Equalities

At Roseberry Primary and Nursery School we are committed to equality.

We aim for every pupil to fulfil their potential no matter what their background or personal circumstances. We aim to embed principles of fairness and equality across our entire curriculum, in assemblies and acts of collective worship, in break and lunchtimes, in pastoral support and in before and after school activities.

We must, under the general duty of public sector equality, in the exercise of our functions, have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited under the Equality Act of 2010;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not;
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not;
• consult and involve those affected by inequality in the decisions that our school takes to promote equality and eliminate discrimination.

This will apply to all pupils, families, staff and others using the facilities. We will give relevant and proportionate consideration to the public sector equality duty.

The protected characteristics for the schools provisions are:

• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation
• age (only applicable to staff, not pupils)
• marriage and civil partnerships (only applicable to staff, not pupils)

We will have due regard to advancing equality of opportunity including making serious consideration of the need to:

• remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic that are connected to that characteristic;
• take steps to meet the needs of persons who share a protected characteristics that are different from the needs of persons who do not share it;
• encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.

We will take into account the six Brown principles of ‘due regard’

• awareness – all staff know and understand what the law requires
• timeliness – implications considered before they are implemented
• rigour – open-minded and rigorous analysis, including parent/pupil voice
• non-delegation – the public sector equality duty cannot be delegated
• continuous – ongoing all academic year
• record-keeping – keep notes and records of decisions & meetings

 

We welcome the opportunity to be transparent and accountable. To this end we fulfil the specific duties of the Act by:

• publishing our equality information
• publishing our equality objectives

We aim to make the information accessible, easy to read and easy to find. You can read our latest statement here.

 

Equality Objectives 

Our equality objectives are:

1. To raise awareness and increase tolerance for people with differing religious beliefs
2. To narrow the gap attainment gap between boys and girls in mathematics
3.  To challenge gender stereotypes through world of work tasks

Examples of our work to promote equality:

• Subject policies have been impact assessed against equality principles by staff.
• Subject Leaders continue to analyse achievement data of boys/girls, SEN and other vulnerable groups.
• Various focus days or weeks, including Chinese New Year, Diwali, Christmas, European Day of Languages, Black History Month, Children in Need, Autism Awareness help us to celebrate diversity and multi-culturalism.
• Well-being ambassadors.

 

We will update our equality objectives every four years and will publish progress on them annually

We adopt a whole school approach to equality and consider it important for pupils to learn about equality and human rights. We adhere to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) statement:

‘To reap the full benefits of equality and human rights education, it is essential to teach topics in an environment which respects the rights and differences of both students and teachers. Without an equality and human rights culture within the classroom and school as a whole, learning about these topics can at best appear irrelevant, and at worst, hypocritical. The respect and tolerance it teaches will help staff and students create a healthier, happier, fairer school culture, and could lead to reductions in bullying and other negative behaviour, and improvements in attainment and aspirations.

Though the Act refers to ‘race’, the use of ethnic/ cultural origin, background or heritage is often more appropriate.

 

For further information please refer to our Roseberry equality information 2021.