Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy | Shawclough Community Primary School

Single Equality &

Community Cohesion Policy

Date agreed: June 2017

Reviewed: January 2022

Next review: January 2025

If your preferred language is not English, or for those who are blind or partially sighted, please contact us on 01706 647991 to make arrangements to help you with this document.

Contents

Foreword from Rochdale MBC

Introduction

Local and School Context

Specific Equality Areas: Definition / Our Commitment / Our achievements / Our aims and objectives –

Disability
Gender
Gender Reassignment
Pregnancy and Maternity
Race
Religion or Belief
Sexual Orientation

Community Cohesion

Publishing and raising awareness

Specific Duties

Monitoring

Links with other school policies

Roles and Responsibilities

Breaches of the policy

Foreword

Rochdale MBC aims to be recognised as a leader of diversity and equality in its work and as an example of good practice in the delivery of services and employment. This Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy for Rochdale’s schools reflects this ambition and outlines the activities which will deliver this.

Equality of opportunity and social inclusion issues will ensure that all school communities can truly benefit from and contribute to the improvements we are making, which will bring long-term and positive benefits for Rochdale Borough. Therefore the school’s Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy will require ownership by Governors, senior leaders, all staff, the school community and the pupils in order to succeed.

This policy serves essentially two purposes:

1. To set out a school’s overall commitment to equality and community cohesion in one central document for past, present and prospective pupils. The Policy therefore contains the school’s approach to all relevant protected characteristics of: Disability, Gender, Gender reassignment, Pregnancy and maternity, Race, Religion or Belief, Sexual orientation; and

2. How the school will manage, plan and include its Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy within its day to day work.

Schools also have obligations as employers and a service provider against the protected characteristics of Age and Marriage and Civil partnerships. These obligations are not covered in this framework as this policy is concerned with a school’s obligations to its pupils (mainly present and prospective pupils and where relevant former pupils and staff). Separate policy guidance covering recruitment and employment is available from Schools Personnel team and the Local Authority.

This Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy will help schools ensure that they focus more on the outcomes that matter to pupils, community and people who use their services; and that their services are more accessible and delivered effectively. This policy provides a framework for the school to eliminate prohibited conduct, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations in a proactive way.

The Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy is based on the Equality Act 2010.

Much of what is required of schools is already being carried out by them. The main new provisions in the Equality Act 2010 are:

new disability discrimination provisions (direct disability discrimination, indirect disability discrimination and discrimination arising from disability)
new protected characteristics:
new positive action provisions

Schools also have a “specific duty” to publish information around their equality objectives in an accessible manner.

Finally, as schools are already aware, avoiding discrimination and promoting equality supports the agenda of improving attainment and progression for all pupils. Good education and skills are crucial for opening up opportunities and increasing the chance of a successful life. Furthermore, Equality and Community Cohesion is an important part of OFSTED inspections through the Quality of Teaching judgement (Spiritual Moral Social & Cultural element) and need to be considered at all time.

For more information contact

Yasin Khan, Equality & Community Cohesion Officer, Early Help & Schools Service

Email: yasin.khan@rochdale.gov.uk

Introduction

There were a number of statutory duties that the school was required to meet prior to the Equality Act 2010. As such, with the implementation of this act and the harmonisation of previous legislation, this policy will refer to the Equality Act 2010 and its various provisions as the legislative framework through which this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy will operate.

In the development of this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Shawclough Community Primary School has moved from a focus on an individual response to an approach that builds on disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation considerations from the start and at every level of the school, at strategic, policy, management and classroom level. We will demonstrate what we have done and what we plan to do to improve opportunities and outcomes for pupils, staff, parents and other users of the school. This policy will be monitored and delivered through the governors’ role, School Improvement and Self Evaluation process.

We will ensure that every pupil irrespective of the protected characteristics is able to achieve high standards and that strategies are in place to tackle under–achievement. We will ensure that every pupil has access to the necessary support required to enable them to achieve their highest potential. We will ensure that the school’s procedures for disciplining pupils and managing behaviour are fair, effective and equitable.

