Equalities

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.

The Federation of Abbey Schools is an inclusive federation 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:

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

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.

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 Federation of Abbey Schools. ‘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:

• Following the principles of our Equal Opportunities Policy

• 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 Federation of Abbey Schools 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 the Federation of Abbey Schools, 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.

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

• Objective 1: 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.
• Objective 2: To raise levels of attainment in core subjects for vulnerable learners.
• Objective 3: 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.