Equality

Overarching statement

Though our curriculum we teach students to

• Develop and apply an understanding of right and wrong in their school life and life outside school.
• Participate in democracy developing the skills and attitudes to enable them to participate fully and positively in democratic modern Britain.
• Respect the differences of opinion and encouraging the tackling prejudice and promoting community cohesion and understanding of diversity.
• Have an appreciation of theatre, music, art and literature appreciating and responding positively to different cultures.
• Tackle pupil and staff prejudice and respect the equal human rights of all our pupils.
• Ask for respect for the equal rights of our staff and other members of the school community.
• Gain a well-informed understanding of the options and challenges facing them as they move through the school and on to the next stage of their education and training.
• We will consult pupils, parents and visitors to inform us of any due regard for equality of opportunity, fostering good relations and tackling discrimination
• We will comply with relevant legislation and implement school plans in relation to race equality, disability equality and gender equality.

Legal Duties

As a school we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010.The general duties are to:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• Advance equality of opportunity
• Foster good relations between groups

We understand the principles of the act and the work needed to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not discriminated against and are given equality of opportunity.

A protected characteristic under the act covers groups listed below:

• Age (for employees not for service provision)
• Disability
• Race
• Sex (including gender reassignment)
• Maternity and pregnancy
• Religion and beliefs
• Sexual orientation
• Marriage and civil partnership (for employees)

In advancing equality of opportunity:

• We aim to remove or minimise the disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
• We aim to meet the needs of people with certain protected characteristics where these are different from the needs of other people
• We encourage people with certain protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.

In order to meet our general duties, listed above, the law requires us to do some specific duties to demonstrate how we meet the general duties, these are to:

• Publish equality information- to demonstrate compliance with the general duty across its functions. (we will not publish any information that can specifically identify any child)
• Prepare and publish equality objectives

Who is responsible?

The governors are responsible for:

• making sure the school complies with the relevant equality legislation and for
• ensuring that the school Equality Scheme and its procedures are followed.The head teacher is responsible for:
•  
• making sure the school Equality Scheme and its procedures are followed;
• making sure the race, disability and gender equality plans are readily available and that the governors, staff, pupils, and their parents and guardians know about them;
• producing regular information for staff and governors about the plans and how they are working;
• making sure all staff know their responsibilities and receive training and support in carrying these out;
• taking appropriate action in cases of harassment and discrimination, including racist bullying, homophobic bullying and bullying related to gender or disability.All staff are responsible for:
•  
  • dealing with racist, homophobic and other hate-incidents;
  • being able to recognise and tackle bias and stereotyping;
  • promoting equal opportunities and good race relations;
  • avoiding discrimination against anyone for reasons of ethnicity, disability or gender
  • keeping up to date with the law on discrimination;
  • taking up training and learning opportunities. 
  • Visitors and contractors are responsible for
  • knowing, and following, our Equality Scheme.

Race Equality Plan 2020-21

1. Introduction

This plan sets outs how Town End Junior School will work to promote race equality.

This plan addresses our specific duties under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It forms part of our general Equality Scheme and also relates to the Authority Council procedure for reporting racist incidents involving pupils in schools.

2. Ethnic monitoring

• The Census return to the Local Authority records the number of ethnic groups in school twice a year. At Town End Junior School our ethnic composition for 2020/21 is:
  • 97% White British
  • 1% Other white background
  • 0.5% White/Asian
  • 0.5% White/Black African
  • 0.5% Pakistan

• Performance data analysis is carried out through the termly progress review analysis to look at the performance of different ethnic groups in core subjects at the end of year 6. Informal monitoring takes place in other year groups.
• Behaviour logs are reviewed to look for any trends.
• Racist incidents are recorded; Governors are informed and record sheets passed onto the LA.

• When policies are reviewed they are monitored to ensure the school is meeting its duty with regard to promoting Racial Equality.    
• 3. Impact Assessment The following policies/plans have been assessed in regard to the general duty under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000:Standard Operating Procedures. All other policies are to be assessed over the next three years as part of the review cycle set out in the Protocol on Policies   
• 4. Action Plan to address the General Duty to promote race equality

	Actions	By whom	Start	Finish	Evidence that it is completed
I.        Promote equality of opportunity	Analysis of results in Eng and Maths for Y3-5  Group and cohort tracking includes analysis of EAL and Non EAL pupils in each year group. Pupil questionnaires	LJW	March 2020	Report to governors March 2021 SIC	Analysis shows no attainment gap between ethnic groups June 2020All pupils feel that they are treated equally and have access to same resources to achieve well.No differential in achievement of non-White pupils.
II.        Eliminate racist harassment	Closely monitor behaviour log and lunchtime books daily Ensure any incidents are dealt with in line with Behaviour policy	LJWSenior MDS	March 2020	March 2021	2020-211 racist incident recorded, reported to Governors in Dec 2020.2016-17No racist incidents reported this current school year.2015-161 racist incident reported to governors July 20152014-151 racist incident recorded, reported to Governors in July 2014 and DCC2012-14No incidents recorded
III.        To promote racial equality through Anti-bulling week curriculum activities	Assemblies Black History Month Anti-bullying week planning / Audit Celebration Holocaust day Curriculum plans	LJWAll class teachers	March 2020	March 2021	Assembly planningSchool displays – Anti-bullyingJewish assemblies – parent visitAnti-bullying week focus this year – Diversity.Focus: Students to develop awareness of and respect for diversity in relation to, for example, gender, race, religion and belief, culture, sexual orientation and disability.

