TO BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE SCHOOL’S MISSION STATEMENT

 

Introduction

 

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School follows the Liverpool LEA guidance on addressing schools’ duties under Equalities legislation, recognising that schools can play a vital role in promoting equal opportunities and in creating a society which respects diversity, meets the needs of its citizens and avoids discrimination in any form (see also our policies on SEN/Inclusion, Admissions, Safe Recruitment, Personal, Social and Health Education and Citizenship, our Anti-Bullying Policy, and also the School Prospectus, Development Plans and Accessibility Plans).

 

Background:

The Single Equality Act, which came into place Oct 1^st  2010, requires that the duties previously set

 

out in our Race, Disability and Gender policies are combined into one single Equality Duty. This policy

 

is written to bring together and harmonise those policies. The Single Equality Act combines the

existing  three   duties  into  one  new  Equality  Duty  that  covers  all    nine    of  the    protected

characteristics: Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and

 

maternity, race, religion or belief (or lack of belief), sex, and sexual orientation. In this school we will

 

ensure that at every level, in all our work and throughout all aspects of the school community and its

 

life, all will be treated equally.

 

(Appendix: The Law)

 

We also have regard to guidance on INCLUSION, as well as the Special Educational Needs Revised Code of Practice.

 

Our Aims

• To provide a safe and welcoming place for all persons in the school or having connections with the school.

 

• To help children and families who join the school community to be fully aware of the school’s ethos and be supportive of it, and to consult extensively in doing this, so as to ensure that we are constantly aware of viewpoints and issues which may develop.

 

• All policies to accord equality of respect, dignity and esteem to everyone, whatever their background, colour, culture, gender, orientation, role, age, origins, appearance, status or ability.

 

• To foster an understanding that diversity within our community is enriching.
• To promote justice, equality of opportunity and fair treatment for all pupils, allowing all, irrespective of their background or ability, to achieve the level of success and self-respect which they deserve.

 

• To challenge all forms of personal discrimination against individuals, especially those who are perceived as ‘different’ or outsiders; and any discrimination against any groups of people based on group stereotype.

 

• To instill in pupils an awareness that sexism, racism and other prejudices are unacceptable, and to establish an environment and curriculum where school becomes effective in reducing prejudice and raising self-esteem, giving children the confidence to resist such attitudes.

 

• To support Looked After Children, and work to ensure that they achieve good standards of attainment and progress.

 

• To support Asylum Seekers, Traveller families and any other group which may encounter prejudice, as they access education.

 

• To work to eradicate the use of discriminatory, insulting or intimidating language of any kind within the school, including homophobic language.

 

• To take appropriate action when dealing with any form of sexism, racism and any other discriminatory attitudes and behaviour within the school environment.

 

• To recognise in our teaching the major contributions made by people of all cultures – and both women and men, “able-bodied” or not – in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities.

 

• To make careful choices when resourcing the school in order to ensure that prejudicial stereotypes are not reinforced.

 

• To work towards the removal of the “invisibility” of the black community, women and the disabled from curriculum angles and perspectives. Every person is to be held in high esteem; their needs carefully assessed and monitored in the light of their ability, talents and previous and present experience.

 

• To ensure that all are entitled to appropriate educational and spiritual provision.
• To strive to ensure that every person has the opportunity and support necessary for them to attain their full potential in every sphere of achievement.

 

• To ensure the positive achievements of all will be celebrated and recognised.
• To invite writers, performers and other role models with diverse cultural racial, social and gender backgrounds into school to work with the children.

 

• To ensure that overall structures, policies and attitudes are evaluated and regularly reviewed in order that no one within the school community is subject to discrimination or prejudice in any context.

 

• To ensure that those with management responsibility and individual members of staff, accept responsibility for planning, teaching, learning and curriculum, and apply this policy to all we do.

 

• To ensure that learners and parents are fully involved in the provision made by the school and to increase transparency.

 

Staff: The school adopts the Local Authority’s advice and guidance through its Human Resources policies for fair advertising, recruitment, selection, training and retention of staff. The school recognises all staff have the right to work in a safe and harassment free environment, the right to career advancement pathways and that staff have individual and collective responsibility to respect each other’s contributions regardless of age or experience, and to support the school’s ethos and principles of safeguarding within the recruitment process.

