Equality

Next review June 2025

Aims

Our school aims to meet its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) by having due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Foster good relations across all characteristics – between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

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.

Roles and responsibilities

The governing body will:

• Ensure that the equality information and objectives as set out in this statement are published and communicated throughout the school, including to staff, pupils and parents
• Ensure that the published equality information is updated at least every year, and that the objectives are reviewed and updated at least every 4 years
• Delegate responsibility for monitoring the achievement of the objectives on a daily basis to the headteacher

The equality link governor is Councillor Yakub Patel. He will:

• Meet with the headteacher termly and other relevant staff members, to discuss any issues and how these are being addressed
• Ensure they’re familiar with all relevant legislation and the contents of this document
• Attend appropriate equality and diversity training
• Report back to the full governing body regarding any issues

The headteacher will:

• Promote knowledge and understanding of the equality objectives among staff and pupils
• Monitor success in achieving the objectives and report back to governors

All school staff are expected to have regard to this document and to work to achieve the objectives as set out on page 5.

Eliminating discrimination

The school is aware of its obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and complies with non-discrimination provisions.

Where relevant, our policies include reference to the importance of avoiding discrimination and other prohibited conduct.

New staff receive training on the Equality Act as part of their induction, and all staff receive refresher training every two years. Equality issues are reported on in the headteacher’s report to governors each term.

Advancing equality of opportunity

As set out in the DfE guidance on the Equality Act, the school aims to advance equality of opportunity by:

• Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people that are connected to a particular characteristic they have (e.g. pupils with disabilities, or gay pupils who are being subjected to homophobic bullying)
• Taking steps to meet the particular needs of people who have a particular characteristic (e.g. enabling Muslim pupils to pray at prescribed times)
• Encouraging people who have a particular characteristic to participate fully in any activities (e.g. encouraging all pupils to be involved in the full range of school societies)

In fulfilling this aspect of the duty, the school will:

• Publish attainment data each academic year showing how pupils with different characteristics are performing
• Analyse the above data to determine strengths and areas for improvement, implement actions in response and publish this information
• Make evidence available identifying improvements for specific groups (e.g. declines in incidents of homophobic or transphobic bullying)
• Publish further data about any issues associated with particular protected characteristics, identifying any issues which could affect our own pupils

Fostering good relations

The school aims to foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it by:

• Promoting tolerance, friendship and understanding of a range of religions and cultures through different aspects of our curriculum. This includes teaching in RE, personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, but also activities in other curriculum areas. For example, as part of teaching and learning in English/reading, pupils will be introduced to literature from a range of cultures
• Holding assemblies dealing with relevant issues. Pupils will be encouraged to take a lead in such assemblies and we will also invite external speakers to contribute
• Working with our local community. This includes inviting leaders of local faith groups to speak at assemblies, and organising school trips and activities based around the local community
• Encouraging and implementing initiatives to deal with tensions between different groups of pupils within the school. For example, our school council has representatives from different year groups and is formed of pupils from a range of backgrounds. All pupils are encouraged to participate in the school’s activities, such as sports clubs. We also work with parents to promote knowledge and understanding of different cultures
• We have developed links with people and groups who have specialist knowledge about particular characteristics, which helps inform and develop our approach

Equality considerations in decision-making

The school ensures it has due regard to equality considerations whenever significant decisions are made.

The school always considers the impact of significant decisions on particular groups. For example, when a school trip or activity is being planned, the school considers whether the trip:

• Cuts across any religious holidays
• Is accessible to pupils with disabilities
• Has equivalent facilities for boys and girls

Equality objectives

Objective 1

Aim to increase the representation of teachers from local black and minority ethnic communities over a 4-year period (July 2022 to July 2026).

Why we have chosen this objective:

We would like our staffing profile to better reflect the wider school community.

To achieve this objective we plan to:

Undertake an analysis of recruitment data and trends with regard to race, gender and disability annually, and report at autumn term Resources Committee.

Ensure that all candidates with a protected characteristic that meet the essential criteria are interviewed.

Progress we are making towards this objective:

During 2018-2022 the percentage of White British teachers in our school has reduced from 100% to 82% and the number of male teachers has doubled from 2 to 4.

Objective 2

Have in place a reasonable adjustment agreement for all staff with disabilities by July 2022, to meet their needs better and make sure that any disadvantages they experience are addressed.

Why we have chosen this objective:

We need to ensure that all employees are enabled to be as effective as possible by reducing barriers caused by any disability they may have.

To achieve this objective we plan to:

Ensure that all new employees with disabilities have reasonable adjustment agreement in place as part of their induction.

Progress we are making towards this objective:

Staff wellbeing programme to support all staff.

Objective 3

Increase male representation on the governing body over a 4-year period (from this July 2022 to July 2026).

Why we have chosen this objective:

To increase diversity within our governing body.

To achieve this objective we plan to:

Make explicit our desire to increase diversity to potential governors.

Seek out potential nominees; identify and mitigate possible barriers to participation in election

Progress we are making towards this objective:

We currently have no male parent governors.

Monitoring arrangements

Annually, the headteacher will update the equality information we publish, following the summer term Standards and Curriculum Committee meeting.

This document will be reviewed and approved by the Standards Committee at least every 3 years.

Links with other policies

This document links to the following policies:

• Accessibility plan