Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty requires our school to monitor our policies and procedures and to publish information about equalities in our school. The Equality Act 2010 has 3 main ‘General Duties’ which we must aim to achieve, these are:

• To eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act
• To advance equality of opportunity between people
• To foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

The Equality Act 2010 states that it is unlawful to discriminate against people with the following protected characteristics. This applies to the whole school community:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Gender reassignment
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race (ethnicity)
• Religion and belief
• Sexual Orientation

We believe that equality at our school should permeate all aspects of school life and that it is the responsibility of every member of the school and wider community. Everyone within our school community should feel safe and secure, they should feel valued and of equal worth, these include:

• Children and young people
• All staff employed at the school
• Students on placement
• Parents/carers
• Governors
• Agency staff
• Contractors working at our school
• External agencies whose staff are working with our school, including Health, Social Care, Special Needs support and agencies such as the Department for Education, Ofsted and School Improvement Partners
• All visitors to the school

The ‘Specific Duty’ for schools is to gather and publish information to show how we are complying with the Equalities Duty; how we remove or minimise disadvantage and take steps to meet different needs and encourage participating when it is proportionately low. We record and analyse the progress and attainment of all children, including vulnerable groups.

To help us in our work to advance equality of opportunity we have set ourselves some equality objectives determined by our scrutiny of information and data.

Our Headteacher is responsible for the implementation of the Equality Act 2010 and the Governing Body is responsible for making sure that school policies and procedures comply with the Act. Staff and Governors are involved in the monitoring of our policies, procedures and practice to make sure our school continues to be an inclusive, accessible, safe and welcoming environment for all.