| equality__diversity_may_2014.doc |
1. Our Vision and Aims for Equality and Diversity
‘We will treat everyone at St Luke’s School fairly, celebrating difference and meeting different needs so that all members of our school community are free to live, learn and enjoy’
St Luke’s School is committed to tackling discrimination in the whole school community1 by:
2. Defining Equality and Diversity
2.1 Equality
Equality is about fairness and equality of opportunity and advancing equality of opportunity involves treating people differently. People should not be treated the same. Some people may need extra help or adjustments to be part of the school community; this includes teachers, administration, cleaning or catering staff employed at the school as well as pupils/ students, parents and school governors.
Relating to the Equality Act there are nine ‘protected characteristics’ these are age; disability, gender reassignment [transgender], marriage / civil partnership, pregnancy / maternity, race, religion and belief (and having no belief), sex (gender) and sexual orientation.
Under the general duty schools must exercise ‘due regard’ in respect of each of the eight protected characteristics (excluding marriage and civil partnership) to:-
Diversity is about valuing people as individuals and learning from our differences. Our differences can be visible and non-visible. Promoting diversity we can meet different needs creatively to ensure opportunities are available to all and potential is fulfilled. Promoting a diversity friendly school culture we are able to meet our school’s aims and objectives more efficiently.
Culture is about the way we behave towards one another – school governors, all employees in the school, parents, pupils and the whole school community. It is about how we treat one another and respect our differences. Promoting diversity and a diversity friendly culture helps to create a more productive school community.
3. Purpose and Scope of the Policy
This policy sets out St Luke’s School’s commitment to promoting equality and diversity.
We believe that it is our responsibility to promote equality and diversity wider than the nine characteristics (areas) covered by legislation. We work to remove barriers and we will not unfairly discriminate on any grounds.
We do this by:
· Celebrating the different religious beliefs of pupils at the school and learn about their special times for example; Divali, Eid and Easter.
· Ensuring the school building and curriculum is accessible to all pupils
· Providing a curriculum, which promotes positive understanding of different characteristics, recognises the contribution that individuals and groups with protected characteristics make to society, and challenges stereotyping and discrimination.
· Monitoring and reviewing this policy and reporting annually on progress in the information we publish to evidence how we are meeting the requirement of the public sector equality duty. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity
· Publishing and reviewing our equality objectives (and reviewing them at least every four years). Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity
· Undertaking other activities and measures as outlined in this policy document, our published information and other relevant documents.
Equality Objectives:
The policy applies to:
· School governors
· Staff
· Parents
· Pupils (as appropriate)
· Contractors
· Visitors to the school
4. Roles and Responsibilities
All members of the school community, governors, staff, pupils, parents, visitors and contractors all have a part to play in implementing this policy, promoting diversity and equality, challenging inappropriate behaviour or practice to remove barriers and avoiding discrimination.
To promote understanding of this responsibility St Luke’s School will:
· Ensure governors, staff, parents, and contractors are made fully aware of our equality and diversity policy and how it affects their work
· Ensure pupils (within their level of understanding) and visitors to our school are clear about the expectations relating to our commitment to promoting equality and diversity
· Provide training / development and updates as appropriate
· Review our equality objectives and actions to ensure all relevant activity remains relevant and meets the identified needs and priorities of our school.
In addition school governors (in particular the Standard’s Committee) have responsibility for overseeing agreeing, monitoring and reviewing of our school’s equality objectives, and related activity.
4.1 Breaches of Policy
St Luke’s School views any form of discrimination as a serious act of misconduct. Any allegation of a breach in the policy will be investigated by the Headteacher or in case of the breach being by the Headteacher then the complaints committee of the School’s Governing Body. This may lead to disciplinary or other appropriate action being taken.
5. Monitoring and review
St Luke’s Primary School has specific duties under the Equality Act to publish information about the diversity of our school community and the work we are doing to promote equality. This information can be found on our school website. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity. We will review this information annually.
6. Bullying and Diversity incidents
6.1 Pupils
St Luke’s Primary School believes all pupils should be safe and feel valued for themselves, whatever characteristics they may have. Bullying and harassment of pupils, staff, parents, visitors and/or contractors by pupils on the basis of their identity (including a perceived characteristic, and by association with a protected characteristic) is unacceptable. Incidents will be logged, investigated and appropriate actions taken to prevent future incidents and to support the victim as outlined in the anti-bullying policy. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/prevention-of-bullying
6.2 Staff and Governors
The council and St Luke’s Primary School view any form of discrimination undertaken by adults as serious acts of misconduct. Any such breaches could result in disciplinary action being taken and in the case of harassment, might call for police involvement.
7. Diversity Complaints
St Luke’s Primary School takes seriously all complaints; where a complaint is related to equality/diversity issues, the school procedure for dealing with to complaints will apply. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/complaints. Complaints should be made to Alastair Sutherland (Headteacher) or the chair of governors (diversity lead).
‘We will treat everyone at St Luke’s School fairly, celebrating difference and meeting different needs so that all members of our school community are free to live, learn and enjoy’
St Luke’s School is committed to tackling discrimination in the whole school community1 by:
- Tackling discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender identity (gender reassignment and transgender), pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex (gender) or sexual orientation
- Advancing equality of opportunity
- Creating good relations between different groups
2. Defining Equality and Diversity
2.1 Equality
Equality is about fairness and equality of opportunity and advancing equality of opportunity involves treating people differently. People should not be treated the same. Some people may need extra help or adjustments to be part of the school community; this includes teachers, administration, cleaning or catering staff employed at the school as well as pupils/ students, parents and school governors.
