Policies, Equality and Diversity

Below is a link to the webpage which is dedicated to our school on the schools financial benchmarking service – follow the prompts to find our school’s specific page

https://schools-financial-benchmarking.service.gov.uk/School?urn=119509

What is the Public Sector Equality Duty (the PSED)?

The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to promote equality. The relevant protected characteristics are-

age
disability,
gender reassignment
pregnancy and maternity
race
religion or belief
sex
sexual orientation

Equalities Policy 2022-26

Legislation and guidance

This document meets the requirements under the following legislation:

The Equality Act 2010, which introduced the public sector equality duty and protects people from discrimination
The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011, which require schools to publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the public sector equality duty and to publish equality objectives

This document is also based on Department for Education (DfE) guidance: The Equality Act 2010 and schools.

THE EQUALITY ACT 2010

5.1 The general equality duty is contained in S149 of the Act and requires schools to have “due regard” to the need to:

 eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;

 advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

5.2 Guidance is attached at Appendix A which provides a brief overview of the provisions of the Act, information about the Protected Characteristics and information about the different types of discrimination and other forms of unlawful behaviour. It is provided as part of our commitment to eliminating all forms of conduct and behaviour deemed unlawful by the Act.

5.3 Information about how this school complies with its general duty and how we incorporate all three strands of the general duty into school life on a daily basis is detailed in Appendix B.

5.4 We will assess equality implications in relation to all new school policies, procedures and projects as part of our on-going duty to have due regard to our general duty. This will help to ensure the school is not unlawfully discriminating against certain individuals or groups with protected characteristics in line with our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and in line with the Key Principles in section 3.3 of this policy.

5.5 The Governing Body, the Headteacher and SLT (as appropriate) will keep written records of all relevant decisions and actions where equality issues have arisen. This will help us to show that equality implications have been considered and that the school’s equality duties have been actively considered before, and at the time decisions have been made.

6. EQUALITY OBJECTIVES

6.1 The school’s current equality objectives are set out in Appendix C. Our objectives are specific, measurable and achievable. They relate to people with protected characteristics and cross reference the three strands of the general duty. They represent our school’s priorities.

6.2 The school’s objectives are the outcome of a careful review and analysis of our school data and other information. We have chosen a combination of targets.

6.3 We have detailed the reasons why we have chosen each objective and the relevance to the school’s general equality duty. The overall aim is that the school achieves or makes significant progress towards each specific objective within a specified timeframe

6.4 The Headteacher will report to the Governing Body in relation to the progress we have made towards achieving our objectives. The Governing Body will ensure the school’s equality objectives are reviewed annually and that they are updated at least every four years.

The school’s current Equality Objectives are:-

Equality Objective 1 – Linked to promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

OBJECTIVE: to ensure the school actively promotes and prioritises raising awareness, appreciation and celebration of diversity including gender, sexuality, race and religion.
OBJECTIVE: To increase pupil awareness and understanding of different communities through assemblies and cultural events.
OBJECTIVE: To ensure that all pupils and other stakeholders are given the opportunity to make a positive contribution to school life.

Equality Objective 2: Linked to Pupil Attainment/Disadvantage

OBJECTIVE: To mitigate the impact of school closures on disadvantaged pupils.

Equality Objective 3: Linked to Pupil Attainment and Progress/Gender, Race and Disability

OBJECTIVE: To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.

Equality Objective 4: Linked to Pupil Attendance/Pupil Premium

OBJECTIVE: To explore and understand the reasons for the disproportionately higher absentee levels of PP pupils and begin to improve attendance rates of these pupils.

Equality Objective 5: Linked to Prejudice-Related Incidents/Sexual Orientation

OBJECTIVE: Raise awareness of sexual orientation and promote positive attitudes towards alternative lifestyles and lessen the chances of the word ‘Gay’ being used negatively.
OBJECTIVE: To increase pupil awareness and understanding of different communities through assemblies and cultural events.

No Outsiders

Our School Ethos – there are no outsiders

How we will achieve this ethos

Shared voice and language

Weekly assemblies
Half termly lessons – linked to literature
Displays
Praise and sanction
All stakeholders buying into this

High profile

Why is this ethos so important?

Our children leave us destined for the workplace, for a role in modern Britain. We want our children to champion inclusion and celebrate diversity. To feel that they never are an outsider and to welcome all that they meet. We believe that no one is born to hate – it is learnt – we need to teach another lesson to spread love and show love.

The public sector equality act duty came into force across Great Britain on April 2011 – it means that public bodies have to consider all individuals when carrying out their day to day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services and in relation to their own employees.