Our intention is to ensure that the adults working or volunteering in the school include as much as possible a balanced representation of the local and wider community. We believe that this will provide good role models for pupils from all backgrounds.

This Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy will be linked to a joint action plan which sets out how we intend to implement the policy over the next three years.

Shawclough Community Primary School sees this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy as a living document and we will continuously review the action plan in consultation with pupils, staff, parents, carers, governors and all other stakeholders where possible. We believe they need to be involved from the very start and their involvement will inform the preparation, development, publication, review and reporting of the policy and action plan to ensure that we meet the needs of people from different backgrounds.

Local and School context

Population:

Rochdale Borough population in 2015 was estimated to be 214,195; 49% Male and 51% Female.

The breakdown of age population is; 21% are under 16, 63% are between the ages of 16 and 64, and 16% are 65 & over. There are 134,650 residents of work age population (16 to 64).
Older people aged 65 & over represent 34,300 of the Borough’s population; 4,200 are aged 85 & over and 1,470 are aged 90 & over.
There are 93,000 households across Rochdale Borough (2015 Mosaic Profile). Of these, 5,691 are occupied by young families (under 35) with a further 29,239 by older families (aged 36-65). Older people households make up 23,153 households, representing 25% of all households in Rochdale.
5,311 households are occupied with no adults in employment with dependent children. (2011 Census)
There are 26,609 households with one or more person with a limiting long-term illness (30.4%) (2011 Census)

Ethnicity, Identity, Language & Religion (Census 2011):

The ethnic breakdown of the Borough currently has a majority of 78.6% White British, with the second largest population being Asian or Asian British Pakistani, representing 10.5%.
Rochdale has the second largest population of Kashmiri residents across England & wales, occupying 1,658 residents, with Luton UA being the largest.
5% of residents do not identify with having any UK national identity, this compares to 8% in England & wales.
Rochdale has 3,402 households (3.9%) where no people in the household have English as a main language, similar to Oldham (4.5%) and Bolton (4.6%).
The largest groups for Religion in Rochdale are 60.6% Christianity, 13.9% Muslim and 18.9% reporting no religion.

Health:

Life expectancy in Rochdale is lower than the England average with males expected to live to the age of 77.2 and females 80.7.
The biggest contributors to the gap in life expectancy between the borough and England are circulatory disease for males and cancer for females.
Lifestyles and unhealthy behaviours are a major issue in the borough, smoking prevalence is high (22%), as are levels of excess weight in adults (69.7%).
23,260 carers across Rochdale provide unpaid care, with 6,105 providing 50 or more hours per week.

Education & Qualifications:

In 2016 63% of pupils achieved a good level of development at the end of the early year’s foundation stage (age 5).
51% of pupils reached the expected standard at Key Stage 2 (Level 4 & above in reading, writing and maths), just 1% below the national comparator.
56% of pupils achieved 5+A*-C including English and maths in 2016 when leaving secondary school.
A high proportion of borough residents have no qualifications (13.9%) and just 66.1% have at least NVQ Level 2 qualifications.

Labour Market & Out of Work Benefits

The employment rate for 16-64 year olds in the borough is 61.7%, which is lower than regional and national averages. 7.3% are unemployed and 67.5% are economically active
Of those who are economically inactive, 13,100 are long-term sick (30.2%) whilst 11,600 (26.8%) want a job.
There are 15,200 workless households in the borough, containing an estimated 7,000 children.
There are 21,800 total benefits claimants in Rochdale Borough (May 2016), representing 16.2% of the working age population. ESA and incapacity benefits have the largest number of claimants (12,390).

School Context:

Shawclough Community Primary School situated in the town of Rochdale Borough in Rochdale and has 450 pupils on roll, aged between 3 and 11.

