Equality Information and Objectives

Equality Information and Objectives

This policy supports the Rights Respecting principles adopted by North Ealing Primary School and is particularly relevant to the following articles:

UNICEF – Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

Article 2
The Convention applies to everyone: whatever their race, religion or abilities, whatever they think or say, whatever type of family they come from.

Article 3
The best interests of the child must be a top priority in all things that affect children.

Article 4
Governments must do all they can to make sure every child can enjoy their rights.

Article 13
Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law.

Article 14
Every child has the right to think and believe what they want and to practise their religion, as long as they are not stopping other people from enjoying their rights. Governments must respect the rights of parents to give their children information about this right.

Article 15
Every child has the right to meet with other children and to join groups and organisations, as long as this does not stop other people from enjoying their rights.

Article 19
Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.

Article 29
Education must develop every child’s personality, talents and abilities to the full. It must encourage the child’s respect for human rights as well as respect for their parents, their own and other cultures, and the environment.

Article 30
Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family, regardless of whether these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.

1. Aims

Our school aims to meet its obligations under the public sector equality duty 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

2. 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 the Department for Education (DfE) guidance: The Equality Act 2010 and schools.

3. Roles and responsibilities

The governing board 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 headteacher will:

• Promote knowledge and understanding of the equality objectives amongst 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 in section 8.

4. 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.
• Staff and governors are regularly reminded of their responsibilities under the Equality Act, for example during meetings. Where this has been discussed during a meeting it is recorded in the meeting minutes.
• New staff receive training on the Equality Act as part of their induction, and all staff receive refresher training annually.
• The school has a designated member of staff for monitoring equality issues. They regularly liaise regarding any issues and make senior leaders and governors aware of these as appropriate.

5. 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 which 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
• 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 activities including extra-curricular)

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
• Publish further data about any issues associated with particular protected characteristics, identifying any issues which could affect our own pupils

6. 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:

• Placing the values and principles of the UN Convention Rights of the Child at the heart of a school’s ethos and culture. As part of UNICEF’s Rights Respecting School programme, our aim is to improve well-being and develop every child’s talents and abilities to their full potential
• Promoting tolerance, friendship and understanding of a range of religions and cultures through different aspects of our curriculum. This includes teaching in RE, citizenship and 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

7. 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

The school keeps a written record to show we have actively considered our equality duties and asked ourselves relevant questions. This is part of our School Improvement Plan and reported in the end of year Headteacher report to governors.

8. Equality objectives

Objective 1

Undertake an analysis of recruitment data and trends with regard to race, gender and disability by July, and report on this to the staffing and pay sub-committee of the governing board.

• Actions: Actively seek to recruit people with disabilities to the school and support them in their work and career development, and try to reflect the diversity of the school community in its workforce
  
• Monitoring: Annually through the Workforce Survey

Objective 2

Ensure that there is equality of access for all pupils to take part in all aspects of the curriculum

• Actions: Use of PPG, Sports Premium, PTA funds to support equal access and support. Support for clubs, lunchtime activities, assemblies, curriculum days and visits, educational journeys
  
• Monitoring: Feedback to governors on use of pupil premium and sports premium

Objective 3

Pupil achievement is monitored by race, gender, disability, ethnicity and socio-economic and any trends or patterns in the data that may require additional action to narrow the gap are addressed;

• Actions: Data of all pupils is collected & analysed 3 times per year by class teachers.
  Interventions will be put in place to meet the needs identified.
  3BM, IDSR, ASP data analysed and shared
  
• Monitoring: Regular pupil progress reviews, Phase Leaders and DHTs, report to Governors Curriculum committee termly.

9. Monitoring arrangements

The headteacher will update the equality information we publish, [described in sections 4-7 above], at least every year.

• This document will be reviewed by Curriculum and Standards committee at least every 4 years.
• This document will be approved by Curriculum and Standards committee

10. Links with other policies

This document links to the following policies:

• Accessibility plan
• Risk assessment
• SEND policy

The committee with oversight this policy
Resources
Policy to be approved by
The Headteacher
Policy last reviewed by the Resources Committee
17/03/2021
Policy last ratified and adopted by Full Governing Body
17/03/2021
Policy / Document due for review
March 2025