ENSURING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND PARTICIPATION
EQUALITIES-SCHEME-2023 -2025
St Mary’s will ensure that:
o All staff are aware of the school’s Equality Plan;
o Pupil achievement is monitored by race, gender and disability and any trends or patterns in the data that may require additional action to narrow the gap are addressed;
o Disabled children can take part in all aspects of the curriculum, including educational visits and journeys; lunchtime activities; PE and dance and assemblies;
o Extended school activities take into account pupil needs and access issues and pupils attending reflect the diversity of the school population in terms of race, gender, disability and socio-economic status;
o Staff, children, parents and carers will continue to be involved in the future development of the Equality Plan through input and feedback from surveys, staff meetings, school council meetings etc.
St Mary’s will provide:
o Extra and additional support for pupils who are under-achieving, in order to make progress in their learning and their personal well-being, e.g. ensuring that children with visual impairment have accessible texts; that children with hearing impairment have an enhanced acoustic classroom environment;
o Additional support for parents of under-achieving children (e.g. reporting progress; discussing needs);
o Additional support for disabled parents/carers and staff to help them to play a full part in the life of the school (e.g. providing a sign interpreter for a deaf parent; ensuring that meetings are held in the most accessible parts of the school to support wheelchair users).
PROMOTING POSITIVE ATTITUDES AND MEETING NEEDS
St Mary’s will:
o Promote positive images which reflect the diversity of the school and country in terms of race, gender and disability, for example in assemblies, books, publications and learning materials and in classroom/corridor display.
o Help children and young people to understand others and value diversity;
Provide reasonable means for children, young people, their friends and families to interact with people from different backgrounds and build positive relationships, including links with different schools and communities;
o Provide opportunities for children, families and the wider community to take part in activities and receive services which build positive interaction and achievement for all groups;
o Support disabled children in the period of transition between primary and secondary school to ease the stress of moving and increase familiarity with new surroundings;
o Promote shared values, awareness of human rights and how to apply and defend them;
o Develop skills of participation and responsible action, e.g. through PSHE
ELIMINATING DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT
St Mary’s will:
o Support staff to challenge and address any bullying and harassment that is based on a person’s race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or socio-economic status;
o Keep a record and report how these incidents are dealt with to the governing body and local authority on a termly basis;
o Review its approach to race, gender and disability bullying and harassment whenever it reviews its anti-bullying policy.
Protected Characteristics
The Equality Act 2010 aims to prevent discrimination. It is illegal to discriminate against people based on nine protected characteristics:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- race: can refer to colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins
- religion or belief: can refer to religious or philosophical beliefs, including a lack of belief
- sex: refers to a person’s gender
- sexual orientation
No form of discrimination is tolerated at St Mary’s CE Primary & Nursery School, but it is particularly important that children are taught about these protected characteristic groups and the importance of showing respect to people within these groups.
We address this in a number of ways, such as through our carefully timetabled assemblies that address respect and tolerance. We also ensure that our curriculum is planned and delivered in order that children learn about these protected characteristics in an age appropriate manner. Please see our Character Education (PSHE) progression document below which shows the different PSHE topics that include teaching of these protected characteristics across the school.
Character-Education-Progression-Document
SEND – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
If you’d like to read more about how we deal with SEND at our school, you can do so on our SEND page.
SEND Page
British Values & The Prevention of Radicalisation
BRITISH VALUES
The Department of Education have recently reinforced the need “to create and enforce a clear and rigorous expectation on all schools to promote the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.”
The Government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy, and these values have been reiterated by the Prime Minister this year. At St Mary’s these values are reinforced regularly and in the following ways:
Democracy
At St Mary’s democracy is taken very seriously. Children are actively encouraged to have a voice and share their views and opinions regularly. Our active school council is one such example. Every September we have an election week when the candidates for class representatives on the school council pitch their election manifesto to the rest of their class. A secret ballot ensues and the results are announced in a special assembly. The children love this process and have great respect for the outcomes. The school council representatives (2 per class) meet every month then take the ideas from the meeting back to their classes for discussion.