Shawclough is a larger than average primary school situated in the north east of Rochdale. The school serves a multi-racial community, approximately 50% of its pupils are from an ethnic minority whose family tradition and heritage is mainly Pakistani. During the last few years, the percentage of ethnic minority pupils has shown a steady increase. Currently nineteen different languages are spoken in school. Shawclough is a multi-faith school – Islam and Christianity are the two main faiths, with a small number of Hindus. However, a significant number of families report no faith background and, as a result Muslim is the predominant faith group within school. Currently 57% of Nursery children are in the bottom 30% IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation). Whole school figures are 33% and rising as deprivation is becoming more widespread in Rochdale. We have 84 children identified on the Special Education Needs register, 8 of which have Statements/EHC Plans, all of which are accessing Disability support.

Girls to Boys ratio is approximately 50:50.

Our current staff are a mixture of male and female, but predominantly female. We have staff who are designated disabled. Our staff are culturally and ethnically mixed, as are our Governing body. Within our staff, we have 4 identified religious beliefs. We have not requested information about gender reassignment, sexual orientation or marriage/civil partnership.

Specific Equality Areas

Disability

What do we mean by Disability Equality?

We recognise that a person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.

Our commitment

Shawclough Community Primary School is committed to promoting an ethos that safeguards the dignity and well being of everyone and encourages practices that take into account the rights of individuals to be treated with dignity and respect. We will not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment and victimisation directed at anyone because of their disability.

This Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy incorporates our commitment and actions on disability equality. It demonstrates our commitment to addressing disability equality in our decision making and the delivery of education.

We are committed to promoting equality of opportunity for disabled pupils, staff and other users of our services so they can have equal access to all our school and its services. This policy is a statement of our commitment and shows clearly how we will work over the next three years to achieve our goal.

We will continue to review our policies, practices and procedures so that they do not adversely affect anyone because of their disability. By also building this into our curriculum, working and procurement processes we will expect others to do the same.

Our achievements

We are currently supporting staff and children with disabilities.

Our Aims and objectives

We have identified a number of specific actions designed to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people. We have committed to:

Any further curriculum based activities to raise awareness and improve understanding of disability issues amongst pupils and staff.
Any auxiliary aids required to be purchased to ensure disabled pupils have fair access to lessons.
Any strategies to attract or assist disabled people to be represented on a range of partnership bodies, including Governing bodies, senior management team etc.
How you have involved disabled people in the development of the policy.
How you plan to improve equal opportunities for disabled employees.

Gender

Shawclough Community Primary School is not a single sex school.

What do we mean by Gender Equality?

We recognise that a person’s gender refers to the fact that they are male or female. In relation to a group of people, it refers to either men or women or to boys or girls.

Our commitment

We recognise that stereotypes exist for both genders and some can lose opportunities because of these stereotypes and welcome the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 with specific provision for Gender Equality and we will give due regard to the need to:

Eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment on the grounds of gender, including domestic violence, sexual violence, bullying and exploitation.

Promote equality of opportunity between women and men in all of our functions.

Our Aims and objectives

We have identified a number of specific actions designed to promote positive attitudes towards disabled people. We have committed to promoting an ethos that safeguards the dignity and well-being of all.

Gender Reassignment

What do we mean by gender reassignment?

We recognise that a person may express their gender in a way that differs from or is inconsistent with the physical gender that they were born with.

Our commitment

We understand gender reassignment does not necessarily require a medical process to be undertaken and that a person will be protected because of gender reassignment if they:

Make their intention known to someone at the school
Start to behave or dress according to the gender they identify with
Undergo treatment such as surgery or hormone therapy
Have already received gender recognition under the gender recognition act 2004

The school will also respect the confidentiality of those seeking gender reassignment and will provide a supportive environment within its school community.

Pregnancy and maternity

What do we mean by pregnancy and maternity?

Treating a woman (or a female pupil of any age) less favourably because she is or has been pregnant, has given birth in the last 26 weeks or is breastfeeding a baby who is 26 weeks or younger.