Relating to the Equality Act there are nine ‘protected characteristics’ these are age; disability, gender reassignment [transgender], marriage / civil partnership, pregnancy / maternity, race, religion and belief (and having no belief), sex (gender) and sexual orientation.
Under the general duty schools must exercise ‘due regard’ in respect of each of the eight protected characteristics (excluding marriage and civil partnership) to:-
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment
- Advance equality of opportunity
- Foster good relations between different groups
Diversity is about valuing people as individuals and learning from our differences. Our differences can be visible and non-visible. Promoting diversity we can meet different needs creatively to ensure opportunities are available to all and potential is fulfilled. Promoting a diversity friendly school culture we are able to meet our school’s aims and objectives more efficiently.
Culture is about the way we behave towards one another – school governors, all employees in the school, parents, pupils and the whole school community. It is about how we treat one another and respect our differences. Promoting diversity and a diversity friendly culture helps to create a more productive school community.
3. Purpose and Scope of the Policy
This policy sets out St Luke’s School’s commitment to promoting equality and diversity.
We believe that it is our responsibility to promote equality and diversity wider than the nine characteristics (areas) covered by legislation. We work to remove barriers and we will not unfairly discriminate on any grounds.
We do this by:
· Celebrating the different religious beliefs of pupils at the school and learn about their special times for example; Divali, Eid and Easter.
· Ensuring the school building and curriculum is accessible to all pupils
· Providing a curriculum, which promotes positive understanding of different characteristics, recognises the contribution that individuals and groups with protected characteristics make to society, and challenges stereotyping and discrimination.
· Monitoring and reviewing this policy and reporting annually on progress in the information we publish to evidence how we are meeting the requirement of the public sector equality duty. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity
· Publishing and reviewing our equality objectives (and reviewing them at least every four years). Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity
· Undertaking other activities and measures as outlined in this policy document, our published information and other relevant documents.
Equality Objectives:
- When curriculum planning we will consider the needs of all pupils including their disabilities, gender, race and religion and beliefs and ensure fair access to all including:
- Ensuring all children have access to class visits
- Creating opportunities within the curriculum to celebrate the pupil’s differences
- We will endeavour to support all children and their families whose home language is not English by:
- Pupils: Teaching early language skills to enable children to develop their English Language skills
- Families: Provided interpreters for meetings between home and school
- When developing policies and reviewing policies we will ensure that the diversity of the whole school community is considered and that they ensure equality for everyone that the policy covers
The policy applies to:
· School governors
· Staff
· Parents
· Pupils (as appropriate)
· Contractors
· Visitors to the school
4. Roles and Responsibilities
All members of the school community, governors, staff, pupils, parents, visitors and contractors all have a part to play in implementing this policy, promoting diversity and equality, challenging inappropriate behaviour or practice to remove barriers and avoiding discrimination.
To promote understanding of this responsibility St Luke’s School will:
· Ensure governors, staff, parents, and contractors are made fully aware of our equality and diversity policy and how it affects their work
· Ensure pupils (within their level of understanding) and visitors to our school are clear about the expectations relating to our commitment to promoting equality and diversity
· Provide training / development and updates as appropriate
· Review our equality objectives and actions to ensure all relevant activity remains relevant and meets the identified needs and priorities of our school.
In addition school governors (in particular the Standard’s Committee) have responsibility for overseeing agreeing, monitoring and reviewing of our school’s equality objectives, and related activity.
4.1 Breaches of Policy
St Luke’s School views any form of discrimination as a serious act of misconduct. Any allegation of a breach in the policy will be investigated by the Headteacher or in case of the breach being by the Headteacher then the complaints committee of the School’s Governing Body. This may lead to disciplinary or other appropriate action being taken.
5. Monitoring and review
St Luke’s Primary School has specific duties under the Equality Act to publish information about the diversity of our school community and the work we are doing to promote equality. This information can be found on our school website. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/diversity. We will review this information annually.
6. Bullying and Diversity incidents
6.1 Pupils
St Luke’s Primary School believes all pupils should be safe and feel valued for themselves, whatever characteristics they may have. Bullying and harassment of pupils, staff, parents, visitors and/or contractors by pupils on the basis of their identity (including a perceived characteristic, and by association with a protected characteristic) is unacceptable. Incidents will be logged, investigated and appropriate actions taken to prevent future incidents and to support the victim as outlined in the anti-bullying policy. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/prevention-of-bullying
6.2 Staff and Governors
The council and St Luke’s Primary School view any form of discrimination undertaken by adults as serious acts of misconduct. Any such breaches could result in disciplinary action being taken and in the case of harassment, might call for police involvement.
7. Diversity Complaints
St Luke’s Primary School takes seriously all complaints; where a complaint is related to equality/diversity issues, the school procedure for dealing with to complaints will apply. Further information can be found at www.stlukesprimary.com/complaints. Complaints should be made to Alastair Sutherland (Headteacher) or the chair of governors (diversity lead).
