Equality at St James’ CE Academy

Equality at St James’ CE Academy

Schools have a public sector equality duty. This means that they must uphold the Equalities Act 2010, which means at St James’ CE Academy we are committed to advancing and achieving equality of opportunity for all students, parents/carers/associated persons, staff, governors and visitors. We believe that all people are of equal value and are entitled to equality of opportunity and that our diversity enriches our community.

Scope

This duty encompasses the following protected characteristics:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation
• marriage and civil partnership

Values, principles and standards

Equality of opportunity is fundamental to good practice in education, in which fairness of opportunity for all is a basic right. This policy is therefore underpinned by the following values, principles and standards:

• equality and social justice
• acknowledging and valuing diversity
• respect for others
• compliance with equality legislation
• elimination of all forms of prejudice and unfair discrimination
• active challenge to stereotypes, prejudiced attitudes and unfair discriminatory
• behaviour
• commitment to inclusive education which enables and supports all students to
• develop their full potential
• commitment to the positive development of all staff and governors

How do we achieve this?

Equality is achieved at St James CE Academy through:

1. the ethos of the school, which continually promotes the importance of each child, celebrates difference , and acts to remove any barriers so that all children can achieve
2. a broad and balanced curriculum, including RE and PSHCE, which allows pupils to explore equality issues as part of their everyday learning
3. policies and procedures which ensure equality is promoted through provision for example for children with Special educational Needs, race equality, and the monitoring of those policies
4. Social , moral, spiritual and cultural development (SMSC)
5. Discussion with vulnerable groups to ensure their voice is heard, including parents, children and staff.

Equality objectives:

1. To close the gap for children with Special Educational Needs
2. To close the gap in boys writing in the Early Years
3. To reduce exclusions for children with identified SEMH
4. To widen out of schools opportunities for children with identified SEN