Equality

We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement.

We do this by:

• Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society

• Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping

• Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice

• Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures

• Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education

• Utilising teaching approaches appropriate for the whole school population which are inclusive and reflective of our pupils.

Equality in Admissions and Exclusions

Our admissions arrangements are fair and transparent and do not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, religion, belief, disability and/or socio-economic background.

Equal Opportunities for Staff

All staff appointments and promotions are made on the basis of merit and ability and in compliance with the law. We are keen to ensure that the staffing of the school reflects the diversity of our community.

As an employer, we need to ensure that we eliminate discrimination and harassment in our employment practice and actively promote equality across all groups within our workforce. Equality aspects such as gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment and faith or religion are considered when appointing staff and particularly when allocating Teaching and Learning Responsibilities (TLR) or re-evaluating staff structures, to ensure decisions are free of discrimination.

Actions to ensure this commitment is met include: 

• Monitoring recruitment and retention, including bullying and harassment of staff;

• Continued professional development opportunities for all staff; 

• Senior Leadership Team support to ensure equality of opportunity for all.

This section of the plan reflects the general and specific duties of schools as detailed in The Race Relations Act 1976 and as amended by The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

The General Race Equality Duty requires us to have due regard to the need to: 

• Eliminate racial discrimination; 

• Promote equality of opportunity; 

• Promote good relations between people of different racial groups. Under our specific duty, we will: ∙ Prepare an Equality Plan which includes our written policy for race equality; 

• Assess the impact of our policies, including this Plan, on pupils, staff and parents by ethnicity including, in particular, the achievement levels of these pupils; 

• Monitor the impact our plans and policies have on such pupils, staff and parents towards raising the achievement of minority ethnic groups. 

This section should be read in conjunction with the school’s Special Educational Needs Policy and Accessibility Strategy. 

Definition of disability The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial or long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

The DDA 2005 has also extended the definition of disability as follows:

• People with HIV, multiple sclerosis and cancer (although not all cancers) are deemed disabled before they experience the long-term and substantial adverse effect on their activities;

• Section 18 has been amended so that individuals with a mental illness no longer have to demonstrate that it is “clinically well-recognised”, although the person must still demonstrate a long-term and substantial adverse impact on his/her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

 The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 2005 placed a general duty on schools, requiring them to have due regard for the following when carrying out and delivering services:

• Promoting equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people; 

• Eliminating discrimination and harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability; 

• Promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people; 

• Encouraging participation in public life by disabled people; 

• Taking steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more favourable treatment.

The Gender Equality Duty (extended in 2007) places a general and specific duty on schools to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment on the grounds of gender and to promote equality of opportunity between female and male pupils and between women and men and transgender people.

Under our general duty, we will actively seek to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment on grounds of sex and gender reassignment; 

• Promote equality between men and women.

The Equality Act 2006 made provision for regulations to be introduced to extend protection against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief to sexual orientation. The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 came into force on 30 April 2007, and they make discrimination unlawful in the area of goods, facilities and services on grounds of sexual orientation. For schools this means admissions, benefits and services for pupils and treatment of pupils.

The Role of Governors 

• The governing body has set out its commitment to equal opportunities in this plan and it will continue to do all it can to ensure that the school is fully inclusive to pupils, and responsive to their needs based on race, gender and disability.  

• The governing body seeks to ensure that people are not discriminated against when applying for jobs at our school on grounds of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, faith or religion. 

• The governors take all reasonable steps to ensure that the school environment gives access to people with disabilities, and also strive to make school communications as inclusive as possible for parents, carers and pupils. 

• The governors welcome all applications to join the school, whatever a child’s socio-economic background, race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, faith or religion. 

• The governing body seeks to ensure that no child is discriminated against whilst in our school on account of their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, faith or religion. 

The Role of the Headteacher (or Senior Leader Responsible for Equalities) 

• It is the headteacher’s role to implement the school’s Equality Plan and he is supported by the Deputy Headteacher and governing body in so doing.

• It is the headteacher’s role, supported by the Deputy Headteacher, to ensure that all staff are aware of the Equality Plan, and that teachers apply these guidelines fairly in all situations. 

• The headteacher ensures that all appointments panels give due regard to this plan, so that no-one is discriminated against when it comes to employment or training opportunities. 

• The headteacher, supported by the Deputy Headteacher, promotes the principle of equal opportunity when developing the curriculum, and promotes respect for other people and equal opportunities to participate in all aspects of school life. 

• The headteacher treats all incidents of unfair treatment and any incidents of bullying or discrimination, including racist incidents, with due seriousness.

The Role of All Staff: Teaching and Non-Teaching 

• All staff will ensure that all pupils are treated fairly, equally and with respect, and will maintain awareness of the school’s Equality Plan. 

• All staff will strive to provide material that gives positive images based on race, gender and disability, and challenges stereotypical images. 

• All staff will challenge any incidents of prejudice, racism or homophobia, and record any serious incidents, drawing them to the attention of the headteacher.

• Teachers support the work of ancillary or support staff and encourage them to intervene in a positive way against any discriminatory incidents. 

Harassment on account of race, gender, disability sexual orientation, faith or religion is unacceptable and is not tolerated within the school environment. All staff are expected to deal with any discriminatory incidents that may occur. They are expected to know how to identify and challenge prejudice and stereotyping; and to support the full range of diverse needs according to a pupil’s individual circumstances. Racist and homophobic incidents and other incidents of harassment or bullying are dealt with by the member of staff present, escalating to a class teacher/deputy/ headteacher where necessary. All incidents are reported to the headteacher and racist incidents are reported to the governing body and local authority on a termly basis.

What is a discriminatory incident? 

Harassment on grounds of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, faith or religion or other factors such as socio-economic status, can take many forms including verbal or physical abuse, name calling, exclusion from groups and games, unwanted looks or comments, jokes and graffiti. 8 A racist incident is defined by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report (1999) as: ‘any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person’.

Types of Discriminatory Incidents 

Types of discriminatory incidents could be: 

• Physical assault against a person or group because of their colour, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender; 

• Use of derogatory names, insults and jokes; 

• Racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory graffiti; 

• Provocative behaviour such as wearing racist, sexist, homophobic or discriminatory badges or insignia; 

• Bringing discriminatory material into school; 

• Verbal abuse and threats; 

• Incitement of others to discriminate or bully due to victim’s race, disability, gender or sexual orientation; 

• Discriminatory comments in the course of discussion; 

• Attempts to recruit others to discriminatory organisations and groups; 

• Ridicule of an individual for difference e.g. food, music, religion, dress etc.; 

• Refusal to co-operate with other people on grounds of race, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

All staff, teaching and non-teaching, should view dealing with incidents as vital to the well-being of the whole school.