population of a higher than average proportion of minority ethnic which Black African was the largest group. groups in Nursery and Reception years, accounting Pakistani 4.3 3.2 2.9 2.6 2.7 2.6 1.8 1.5 1.6 2.5 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.9 1.9 2.9 2.2 for 31% of all pupils. Of those of primary school age There were 1835 Chinese in Milton Keynes 26.6% come from minority ethnic groups, and 21.2% White European 0.6 0.3 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.5 accounting for 0.9% of the population, this was of those of secondary school age come from minority relatively high compared to the England figure of White Irish Trvler 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 ethnic groups.