Our commitment

We will also seek to make arrangements for female pupils or staff to ensure that they are not treated less favourably because they are pregnant or breastfeeding.

We will not discriminate against a pupils or staff in absences related to pregnancy and maternity.

Race

What do we mean by Race Equality?

The school adopts the definition of Race as outlined in the Equality Act 2010 as one of the protected characteristics which refer to a group of people defined by their race, colour, and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins.

Our commitment

Shawclough Community Primary School is committed to promoting an ethos that safeguards the dignity and well being of everyone and encourages practices that take into account the rights of individuals to be treated with dignity and respect. We recognise that race discrimination, harassment and victimisation may be experienced by all in a number of ways, including day-to-day interaction with fellow pupils, staff and visitors.

The School also recognises that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic pupils and staff may experience discrimination on the basis of race, colour, nationality and ethnic origin. This discrimination can manifest itself in all areas of their lives and can have serious consequences in terms of damaging people emotionally and physically and limiting life choices and opportunities.

The school and governing body does not tolerate any form of race discrimination which it recognises is unacceptable, discriminatory and unlawful, and is proactive in ensuring that people whatever their race, are treated fairly. This commitment is consistent with the significant progress that the school has already made in this area.

We will comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 with regard to Race Equality.

Religion or Belief

What do we mean by Religion or Belief equality?

A Religion or belief refers to a religious and/or philosophical belief including lack of belief (e.g. Atheism). A religion must be identifiable and have a clear structure or belief system. A belief need not include faith or worship of a god or gods, but must affect how a person lives their lives or perceives the world (e.g. Humanism)

Our commitment

Shawclough Community Primary School is committed to promoting an ethos that safeguards the dignity and well-being of everyone and encourages practices that take into account the rights of individuals to be treated with dignity and respect.

Faith-based hate crime has been a new phenomenon in recent years, developing a character that is distinct from race hate crime. We recognise that discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of religion and/or belief or non-belief may be experienced in a number of ways, including day-to-day interaction with fellow pupils, staff and visitors.

The school seeks to eliminate all forms of discrimination and prejudice based on religion and/or belief or non-belief, either direct or indirect, and is committed to treating staff, pupils and others fairly, regardless of their religion or belief and will not condone unfavourable treatment on this basis.

We will comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 with regard to religion or belief and any incidents of bullying, harassment and/or victimisation on the grounds of religion and/or belief or non-belief will be taken seriously and could provide grounds for disciplinary action that may lead to dismissal or exclusion from the school.

Our aims and objectives

We will be promoting activities that celebrate our common experience as well as those that recognise diversity generally and foster understanding and respect for the religion or belief of all pupils and their families.
We will be encouraging pupils and their families of all religion or belief groups to participate fully in all aspects of school life.
We will be countering myths and misinformation that may undermine good community relations.

Sexual Orientation

What do we mean by sexual orientation equality?

The school uses the definition as outlined in legislation as sexual orientation meaning a person's sexual orientation towards:

persons of the same sex
persons of the opposite sex, or
persons of either sex

The school extends the definition of this protected characteristic of sexual orientation to include:

references to a person who is of a particular sexual orientation, or
references to persons who share the same sexual orientation

Our commitment

The School will combat discrimination faced by lesbians, gay and bisexual (LGB) people. We want to ensure equality of opportunity for LGB people across our curriculum provision, services and employment.

We will respect the rights of individuals to be open about their sexual orientation, tackle homophobia, challenge stereotyping and improve knowledge about LGB communities, both internally and to the community as a whole.

The school recognises the need to protect pupils and staff from unlawful discrimination and harassment on grounds of sexual orientation as required by the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation). We are committed to taking a pro-active approach to preventing all forms of homophobia within the school and will assess the impacts of our policies, functions and procedures on promoting sexual orientation equality as part of our Equality Impact Assessment processes.