 

For Governors and Headteacher

 

• To ensure that within the school budget, adequate funding is provided to underpin this policy and that intervention, positive action and preventative action is funded where needed.

 

• Overall structures, policies and attitudes are to be evaluated and regularly reviewed in order to ensure that no one within the school community is subject to discrimination or prejudice in any context.
• In recruiting staff, qualifications, experience and suitability for the proper discharge of relevant duties will be taken into account. The protected characteristics will not be considerations.

 

• The safeguarding of children is paramount in all recruitment scenarios.
• All recruited to the staff of this Catholic school are to have respect for the teachings of the Catholic Church and its place in the life of the school.

 

• All staff, whatever their religious persuasion, are highly valued for their service and positive contribution to the ethos of our Catholic school community.

 

 

 

The Ethos of our school

 

At St. Patrick’s, we feel that racism and other prejudices go against our aim of a feeling of safety and well-being for all our children. We want visitors to feel at ease in our environment and be able to see, through diverse resources, displays and the well-informed attitudes of our staff and children, that we value every individual as equal. We want the victims of injustice or prejudice not only to feel that the situation will be addressed, but also that it will be addressed openly, and that he/she will receive positive support in order to develop strategies for coping with the upset he/she has suffered.

 

We will also counsel the person who has made the remarks in order to help them, in a positive way, to understand that such language/attitudes are hurtful and wrong, and to prevent any further occurrence.

 

We want all of the school community to be able to recognise prejudice and injustice in everyday life and, through their knowledge and understanding, combat them positively and effectively. We want them to become aware of racial or prejudicial attitudes in the media, or wherever else it may occur, and be able to analyse it.

 

We strive, as a staff, to show by example that we value diversity, and to create an atmosphere that is conducive of mutual respect.

 

We aim to consult and involve parents so that we can constantly be up to date with the ever-changing development of groups, cultures and viewpoints and do not offer stereotypical, out of date images of any groups, cultures or viewpoints.

 

In the light of many recent cases of racism, homophobia and maltreatment of the vulnerable, we recognise the need to rigorously implement this policy. We also appreciate the need to be proactive about equality education so that all pupils and staff become more informed and understanding of each others’ values, beliefs and human rights.

 

We are very aware of the apparent “invisibility” of some groups that has lain unchallenged for years in books and in some sections of the media that present a one-sided view of history and culture.

 

We aim to continue to involve parents as well as governors and staff in the constant monitoring of this policy and welcome any advice that they may give.

 

 

The community, diversity and community cohesion

 

By community cohesion, we mean working towards a society in which there is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities; a society in which the diversity of people’s backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued: a society in which similar life opportunities are available to all; a society in which strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community.

 

Partnerships with parents and carers, governors, all stakeholders and the wider community are central to our school’s strategies and essential to the implementation of this policy and our School Development Plan.

 

Procedures

 

• We will regularly review our procedures for dealing with racist incidents as a whole school/staff approach, and we will use the Local Authority model framework for reporting and monitoring racial incidents, with minor adjustments in format.

 

(Please see appended reporting and monitoring forms and model letters).

 

• We will also regularly review our procedures for dealing with incidents of bullying or harassment, reporting and monitoring incidents, with the aim of eliminating all such inappropriate behaviour related to sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and pregnancy or maternity.

(Please see appended reporting and monitoring forms and model letters).

 

• In accordance with our statutory duties in respect of Equalities legislation, we will formulate equality and diversity targets and objectives within the School Development Plan. This will ensure that these principles are central to our everyday work in ensuring the best education, welfare and personal development for all our learners. Representatives of all stakeholders will be involved in this process.

 

(see relevant parts of SDP, including Accessibility Plan)

 

• The progress towards these targets and objectives will be reviewed annually, and the outcomes reported to governors (through SDP review pages)

 

• Relevant outcomes will also be reported to the Local Authority

 

(Please see School Development Plan and Recording and Reporting procedures:

 

• Equalities Plan

 

• Accessibility Plan

 

• Other relevant parts of the SDP, eg. SEN, Attendance, PSHE, RE, Parents in Partnership

 

• Procedures for academic target-setting, monitoring and reporting to LA, Governors and Parents

 

Role of the Co-ordinator

 

The headteacher, supported by the Deputy Head, will ensure that we work together towards the fulfillment of specific aims and objectives set out in this policy.

Staff Checklist for Curriculum Planning purposes.

