At Woodside we see the differences between people as enriching to society and something to be celebrated. We are committed to treating everyone fairly and hold any discrimination, bullying or exclusion of a person for any reason to be abhorrent and unacceptable. Our commitment to this has been established in our vision statement and outlined in our Equality and Diversity Policy. We are also working to overcome any barriers to learning that any particular groups may have and have a range of interventions in place for this purpose.
We specifically monitor the progress of groups sometimes found to achieve less highly than all children generally. In September 2016 we were presented with the Learning Workz Gold Award for Diversity by the deputy Mayor of Thurrock Tunde Ojetola as recognition of our work in eliminating discrimination.
Woodside was the lead school in the first Holocaust Memorial Day event held at Thameside Theatre, our Steel Band has played at Tilbury Cruise Terminal for the Windrush 70 event at other occasions throughout the borough, and our Gamelan groups at Thurrock Music festival and Thurrock International Celebration of Culture. We have ensured all staff are trained to recognize and report indications of extremism as part of the government's Prevent strategy.
Woodside Academy is committed to the equality of opportunity and we have installed a number of facilities for disabled children and adults. There is a disabled space in the car park but this is currently needed by a disabled child and is not available for parents to use. If you are disabled and need to come into school for some reason please contact the school office and we will try to make special arrangements for you. There are two disabled toilets with showers; one in the main corridor for the general use of any disabled children, staff or visitors and one located in the nursery for use by younger children plus disabled toilets in our mobile classroom blocks and new extension.
Other than the upstairs classrooms the site is on one level and there are no raised steps to any of the entrances. Our new extension provides a lift to give access to the first floor providing access to all the upstairs rooms. Main entrances are double doors which do not open automatically but staff are ready to open doors for wheel chair users as necessary. There are no steps into the school.
We have had a number of children with a hearing loss and, where necessary their teachers use special microphones or dedicated sound reinforcement systems. We have installed sound absorbing baffles in the dining hall as this room was very resonant and could be noisy at lunchtimes. We wanted to make it more pleasant for all users but especially for those with hearing loss and for any children with autism who find noisy places threatening.
Woodside Academy has a firm commitment to equality written into its vision statement, continually seeking to ensure equality and fairness for everyone and celebrating diversity. This means individuals with the characteristics specified by the 2010 Equality Act of age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity are protected through the school's policies and working practices.