We will deal with complaints of discrimination and harassment speedily and according to Local Authority Guidance and notify complainants of the outcome and actions taken.

Community Cohesion

What do we mean by Community Cohesion?

Shawclough Community Primary School adopts the Department for Education definition of community cohesion to mean working towards a society in which:

There is a common vision and sense of belonging by all communities the diversity of people's backgrounds and circumstances is appreciated and valued

Similar life opportunities are available to all, and

Strong and positive relationships exist and continue to be developed in the workplace, in schools and in the wider community."

Our commitment

For a number of years, we have been committed to promoting community cohesion as part of the response to the legal duties outlined in previous legislation.

We understand that Community Cohesion is the process that should happen in all communities to ensure that different groups and individual people get on well together. It should also allow for new communities and existing communities to adapt and integrate with one another.

The school will promote community cohesion within a number of dimensions including:

the school community
the community within which the school is located
the community of Britain
the global community.

Community cohesion is about relations within and between communities. The Government says that:

“Every school – whatever its intake and wherever it is located – is responsible for educating children and young people who live and work in a country which is diverse in terms of culture, faith, ethnicity and social backgrounds. Through their ethos and curriculum, schools can promote a common sense of identity and support diversity, showing pupils how different communities can be united by common experiences and values”.

Community cohesion is about working towards a society in which

there is a common vision and sense of belonging within all communities
the diversity of peoples’ backgrounds is appreciated and valued
similar life opportunities are available to all
strong and positive relationships exist and are developed in the workplace, schools and the wider community.

School can make its contribution to community cohesion through three main areas:

Teaching, Learning and the Curriculum

By creating a curriculum which values diversity, while emphasising common values.

Promoting an awareness of human rights and responsibilities.

Equality and Excellence

Providing equal opportunities for all to succeed. Track pupils’ progress and use outcomes to organise provision for all to succeed.

Engagement and Extended Services

Bringing people from the community to work with children. Actively involving parents from different backgrounds
Providing extended services for family learning e.g. Parenting sessions
Providing opportunities for children to interact with others from different schools
Maintaining strong links with local agencies
Ensuring that pupil voice is heard.

Safeguarding & Building Resilience

Shawclough Community Primary School is fully committed to safeguarding the welfare of all children and young people by taking all reasonable steps to protect them and build resilience in accordance with the DfE guidance.

This commitment is in line with our school’s current Safeguarding and Child Protection policy and applies to all adults, including volunteers, working in or on behalf of the school.

Preventing Radicalisation

The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 places a duty on specified authorities, including local authorities and childcare, education and other children’s services providers, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism (“the Prevent duty”). Young people can be exposed to extremist influences or prejudiced views, in particular those via the internet and other social media. Schools can help to protect children from extremist and violent views in the same ways that they help to safeguard children from child sexual exploitation, drugs, gang violence or alcohol.

The Prevent strategy aims to protect vulnerable people from being drawn into terrorism. While it remains rare for children and young people to become involved in terrorist activity, young people from an early age can be exposed to terrorist & extremist influences or prejudiced views. We recognise that as with other forms of safeguarding strategies, early intervention is always preferable. Our school is committed to working with other local partners, families and communities, and we will play a key role in ensuring young people and their communities are safe from the threat of terrorism.

We also recognise that our School has a duty of care to our pupils and staff which includes safeguarding them from the risk of being drawn into terrorism. Being drawn into terrorism includes not just violent extremism but also non-violent extremism, which can create an atmosphere conducive to terrorism and can popularise views which terrorists exploit. Prevent can work within both violent and non-violent extremism arenas and can include topics such as hate crime, racism, bullying, on line safety and extreme political views.