Every child also contributes their ideas to the composition of their own class expectations every year. Whole school rules for conduct establish the standards of behaviour children can expect from each other over the year ahead and across their time in school.
Governors also talk regularly to children to establish their views as a way of ensuring that school self-evaluation is robust and accurate, and therefore effective in moving the school forward.
The Rule of Law
The importance of laws, whether they be those that govern the class, the school, or the country, are consistently reinforced throughout the school day, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through school assemblies. Children are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. Our schools rules – ‘Be ready, respectful and safe’ are displayed in all classrooms along with rewards and sanctions. These are referred to regularly and consistently upheld are a practical example of this.
Visits from authorities such as the Police and Fire Service help reinforce this message.
Individual Liberty
Within school, children are actively encouraged to make decisions and choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. As a school we educate and provide boundaries for young children to take risks and make choices safely. Children are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our E-Safety and PSHE lessons. Whether it be through choice of learning challenge, how they record their learning, participation in one of our extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, children are given the freedom to make choices and make decisions.
Mutual Respect
As a Church of England School, mutual respect is at the heart of our values. Children learn that their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the school community treat each other with respect.
Tolerance of Those of Different Faiths and Beliefs
St Mary’s is situated in an area which is not culturally diverse, therefore we place a great emphasis on promoting diversity with the children. Assemblies are regularly planned to address this issue either directly or through the inclusion of stories and celebrations from a variety of faiths and cultures. Our RE and PSHE teaching reinforce this. Each year the children explore a world faith alongside their learning about Christianity. By the time they leave us all children have learnt about the beliefs and practices of people of the following world faiths; Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes and the school.
At St Mary’s we will actively challenge children, staff or parents expressing opinions contrary to fundamental British Values, including those expressing ‘extremist’ views.
PREVENTING RADICALISATION AND EXTREMISM
Radicalisation is defined as the act or process of making a person more radical or favouring of extreme or fundamental changes in political, economic or social conditions, institutions or habits of the mind.
Extremism is defined as the holding of extreme political or religious views.
The Governing Body of St Mary’s has a zero tolerance approach to extremist behaviour for all school community members. We rely on our strong values to steer our work and ensure the pastoral care of our children protects them from exposure to negative influences.
St Mary’s is fully committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all its children. As a school we recognise that safeguarding against radicalisation is no different from safeguarding against any other vulnerability. At St Mary’s all staff are expected to uphold and promote the fundamental principles of British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect, and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.
• Children are encouraged to adopt and live out our Core Values. These complement the key “British Values” of tolerance, respect, understanding, compassion and harmonious living.
• Children are helped to understand the importance of democracy and freedom of speech, through the SEL (Social, emotional aspects of learning) assemblies and through the elected School Council members
• Children are taught how to keep themselves safe, in school and when using the internet.
• Children participate in local community events so that they appreciate and value their neighbours and friends who may not share their faith background.
• Children’s wellbeing, confidence and resilience is promoted through our planned curriculum and extra curricular learning opportunities.
• Children are supported in making good choices from a very young age, so they understand the impact and consequences of their actions on others.
Preventing terrorism risk assessment
THE ROLE OF THE CURRICULUM
Our curriculum promotes respect, tolerance and diversity. Children are encouraged to express themselves through discussions, debates and consultations. The RE (Religious Education), PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education), Citizenship and SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) provision is embedded across the curriculum, and underpins the ethos of our school. Children learn about all major faiths and visit places of worship wherever possible. They are also taught about how to stay safe when using the internet.
We want to enable our children to become well-rounded individuals. We recognise the importance of resilience in preventing children being drawn into extremist ways of thinking. Although serious incidents involving radicalisation have not occurred at St Mary’s to date, it is important for us to be constantly vigilant and remain fully informed about the issues which affect the region in which we teach. Staff are reminded to suspend any professional disbelief that instances of radicalisation ‘could not happen here’ and to refer any concerns through the Child Protection/ Safeguarding Lead Teachers.