Public Sector Equality Duty

At St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, we aim to be a community where everyone is treated fairly and with respect. We want everyone to reach their potential, and we recognise that for all our pupils extra support is needed to help them to achieve and be successful.

We are required to publish equality information as well as equality objectives, which show how we plan to reduce or remove particular inequalities or disadvantages. This information is reviewed and updated annually.

The equality duty supports good education and improves pupil outcomes. It helps us as a school to identify priorities such as underperformance, poor progression, and bullying. It does this by requiring us to collate evidence, take a look at the issues and consider taking action to improve the experience of different groups of pupils. It then helps us to focus on what can be done to tackle these issues and to improve outcomes by developing measurable equality objectives.

Full details of the requirements placed on schools are included in the Public Sector Equality Duty Guidance for Schools in England, published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Our school is committed to equality both as an employer and a service-provider and we carry out our day to day work through our embedded values:

Our equality objectives are:

• To ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, disability, religious beliefs, sexual orientations, age or any other recognised area of discrimination.
• To ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils, through high quality teaching, an engaging curriculum and a broad range of enrichment and extra-curricular activities.
• To model teaching and learning behaviours that avoid labelling
• To reduce the gap between children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding and their peers' attainment in reading, writing and maths.
• To narrow any gap between children with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities and their peers' attainment in reading, writing and maths.
• To tackle and eradicate prejudice related bullying and promote understanding in relation to the protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010.
• To promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development through all appropriate curricular opportunities.
• To reduce prejudice and increase understanding of diversity and equality through direct teaching.
• To promote cultural development and understanding through a rich range of experiences, both within and beyond school.