Our School is committed to:

Establishing a single point of contact in terms of safeguarding.
Assess risk of students being drawn into terrorism.
Develop an action plan to reduce the risk.
Train staff to recognise radicalisation and extremism.
Refer vulnerable people to Channel.
Prohibit extremist speakers and events.
Manage access to extremist material- ICT filters
Be confident about British Values

We recognise that some young people, who are vulnerable to extreme views, may find it difficult to develop a sense of self worth and to view the world in a positive way. We also recognise that their behaviour may be challenging at times, and that some may cause offence or harm to others.

We will therefore always take a considered and sensitive approach in order that we can support all of our pupils by

providing a safe environment for children and young people to learn and develop in our school setting, and
identifying children and young people who are particularly vulnerable to extreme views / radicalisation, and taking appropriate action in accordance with the schools Safeguarding procedures with the aim of making sure they are kept safe both at home and in our school setting.
making appropriate referrals to the Local Authority for early intervention and support where necessary
ensuring that staff member(s) or governor(s) responsible for safeguarding are kept fully aware of their responsibilities, by attending relevant training and briefings
letting staff, parents and pupils know how to voice their concerns
responding to any allegations appropriately in accordance with appropriate school policies and procedures

Policy reviewed June 2017 following completion of Prevent Duty training for all staff.

Publishing and raising awareness

We recognise that our Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy is a public document that should be available to any interested stakeholder.

Specific Duty

Under the Equality Act 2010, we recognise that from April 2012, as a school, we also have a “specific duty” to:

Publish sufficient information to demonstrate compliance with the general equality duty every four years, with an action plan review on at least an annual basis. This can include information on the effect that our school policies and practices have on protected groups.

We will also

Prepare and publish equality objectives in an accessible manner, to meet one or more aims of the general equality duty, and supporting the local authority in publishing relevant information to demonstrate compliance where necessary.

Monitoring and evaluating the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Action Plan

We will regularly monitor and evaluate the implementation of our Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Action Plan. We will report annually on our progress and performance. Our annual report will be shared with Governors and our School Improvement Partner. A summary will be provided for parents and published in our prospectus. Both will explain how the full report can be obtained. We will inform staff and pupils of our progress.

The findings of our annual report will be used to update the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Action Plan and inform subsequent Equality and Community Cohesion Policies

We want this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy to be a ‘whole organisational’ document that drives forward equality and achieves improved outcomes. We will therefore ensure that the Action Plan is an integral part of our School Improvement Plan, and as such, our progress will have regular oversight by the senior leadership team and the governing body.

Information and data, both quantitative and qualitative, will be used to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the action plans including information on the school population, workforce recruitment, retention and progression, special initiatives, progress at key stage levels and targets and future plans will be reported on to ensure effective monitoring.

We will formally review, evaluate and revise this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy and Action Plan every three years, to set new priorities and identify new actions. This process will again involve staff, pupils, parents and governors who reflect the full diversity of the school community.

The school has a procedure in place for recording, reporting and responding to racist incidents. The school will continue to comply with the Local Authority procedure for monitoring racist incidents so that the information can be analysed. This procedure is outlined fully in the guidelines for schools in combating and recording racist incidents.

Links with other school policies

School policies that link with, and have informed this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy include:

School Inclusion and SEN policy
Racist Incident policy
Bullying and harassment policy
Admissions policy

Roles and responsibilities

This Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy and Action plan outlines the roles and responsibilities of everyone involved and connected with the school, so that each individual knows what is expected of them. Promoting equality and preventing discrimination, victimisation and harassment is the responsibility of the whole school staff, including support staff. All who are associated with the school have a responsibility for promoting equality and community cohesion, and avoiding unfair discriminatory practices.

The Governing body will:

Ensure sure the school complies with all current equality legislation.
Monitor the implementation of the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Community Cohesion and Action Plan to check progress and assess impact on staff, pupils and parents
Ensure that all governors are aware of their legal responsibilities under equality legislation
Receive and discuss regular equality and community cohesion reports on progress and performance
Monitor achievement of equality targets
Check that implementation of the Policy and action plan achieves improved outcomes for equality and community cohesion and people who share an aspect of their identity in relation to the protected characteristics of disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
Monitoring equality impact assessments
Support the Head teacher in implementing any actions necessary
Inform and consult with parents about the policy
Have one governor who takes on the role of designated governor responsible for equality and community cohesion monitoring the policy closely.

