Love your neighbour as yourself
Mark 12:31
aa
St Clare’s Catholic Primary School will promote equal opportunity and will not tolerate inequality in any area of the school’s life or work. All will be treated equally and given equal access to the curriculum and life of the school. All will have equal opportunity to benefit from all that we offer. Our intention is to develop an ethos in which all will thrive. Diversity and differences will be valued and respected by all and they will contribute to the richness of our school life and learning.
Under the Equality Act 2010, we welcome our general duty to
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and 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.
We recognise our specific duties which aims to assist us to meet our general duty –
- To annually publish information on how we are complying with the Equality Duty including to publish information on our school population.
- To publish equality objectives every four years, which show how we plan to tackle particular inequalities and reduce or remove them
We believe that diversity enriches our lives and it is to be valued. Our aim is to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity, in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and able to participate fully in school life.
We tackle discrimination through the positive promotion of equality; by challenging bullying and stereotyping and through the creation of an environment, which champions respect for all.
Our Equality Objectives – 2023 – 2027
Equality Objective 1 – Linked to promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
OBJECTIVE: to ensure the school actively promotes and prioritises raising awareness, appreciation and celebration of diversity including gender, sexuality, race and religion.
Why we have chosen this objective:
From an analysis of our school profile alongside the demographics of our local area we know that our school community very representative of life in Modern Britain. We want our community to embrace the uniqueness of the human race and ensure that our varied and diverse communities can live together with respect and tolerance for each other.
To achieve this objective we plan to:
Ensure our PHSE, SMSC and RE curriculum incorporate key themes and experiences which will allow children the opportunity to explore issues surrounding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion regularly. We will ensure our class libraries are well stocked with books that show a wide range of themes, religions and class sets of carefully selected texts will be created to support teachers and pupils in the exploration of key themes and in their developing spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. Our weekly assemblies will involve half termly cultural celebrations in which we will explore and celebrate different cultures in our school.
Intended Outcome:
To raise awareness of the protected characteristics alongside key issues pertaining to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.
Equality Objective 2: Linked to Pupil Attainment and Progress/Gender, Race and Disability
OBJECTIVE: To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.
Why we have chosen this objective:
Our internal data, which is discussed termly at Pupil Progress Meetings, indicates an inequality of attainment/progress across KS1 and KS2 for certain groups in relation to their starting points.
To achieve this objective we plan to:
The progress of all groups will be continuously tracked. Appropriate support is targeted where necessary to ensure that all groups make at least good progress. Targeted interventions will be tracked to ensure pupils make progress to align with their peers.
Intended Outcome:
Data analysis will show equality of attainment/progress for all groups in relation to their starting points.
Equality Objective 3: Linked to Pupil Attendance/Pupil Premium
OBJECTIVE: To explore and understand the reasons for the disproportionately higher absentee levels of PP pupils and begin to improve attendance rates of these pupils.
Why we have chosen this objective:
Our school’s attendance figures show that PP Pupils on roll have higher absentee levels than that of their peers.
To achieve this objective, we plan to:
Consult with those in our school community who are impacted by this – particularly make sure that parents/carers are involved and also specialist services. Identify best practice from other local schools with similar issues. Communicate regularly with specific parents/carers around how we can support them further.
Intended Outcome:
Increase attendance of PP children to that of a similar level to those non-PP children.
Equality Objective 4: Linked to Prejudice-Related Incidents/Sexual Orientation
OBJECTIVE: Raise awareness of sexual orientation and promote positive attitudes towards alternative lifestyles and lessen the chances of the word ‘Gay’ being used negatively.
Why we have chosen this objective:
School (and wider society) is a place where all children should feel safe and respected. There are a variety of family situations in British society; some children will have parents who are separated, some may live with a mum and a dad, some may have step-parents, and some may be fostered or adopted. Some may have other family arrangements; some will have LGBTQ parents or other LGBTQ family members. We want all of our children to understand, show an appreciation of and accept all family situations. We want them to understand the stereotypes and prejudices that exist and feel that they can challenge these.
To achieve this objective we plan to:
Continue to implement our PSHE programme which raises children’s awareness that there are many different family situations. This is not done in isolation. When discussing similarity and difference in PSHE lessons, children learn about a whole range of differences, such as difference in physical appearance and personality, likes and dislikes, and that people can have differences of opinion. This helps them to understand that we are all unique human beings. Within the context of these lessons they will also be introduced to different cultures and ethnicities, people with different religions and beliefs, and about people with disability or special needs. They will also be aware that some people are LGBTQ. When discussing any differences between people, our PSHE sessions help teach children to form opinions about others based on whether they are kind, law-abiding, respectful, trustworthy, and responsible people, rather than judging them on appearance or whether a particular aspect of their lifestyle is different to their own. Children also learn about discrimination and prejudice including racism, sexism, and ageism. This supports the school with our obligation to align with the Equality Act 2010. Through using the scheme ‘No Outsiders’ we aim to introduce a series of books, which show different family make-ups. This will include same sex couples. The books will be introduced into our normal range of books and will be looked at as part of PSHE sessions and other shared reading opportunities. We will also place some in our library. We will additionally access resources from Stonewall or the local LGBT centres about approaches to embedding LGBT within the curriculum.
Intended Outcome:
To raise awareness of this protected characteristic and to reduce the number of prejudice-related incidents.