5. How information gathered is used

The information gathered as a result of the action plan and the general monitoring of policies will be used to review the above action plan. The information will be fed back to the school governors and staff to raise awareness of any potential issues and actions undertaken.

6. Staff development

The continuing professional development of all staff is an essential tool for school improvement. Needs to be met though a range of strategies, including courses, mentoring and visits to other schools. Governors are an essential part of our school and their CPD needs with regard to Race Equality will be monitored at Resources Committee meetings.

7.   Annual reporting in relation to the Action Plan, linked to the School Improvement Plan will occur both at a staff level and in the Headteacher’s report to Governors in each term.

8. The next race equality plan in Spring 2021  will build upon this plan’s actions, the results of monitoring, and other information. 

Disability Equality Plan 2020-21

1. Introduction

This plan sets outs how Town End Junior School will work to promote disability equality. A person is disabled if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.

This plan addresses our specific duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005. It forms part of our general Equality Scheme and also relates to our Accessibility Plan.

2. Involvement of disabled people

The Headteacher wrote the scheme. Disabled people were involved in its formulation by offering any interested colleagues, Governors and parents with a disability the chance to form a working party to write the scheme and discuss issues. The Headteacher wrote the plan with the support of the Chair or Governors, the Senior Leadership Team and the members of the Parents’ Forum.

3. Impact Assessment

The following policies/plans have been assessed in regard to the general duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs 2014 and Disability Act 2010

Technology

Standard Operating Procedures

Health and well being

Human, Social and Environmental awareness.

4. Action Plan to address the disability equality duty

5. Accessibility Plan

	Actions	By whom	Start	Finish	Evidence that it is completed
i. Improvements in access to the curriculum	Teachers of children with disabilities to audit differentiation and curriculum provision to ensure inclusion. Other colleagues e.g. Hearing impairment to support this audit	LJW External providers Speech and language Hearing impairment Visual impairment Educational Psychologist	March 2020	March 2021	2020-21Pupil with Dwarfism – DCC physical impairment service completed successful audit June 2020Coat pegs, steps in bathroom and adapted chair meets access needs.  2 Pupils diagnosed hearing impairment and staff Requested visit from Hearing support serviceInformation shared and Classroom environment monitored by SLTHealth care plan completed
ii. Physical improvements to increase access to education and associated services	Parent questionnaire about physical access	LJW	March 2020	ongoing	No current concerns about physical improvements.Parent comments pupil peg areas safer and more accessible by allConcerns accessibility  toilet reported not working properly.
iii. Improvements in the provision of information in a range of formats for disabled pupils	Use of yellow/ green coloured paper for pupils with dyslexia type difficulties.Information display boards e.g. for clubs at low level	Teachers	March 2020	ongoing	2020-21Larger print for a pupil to complete SATS papers2016-17Consideration for the SEND Local offer report being taped on website for parents.2015-16Pupils active strategies for Dyslexia2014-15No issues relating to communication reported

6 . How information gathered is used

Information for this scheme has been gathered from staff meetings, Parent Forum Meetings and Governors Meetings. Any points raised have been acted on by the Premises Manager and Headteacher.

7. Staff development

The continuing professional development of all staff is an essential tool for school improvement. Needs to be met though a range of strategies, including courses, mentoring and visits to other schools. Governors are an essential part of our school and their CPD needs with regard to disability Equality will be monitored at Resources and School Improvement Committee meetings.

8. Annual reporting in relation to the Action Plan, linked to the School Improvement Plan, will occur both at a staff level and in the Headteacher’s report to Governors in each term

9. The next disability equality plan in Spring 2022 will build upon this plan’s actions, the results of monitoring, and other information.

Gender Equality Plan 2020-21

1. Duties

This plan sets outs how Town End Junior School will work to address the General Duty to promote gender equality.

This plan addresses our Specific Duties under the Equality Act 2010.

2. Impact Assessment

The following policies/plans have been assessed in regard to the schools’ duties under the Equality Act 2010

Technology

Standard Operating Procedures

Health and well being

Human, Social and Environmental awareness.

3. Action Plan to address the Gender Equality Duty

	Actions	By whom	Start	Finish	Evidence that it is completed
i. Eliminate unlawful sex discrimination	Application forms to ask for initials only	Resources Committee	ongoing	2020-21 staff balance5 Male teachers – 5 female teachers Male and female applicants considered and shortlisted from all applications.
iii. Promote equality of opportunity between men and women	Ensure senior positions equally promoted to both men and women when jobs arise International Woman’s day	Resources Committee  All staff	Ongoing	2015-16Headteacher Female,Deputy Headteacher FemaleLearning Mentor FemaleSEND FemaleSLT Equal Male and Female staffCelebration of high attaining famous femalesAssemblies
iv. Promote equality of opportunity between boys and girls.        Ensure no differential between the attainment and progress of girls and boys	Ensure options for single gender sports teams in year 5/6 to give equal access to competitive sports – as well as mixed gender teams  Monitoring of girls’ and boys’ attainment and progress in each year group for key skills Monitor attendance and exclusions of groups of pupils to analyse any trends in any specific group of pupils.	PE leader Y5/ Y6 staff SLT Playleader – lunchtime activities  LJW TeachersSLT	Ongoing           PESSEach assessment time     Ongoing