 

• Be aware of aspects within each topic that are more open to an equal opportunities perspective, and that challenge race, gender, age and physical stereotypes.

 

• Ensure that there is scope within planning and delivery of teaching to cater for the learning needs of all ability levels.

 

• Actively challenge stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination.
• Be willing to take on controversial issues including racism, sexism and homophobia.
• Challenge the absence or distortion of the lives and successes of some groups such as black people, women, people with disabilities, or the disadvantaged.

 

• Show similarities as well as differences.
• When choosing examples use families from a variety of different backgrounds.

 

• Avoid ‘tokenism’.
• Avoid purely touristic, exotic, and decorative views of social or cultural groups: try to demonstrate a true image.

 

• Show the skills of people from different cultural and social groups within Britain to illustrate positive diversity within the British way of life.

 

• Value the social background and identity of the children in the classroom.
• Value the language diversity* of children in the classroom.

 

(In doing this, we must have special regard to the needs of developing bilinguals as they assimilate English as an additional language.

 

We will work closely with EMTAS and other relevant bodies to ensure this)

 

Equalities checklist

 

1. Resource purchase checklist – check presentation of:
   • Ethnic groups
   • Gender roles
   • People of differing abilities
   • Family grouping mix
   • Class
   • Urban/rural living
   • Religious/cultural diversity
   • Authority figures
   • Language groups/scripts

 

in relation to books, posters, home corners, story tapes, music resources.

 

2. Checklist; take our aims into consideration when considering

 

• Positive images
• Classroom groupings
• Activities access
• Diversity of resource collection for topic work (e.g. food)
• Show similarities as well as differences.
• Value and draw upon the language diversity of our pupils.
• Lining up?
• Registers?
• Follow up any complaints re: racist abuse, bullying or intimidation

 

Policy written by: J Lewis

Date of policy: September 2018  Ratified by Governors 01.10.18

Review date: September 2022

Appendix: The Law

It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. These are known as ‘protected characteristics’.

 

Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, e.g. refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics.

 

We expect all our staff to act in a non-discriminating manner and be mindful to avoid actions that will be deemed as harassment in the services we provide to the public and our wider community. It is unlawful to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability. The duty to make reasonable adjustments includes the removal, adaptation or alteration of physical features, if the physical features make it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services. In addition, as service providers, we have an obligation to think ahead and address any barriers that may impede disabled people from accessing the services we provide.

 

Types of unlawful discrimination

 

Direct discrimination is where a person is treated less favourably than another because of a protected characteristic. An example of direct discrimination would be refusing to employ a woman because she is pregnant. In limited circumstances, employers can directly discriminate against an individual for a reason related to any of the protected characteristics where there is an occupational requirement. The occupational requirement must be crucial to the post and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

 

Indirect discrimination is where a provision, criterion or practice is applied that is discriminatory in relation to individuals who have a relevant protected characteristic (although it does not explicitly include pregnancy and maternity, which is covered by indirect sex discrimination) such that it would be to the detriment of people who share that protected characteristic compared with people who do not, and it cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

 

Harassment is where there is unwanted conduct related to one of the protected characteristics (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity) that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity; or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct.

 

Associative discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic (although it does not cover harassment because of marriage and civil partnership, and – according to guidance from the Government and ACAS – pregnancy and maternity).

 

Perceptive discrimination is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed based on a perception that they have a particular protected characteristic when they do not, in fact, have that protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity).

 

Third-party harassment occurs where an employee is harassed and the harassment is related to a protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity), by third parties such as clients or customers. For an employer to be liable:

 

• the harassment must have occurred on at least two previous occasions (although not necessarily by the same harasser or suffering the same type of harassment);

 

• it must be aware that the previous harassment has taken place; and
• it must have failed to take reasonable steps to prevent harassment from happening again. Victimisation occurs where an employee is subjected to a detriment, such as being denied a training opportunity or a promotion because they made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under The Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. However, an employee is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint. There is no longer a need for a complainant to compare their treatment with someone who has not made or supported a complaint under The Equality Act 2010. For example, if a blind employee raises a grievance that the employer is not complying with its duty to make reasonable adjustments and is then systematically excluded from all meetings, such behaviour could amount to victimisation.

 

Failure to make reasonable adjustments is where a physical feature or a provision, criterion or practice puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared with someone who does not have that protected characteristic and the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage.