Equality and Diversity
At St Barnabas CE Primary School we embrace and celebrate difference and diversity. Our highly diverse school, which reflects the diversity in both our local community and wider Warrington area, offers a warm and caring environment, rooted in Christian values and with a strong history of cultural diversity, where children thrive and are supported to become the best they can be. Our children have extremely high standards of behaviour and are very respectful of one another. We are highly inclusive, and our aim is that every child leaves our school as a happy and confident young person, with high aspirations and a love of learning that will stay with them throughout their life.
The Equality Act 2010 introduced a Single Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) that applies to all public bodies including maintained schools.
Under the terms of the Equality Act the school has a general duty to show that it has ‘due regard’ to:
- Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act
- Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
- Fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
To further the general duty the Government also introduced new specific duties, which require schools to: publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the Public Sector Equality Duty, and prepare and publish equality objectives.
The document below sets out our position regarding these duties.
Vision for Equality & Diversity
At St Barnabas, we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background by:
- Eliminating discrimination and harassment.
- Valuing diversity and promoting positive relationships.
- Providing an inclusive education which enables all pupils to develop their full potential.
- Developing a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and ability to participate fully in school life.
- Respecting everyone and their views.
- Having high aspirations, for our children, families and school community.
- Understanding others and treating each other respectfully.
- Championing our school at every opportunity.
- Valuing our health and wellbeing and looking after each other.
- Meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010
We tackle discrimination through the positive promotion of equality, by challenging bullying and stereotypes and by creating an environment which champions respect for all.
At St Barnabas, we believe that diversity is a strength, which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit us.
Equality in Teaching and learning
We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We do this by:
- Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society.
- Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping.
- Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice.
- Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures.
- Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education.
- Utilising teaching approaches appropriate for the whole school population which are inclusive and reflective of our pupils.
Our Protected Characteristics
PROMOTING THE NINE PROTECTED CHARACTERISTICS:
The Equality Act became law in 2010. It covers everyone in Britain and protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Everyone in Britain is protected. This is because the Equality Act protects people against discrimination because of the protected characteristics that we all have. Under the Equality Act, there are nine Protected Characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Marriage or civil partnership
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
- Pregnancy and maternity
Under the Equality Act you are protected from discrimination:
- When you are in the workplace
- When you use public services like healthcare (for example, visiting your doctor or local hospital) or education (for example, at your school or college)
- When you use businesses and other organisations that provide services and goods (like shops, restaurants, and cinemas)
- When you use transport
- When you join a club or association (for example, your local tennis club)
- When you have contact with public bodies like your local council or government departments
The 9 Protected Characteristics are actively promoted in our school through:
- Our school vision
- Our school Christian values
- Our St Barnabas Curriculum
- PSHE curriculum
- Religious Education
- Our school Good Behaviour Policy
- Conscious role modelling by all adults in the school community
- Active engagement and communication with parents and carers
- Collective Worship and Celebration Worship
- British Values, SMSC and Equality and Diversity throughout our curriculum
- Promoting oracy through the teaching of sentence stems, building appropriate language and a coherent vocabulary
- Cultural capital – our 5E Enrichment offer
- Pupil Voice and wide range of leadership opportunities
- Extra-curricular activities, after-school clubs, charity work and work within the local community
Embedding Protected Characteristics into the whole school ethos promotes:
- Self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-confidence
- Respect for democracy and support for participation in the democratic process
- Acceptance of responsibility for their own behaviour
- Respect for their own and other cultures
- Understanding of how they can contribute positively to school and home life and to the lives of those living and working in the locality and further afield
- An understanding of Equality, Human Rights and Protected Characteristics
- An understanding of how citizens can influence decision-making through the democratic process
- An appreciation that living under the rule of law protects individual citizens and is essential for their wellbeing and safety
- An understanding that the freedom to choose and hold other faiths and beliefs is protected in law
- An acceptance that other people having different faiths or beliefs to oneself (or having none) should be accepted and tolerated, and should not be the cause of prejudicial or discriminatory behaviour
- An understanding of the importance of identifying and combating discrimination
Please see link below for more information on Protected Characteristics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4MWVEAww2g