Equality Statement 2024

The Federation of St Martin’s and Seabrook Church of England Primary School Equality Information and Objectives Statement – January 2024

Guided by the Equality Act 2010 and The Church of England’s Guidance ‘Valuing All God’s Children’ This policy has been prepared with the Christian Value of respect foremost – this is a core value of the school and all members of the school community aspire to live by it daily.

 • Every person in our school community has been made in the image of God and is loved unconditionally by God.

• Everyone is equal and we treat each other with dignity and respect.

• Our school is a place where everyone should be able to flourish in a loving and hospitable community.

 • Each person in all their unique difference should be able to thrive, irrespective of physical appearance, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic background, academic ability, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

 • We are committed to promoting the understanding of the principles and practices of equality – treating all members of our school community as individuals, according to their needs, with an awareness of our diverse society and appreciating the value of difference. We actively seek to challenge discrimination and we promote an anti-bullying stance which makes clear the unacceptability of racist, disablist and homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and language.

1. Our General Duties

• The Governing Body of The Federation of St Martin’s and Seabrook Church of England Primary School is committed to promoting equality and diversity and eliminating discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act 2010.
•  By recognising and appreciating individual needs and differences the school will be broadly representative of the communities it serves and be a place where children and staff will thrive – physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
•  We aim to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. This will be achieved by implementing equal opportunities and diversity practice across the three dimensions of the School: as an employer; an educator; and a resource of the local community. We will ensure that the whole school community is aware of this policy, including our equality information and objectives, and publish it on our website.

1. Our Legal Duty

• We welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations in relation to age (as appropriate), disability, gender reassignment, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. We welcome our duty under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote community cohesion. 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. We understand the principle 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:
•  disability (as defined by the equality Act 2010) and those who have additional educational needs
•  groups of pupils whose prior attainment may be different from that of other groups
•  those who are academically more able • pupils for whom English is an additional language
• looked after children
•  young carers
•  ethnicity
•  religion and belief
•  pupils from low income backgrounds
•  Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children
•  Gender
•  gender reassignment
•  sexual identity
•  age (for employees)
•  maternity and pregnancy (for employees)
•  marriage and civil partnership (for employees)
•  children from military families
•  other vulnerable groups

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:

1. Publish equality information.

This information is in appendix A. No information will be published which could specifically identify any individual child or adult.

1. 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

 • Exclusions

• Prejudice related incidents

We will use the information collected to:

• evaluate how well we comply with all our duties under the Equality Act

 • assess the potential and actual impact of policies and procedures

 • decide where positive action may be appropriate

• identify priorities, set equality objectives and update our accessibility plan

 • monitor progress towards meeting these objectives and implementing our accessibility plan

• inform future action Our objectives (set out in appendix B) will detail how we will ensure equality is applied to the services 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.

1. Core Statements

 In fulfilling our legal obligations, we will be guided by five core statements:

• All learners are of equal value.

• We recognise, welcome and respect diversity.

 • We foster positive attitudes and relationships, and a shared sense of belonging.

 • We observe good equalities practice, including staff recruitment, retention and development.

 • We aim to reduce and remove existing inequalities and barriers.

1. Addressing Prejudice Related Incidents

 Our school is opposed to all forms of prejudice and we recognise that children and young people who experience any form of prejudice related discrimination may fare less well in the education system. We provide both our pupils and staff with an awareness of the impact of prejudice in order to prevent any incidents. If incidents still occur, we address them immediately and report them to the Local Authority using their guidance material.

1. Responsibility

 We believe that promoting Equality is the responsibility of everyone in the school community:

 Governing Body

 Involving and engaging the whole school community in identifying and understanding equality barriers and in the setting of objectives to address these. The Governing Body will also agree the Equality Statement and objectives.

Executive Headteacher

As above including: Promoting key messages to staff, parents and pupils about equality and what is expected of them and can be expected from the school in carrying out its day to day duties. Ensuring that the whole school community receives adequate training to meet the need of delivering equality, including pupil awareness. Ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibility to record and report prejudice related incidents. Staff Support the Executive Headteacher to ensure fair treatment and access to services and opportunities. Help in delivering the right outcomes for pupils. Uphold the commitment made to pupils and parents/carers on how they can be expected to be treated. Design and deliver an inclusive curriculum. Ensure that you are aware of your responsibility to record and report prejudice related incidents.

 Parents and Community

 Take an active part in identifying barriers for the school community and in informing the governing body of actions that can be taken to eradicate these. Take an active role in supporting and challenging the school to achieve the commitment given to the school community in tackling inequality and achieving equality of opportunity for all. Pupils Support the school to achieve the commitment made to tackling inequality. Uphold the commitment made by the Executive Headteacher on how pupils and parents/carers, staff and the wider school community can be expected to be treated.

1. Monitor and Review Equality Information (appendix A) will be updated annually.

Equality objectives (appendix B) will be reviewed every two years or as changes occur to the objectives.

Appendix A

Equality Information about the pupils at school – as of January 2024

Appendix B Equality Objectives Objective