The Head teacher will:

Provide proactive leadership to create a community that recognises and celebrates difference within a culture of respect and cooperation
Ensure staff, pupils, parents/carers and any other interested stakeholders are aware of this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy, their roles and responsibilities in implementing it, and receive training and support in carrying these actions out.
Monitor to ensure effective implementation of the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy Action plan
Provide regular reports for governors on progress and performance
Allocate appropriate responsibilities, and provide suitable training and development for staff to implement this policy
Assess and monitor the impact of the policy through developing the action plan
Making sure the policy is readily available and that the governors, staff, pupils and their parents know about it
Taking appropriate action in any cases of victimisation, harassment and discrimination in line with the school and LA guidance
Report racist incident monitoring information to the LA on a termly basis
Produce a report on progress for governor on an annual basis

The Senior Leadership Team will:

Drive forward implementation of the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy and Action Plan
Support staff to carry out their role in implementing this policy
Provide effective leadership on equality, inclusion and community cohesion
Ensure the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy is successfully promoted
Respond in a timely and appropriate manner when dealing with any incidents or issues of discrimination, victimisation or harassment.
Assist in implementing reviews of the Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy as detailed in the School Improvement Plan
One member of the senior management team will be identified as the co-ordinator for equality and community cohesion and will be involved in action planning, policy development and monitoring and evaluation

All Staff will:

Recognise that they have a role and responsibility in their day-to-day work to:
- promote equality, inclusion and good community relations
- challenge inappropriate language and behaviour
- tackle bias and stereotyping
- respond appropriately to incidents of discrimination, victimisation and harassment and report these
Highlight to the senior leadership team any staff training or development that they require to carry out the above role and responsibilities.
Promote an inclusive curriculum and whole school ethos which reflects our diverse society
Reviewing and monitoring curriculum policies and planning in their own subject areas to ensure that equality is promoted

All Staff will also ensure that pupils are encouraged to:

Recognise that they have a role and responsibility to themselves and others so that they understand and are able to:
- promote equality, inclusion and good community relations
- challenge inappropriate language and behaviour
- tackle bias and stereotyping
- work to promote anti-bullying strategies
- respond appropriately to incidents of discrimination, victimisation and harassment and understand the action needed to report these.
Work within the Rights and Responsibilities framework we have adopted as Rights Respecting School

Administrative, Ancillary, Supervisory and Support Staff

All staff will familiarise themselves with this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy and know what their responsibilities are in ensuring that it is implemented

All our Pupils are responsible for:

Treating others kindly and fairly without prejudice, discrimination, victimisation or harassment
Attending and engaging in their own learning as well as helping other pupils to learn
Learning to treat each others with respect and report incidents of discrimination to an adult
Working within the Rights and Responsibilities framework we have adopted as Rights Respecting School

All our Parents and Carers are responsible for:

Supporting our school in its implementation of this Single Equality and Community Cohesion Policy
Following the school policy through their own behaviour
Ensuring their children attend and engage in the learning
Inform staff about any prejudice related incidents that occur

Visitors and contractors are responsible for:

Knowing and following our equality policy.

Breaches of the Policy

Breaches of this Single Equality & Community Cohesion Policy will be dealt with in the same way that breaches of other school policies are dealt with, as determined by the Head teacher and Governing Body.

If a member of the public feels that they have suffered harassment or been treated unfairly by the school because of their age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marital status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief or sexual orientation, they should report this without fail through the School’s complaints procedure.

Complaints by staff will be dealt with under the Grievance or Dignity at Work Policies, as appropriate. Monitoring complaints is also another way of gathering information to see whether we are meeting our equality duties. We will report annually on complaints made and action taken as part of monitoring the Single Equality