Award is to the Manor born

A DENTON primary school has been recognised for its work in educating its pupils on issues of gender and sexual orientation.

Manor Green Primary Academy in Haughton Green has received the Educate and Celebrate bronze award in ‘Pride in Inclusion’.

After work than two years’ progress towards it, the Mancunian Road establishment has finally made the grade.

The Pride in Inclusion award – described as ‘innovative and visionary’ by Ofsted – recognises schools that have worked to embed gender, gender identity and sexual orientation into their practices.

Manor Green primary school in Denton

This includes educating the children on being inclusive of the nine protected characteristics – gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, race, religion, disability, marriage or civil partnership and pregnancy.

Work started towards the award in 2019, after students showed a growing interest in the LGBTQ+ community.

In response, the teaching staff have considered it important to acknowledge that interest and to build it into the school-wide culture.

A highlight for the school was working together with the Pride Youth Network to generate ideas on how Pride Month could be celebrated , including selecting LGBTQ+ figures to learn about.

Students made their own posters on these figures which outlined their activism in the strive for equality, which were then displayed in the school hall.

While restrictions imposed by the pandemic meant the leadership team was unable to meet as one large Pride Network group, groups met on a smaller scale to collaborate on ideas.

And last year, the school started to work towards its silver award and it hopes to include the wider community in public fundraisers in order to raise further awareness.

Manor Green reception teacher Dane Pollard said: “At Manor Green, we want to ensure we are educating the future generation to have the knowledge, understanding and acceptance towards all.

“The award was supported by the school’s senior leadership team and a teacher from each key stage, we want to provide a safe space for all children to be confident in asking questions and be able to live their lives without judgement.”