Equality Statement
Legal Duties
As a school we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010. The general duties are to:
- eliminate discrimination,
- advance equality of opportunity
- foster good relations
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:
- age (for employees not for service provision),
- disability
- ethnicity
- gender
- gender reassignment
- maternity and pregnancy
- religion and belief, and
- sexual identity
- Marriage and Civil Partnership (for employees)
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 individual child or adult] - – 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.
Our objectives will detail how we will ensure equality is applied. Where we find evidence that any specific functions have a significant impact on any particular group we will include work in this area.
We also 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.
Core Statements:
In fulfilling our legal obligations we will be guided by seven core statements:
Statement 1: All learners are individuals and of equal value.
Statement 2: We strive to close attainment and achievement gaps.
Statement 3: We develop common values of citizenship based on mutual respect and acceptance.
Statement 4: We contribute to building good community relations
Statement 5: We recognise, celebrate and value diversity.
Statement 6: We aim to reduce and remove existing inequalities and barriers.
Statement 7: We observe good equalities practice, including staff recruitment, retention and development.
Our Equalities and Cohesion scheme identifies how the school meets its duties with regards to the Equalities Act 2010.
Equality Objectives February 2022 – February 2025
The Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 has three aims under the general duty for Schools:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
We have considered how well we currently achieve these aims with regard to the protected groups under the Equality Act. Highworth Combined School and Nursery aims to reduce and challenge inequalities. Governors have therefore agreed on the Equality Objectives below:
· To empower our parents to support their children at home through the ongoing work of a Parent Support Worker, who provides targeted support to families, in addition to hosting regular training courses and meetings for parents across the school.
· To improve outcomes for children with social and emotional barriers to learning through working with one of two Learning Mentors or attending a Nurture Group in our school.
· To implement the ARP and SEN development plan to further support the Hearing Impaired pupils and pupils who have a Special Educational Need at Highworth.
If you have any questions on these please e-mail the school via the office.
