Equality and Diversity
Public Sector Equality Duty
The Equality Act 2010 requires us to publish information that demonstrates that we have due regard for the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct 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 between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
St. James’ CEC Primary School is an inclusive school where all members of our community are of equal worth.
We believe that the Equality Act provides a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people. We are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background. It also ensures that we continue to tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups.
Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:
- All learners are of equal value.
- We recognise and respect difference.
- We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.
- We observe good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development.
- We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist.
- We have the highest expectations of all our children.
Equality Information
Number of pupils on roll at the school: 222
Age of pupils: 4 to 11
Information on pupils by protected characteristics
The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics. Every person has several of the protected characteristics, so the Act protects everyone against unfair treatment.
In order to ensure that all pupils are protected from discrimination, the school collects information on protected characteristics.
Information on other groups of pupils
In addition to pupils with protected characteristics, we gather further information on the following groups of pupils:
- Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)
- Pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
- Pupils from service families
- Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL)
- Young carers
- Looked after children and Post Looked after children
- Other vulnerable groups
Eliminating discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act
The information provided here aims to demonstrate that we give careful consideration to equality issues in everything that we do at St. James.’
‘Due regard’ ensures that we work towards eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act.
We eliminate discrimination by:
- Implementing required policies and procedures
- Ensuring appropriate training for our staff
- School collective worship and special events
- Our curriculum and interaction with all members of our school community
- Our communications, website and publications
- Our ethos and values
- Appropriate oversight by school leaders and Governors
- Discussions with and feedback from our pupil voice
- Our use of display and development of an accessible learning environment
- Visits to places of worship and places of local interest
- A focus on the involvement of parents and carers
- Our identified school objectives
- Feedback to our Governing Body
- The close monitoring and response to any incidents of inappropriate behaviour towards others as reflected in the Equalities Act 2010
- Regularly monitoring the curriculum to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our pupils and that it promotes respect for diversity and challenges negative stereotyping
- Ensuring that teaching is of the highest quality enabling children to reach their potential and all pupils are given equal entitlement to success
- Tracking pupil progress to ensure that all children make good and better progress, and intervening when necessary
- Ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to access extra-curricular provision
- Listening to and monitoring views and experiences of pupils and adults to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and procedures
Equality Objectives
At St. James’ CEC Primary School, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background.
As a school we have chosen two main equality objectives which best suit our circumstances and contribute to the welfare of our pupils and our school community. They are a tool to help improve the school experience of a range of different pupils. These equality objectives have arisen from an analysis of our published data and other information.
Equality Objective 1 |
Children are developed as strong advocates for promoting equality, mutual respect, tolerance and understanding of different cultures and religions to enhance cultural development to reflect the diversity and richness of the world we live in |
Why we have chosen this objective: |
St. James’ CEC Primary School is focusing on ensuring that our pupils understand and appreciate the rich diversity of Britain and the wider world. This Equality Objective will help us to increase understanding of religious/faith/cultural diversity (including people who do not have a faith) and to promote tolerance and understanding. |
To achieve this objective we plan to: |
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Equality Objective 2 |
To improve pupil mental health and wellbeing |
Why we have chosen this objective: |
Academic attainment is important, but pupils also need to progress through their education feeling happy and self-confident. St. James’ CEC Primary School is committed to providing a nurturing environment to help develop the resilience of our pupils to cope with the ups and downs and stresses of everyday life. This Equality Objective will address pupil mental health and wellbeing as part of our commitment to preventing mental health difficulties that may start in childhood but have a greater impact in adult life. |
To achieve this objective we plan to: |
We will embed the PSHE programme (SCARF) which provides lessons on growth mind set and resilience. We will also teach pupils how to relax and be mindful as part of the curriculum. We will work closely with parents and outside agencies to promote positive mental health and well-being. We will ensure that all pupils are familiar with how to use the zones of regulation as a strategy to support their emotions. We will celebrate Mental Health Day on a yearly basis as whole school event. |