At The Pines, we recognise the importance of not only learning about our own community but also about the wider world. As a school, we have made specific decisions regarding our curriculum and the opportunities we offer to enable our children to learn about and celebrate cultural diversity and to gain a greater awareness of different races and beliefs.

Bracknell Forest is a predominantly White British area (80% in the 2011 census) although the BAME (Black and Minority Ethnic) population has grown locally over recent decades. The largest BAME group is Asian or Asian British (5%) with a significant number (4.7%) of people identifying as 'Other White'. The 2021 census shows that approximately 10% Bracknell Forest residents were born in a European country other than England. Our school is currently 80% White British with 13% families identifying as 'Other White' with a high proportion of these coming from Eastern European countries including recent arrivals from Ukraine. We also have 2% of families with Asian backgrounds, 2% African and 1% Caribbean. Census data shows that, after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism are the main religions followed by residents of Bracknell Forest.

Black History Month

Click the link below to find out about learning carried out during previous Black History Months. 

Celebrating Cultural Diversity Through Our Curriculum

In designing our curriculum, we have made a number of decisions to ensure that we provide opportunities for our children to learn about modern-day and historical figures from ethnic minority backgrounds and to celebrate the racial diversity that exists both in our locality and across the world. We want our children to learn about role-models from all racial backgrounds and to develop respect for cultural traditions whether they are familiar or different from their own. We also include celebrations from different religions within our assembly themes and ensure that the texts we choose within English lessons and across the curriculum include diverse characters and are written by authors of varying backgrounds.

Curriculum Design

From Year 1 to Year 6, we follow a 2-year cycle of learning units that include learning objectives from a wide range of subject areas. These have been carefully planned to ensure appropriate curriculum coverage, progression of learning and development of knowledge and skills. We have also made specific choices to ensure that we make the most of opportunities to learn about different areas of the world, people of different backgrounds and races and varied cultures and traditions, for example:

EYFS - At the start of the calendar year, our children in Early Years will learn about Chinese New Year and they learn about different religions, including making their own diva lamps to celebrate Diwali

Years 1 & 2 - Our Heroic Humans unit includes learning about William Kamkwamba, a boy from Malawi who made a wind turbine to create electricity

Years 3 & 4 - While learning about Ancient Egypt, children learn about the Egyptian use of slaves and also how they have featured in wider history

Years 5 & 6 - Children's learning about Vikings and Anglo-Saxons is supplemented by learning about immigration and refugees in our unit called Arrivals and Departures

Reading Texts

Through our whole class reading sessions and class novels, children have the opportunity to appreciate the writing of a wide range of authors. Our choice of texts ensures that children are exposed to main characters of different genders and racial backgrounds as well as being set in a variety of locations worldwide. A few examples can be found below: 

Influential Scientists

As part of our science curriculum, children learn about the contributions made by scientists in a range of different fields. Whilst including some of the more typical historical scientists, we have ensured we include contemporary scientists and those from a variety of different backgrounds including: