Equality Objectives

We endeavour:

• To respect the human rights of all our pupils
• To positively promote equality and diversity
• To tackle the barriers which could lead to unequal outcomes for identified groups of pupils
• To educate pupils about equality and to respect difference
• To respect the equal rights of our staff and other members of the school community
• To promote community cohesion at school, local, national and global levels, comparing our school community to its local and national context and implementing all necessary actions in relation to ethnicity, religion or belief, and socio-economic background.

Community cohesion: a shared contextual statement
The school has a Church of England foundation and a Christian ethos. There are strong links with St Peter’s Church which the school visits regularly. Almost all of our children are from a White British background; therefore, we have considered this when planning our curriculum so that we can prepare children to live in a diverse world, with many different cultures and beliefs, different socio-economic backgrounds and differing levels of opportunity and future economic well-being. Our school is in the top 10% of the most deprived areas of England (Census information). The social context of the area indicates that many of our pupils come from below average social class households. Approximately 50% of our local population are single, divorced or separated and weekly earnings are lower by comparison, to other areas of Derbyshire and significantly lower than a fifth of UK households. Nearly 35% of the population 16 and over have no formal qualifications with Derbyshire having a relatively low skills base. The number of pupils eligible for Free School Meals is higher than the National average (at 51% where national is 22.5 post covid 2021). We keep a confidential register of Vulnerability, including pupils who are vulnerable in terms of Safeguarding/well-being issues or other factors which may be a barrier to learning. Many of our pupils are on this register (September 2022) which is kept under regular review. These children may be on the Child Protection or Child in Need register [or may been on the at high level in their past-pre juniors]; they may be Tier 3 EHA or school providing EHA. A number of our families require additional intervention in accessing support from CAMHS and other mental health and well-being support services. Some of our pupils have complex additional needs, including learning difficulties, emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. The number of pupils on the Special Needs register is 27%. The number of pupils with EHCP’s is currently at 9% (Autumn 2022). Our curriculum and wider provision is tailored to meet the varying needs of our pupils and their families. This includes nurture provision, counselling, positive play and emotional literacy support within school.

Legal Duties 

As a school we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010.  The general duties are to: 

• eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity
• foster good relations between groups  

We understand the principles of the act and the work needed to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not discriminated against and are given equality of opportunity.  

A protected characteristic under the act covers the groups listed below:  

• age (for employees not for service provision)
• disability
• race
• sex (including issues of transgender)
• maternity and pregnancy
• religion and belief  
• sexual orientation  
• marriage and civil partnership (for employees)  

In advancing equality of opportunity: 

• we aim to remove or minimise the disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
• we aim to meet the needs of people with certain protected characteristics where these are different from the needs of other people
• we encourage people with certain protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.

In order to meet our general duties, listed above, the law requires us to do some specific duties to demonstrate how we meet the general duties, these are to:   

• publish equality information - to demonstrate compliance with the general duty across its functions. (We will not publish any information that can specifically identify any child)  
• prepare and publish equality objectives.

To do this we will collect data related to the protected characteristics above and analyse this data to determine our focus for our equality objectives.  The data will be assessed across our core provisions as a school.  This will include the following functions:  

• admissions
• attendance
• attainment and progress
• exclusions
• prejudice related incidents
• participation

Our objectives will detail how we will ensure equality is applied to the functions listed above.  However, where we find evidence that other functions have a significant impact on any particular group, we will include work in this area.  

We use evaluation and data collection to inform our decision making and assess the impact on equality of our decision making, policies and practices.  

We also welcome our duty under the Education Act 2011 to demonstrate how the education we provide meets the needs of the range of learners at the school.  

We recognise that these duties reflect international human rights standards as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998. 

In fulfilling our legal obligations we will:  

• recognise and respect diversity
• foster positive attitudes and relationships, and a shared sense of belonging
• tackle prejudice and promote understanding between people from different groups
• observe good equalities practice, including staff recruitment, retention and development, and procurement
• aim to reduce and remove existing inequalities and barriers
• consult and involve widely
• strive to ensure that the communities within, around and beyond our school will benefit
• follow guidance from Derbyshire Children's and Younger Adults Service HR on equality in recruitment, selection and employment
• use the school's complaints procedure initially to deal with any complaints under the Equality Act 2010, use the Questions Procedure and, for any complaint not resolved internally, use the local authority complaints procedure.

Our Equality objectives are: to:-

• Strive for all pupils regardless of ethnicity, age gender to achieve the highest possible standards in their learning and achieve exceptionally well.
• Identify barriers to learning and participation/engagement in learning and provide appropriately to meet a diversity of needs.
• ensure that vulnerable groups of pupils achieve challenging targets and the gaps in attainment for these pupils are reduced.
• Strive to achieve equality of opportunity for all, adults and pupils, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity etc
• Educate all about discrimination and prejudice and promote a harmonious environment (social cohesion)