Severnbanks Primary School and Nursery

UNITED NATIONS COVENTION ON THE RIGHTS of the CHILD

ARTICLE 1

Everyone under the age of 18 has all the rights in the Convention

ARTICLE 2

The Convention applies to every child whatever their ethnicity, gender, religion, abilities, whatever they think or say, no matter what type of family they come from.

ARTICLE 4

Governments must do all they can to fulfil the rights of the child.

ARTICLE 28

Every child has the right to an education.

ARTICLE 30

Every child has the right to learn and use the language, customs and religion of their family whether or not these are shared by the majority of the people in the country where they live.

Equality Information and Objectives

Public Sector Equality Duty (Updated February 2018)

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 requires us to publish information that demonstrates that we have due regard for the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010

Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Severnbanks Primary School and Nursery is an inclusive school where we focus on the well-being and progress of every child and where all members of our community are of equal worth.

We believe that the Equality Act provides a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people. It also ensures that we continue to tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups.

Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

1. All learners are of equal value
2. We recognise and respect difference
3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.
4. We observe good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development.
5. We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist.
6. We have the highest expectations of all our children.

Equality in Teaching and learning

We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement.

We do this by:

• Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society
• Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping
• Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice
• Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures
• Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education
• Utilising teaching approaches appropriate for the whole school population which are inclusive and reflective of our pupils.

Equality in Admissions and Exclusions

Our admissions arrangements are fair and transparent and do not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation/alignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnerships or socioeconomic background.

Equal Opportunities for Staff

All staff appointments and promotions are made on the basis of merit and ability and in compliance with the law. We are keen to ensure that the staffing of the school reflects the diversity of our community.

Information on pupils by protected characteristics

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics. Every person has several of the protected characteristics, so the Act protects everyone against unfair treatment.

In order to ensure that all pupils are protected from discrimination, the school collects information on protected characteristics.

Information on other groups of pupils

In addition to pupils with protected characteristics, we gather further information on the following groups of pupils:

• Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)
• Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
• Disadvantaged group
• Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL)
• Young carers
• Looked after children
• Other vulnerable groups

Eliminating discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act

The information provided here aims to demonstrate that we give careful consideration to equality issues in everything that we do at Severnbanks Primary School. ‘Due regard’ ensures that we work towards eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act.

We are committed to working for equality for all our staff, parents/carers and children to meet our duties under the Equality Act 2010.

We eliminate discrimination by:

• Our behaviour policy ensures that all children feel safe at school and addresses prejudicial bullying
• Reporting, responding to and monitoring all racist incidents
• Regularly monitoring the curriculum to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our pupils and that it promotes respect for diversity and challenges negative stereotyping
• Teaching is of the highest quality to ensure children reach their potential and all pupils are given equal entitlement to success.
• Tracking pupil progress to ensure that all children make rapid progress, and intervening when necessary.
• Ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to access extra-curricular provision.
• Listening to and monitoring views and experiences of pupils and adults to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and procedures.
• Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

We advance equality of opportunity by:

• Using the information we gather to identify underachieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention.
• Ensuring participation of parents/carers and pupils in school development.
• Listening to parents/carers.
• Listening to pupils at all times.
• Fostering good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

We foster good relations by:

• Ensuring that Severnbanks Primary School and Nursery is seen as a community school within our local community.
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum and in collective worship.

Equality Objectives

At Severnbanks Primary School and Nursery, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background. We work at promoting the TRUST equality objectives.

In order to further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we as a school have set the following objectives:

Equality Objective 1 – Linked to promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.

Equality Objective 2: Linked to Pupil Attainment/Disadvantage

To raise levels of attainment in core subjects for vulnerable learners.

Equality Objective 3: Linked to pupils and parental engagement

To review levels of parental and pupil engagement in learning and school life, across all activities to ensure equity and fairness in access and engagement.

The Trust has a full and separate Equalities Policy. Please consult this for further details if you wish.