Lime Walk Primary School

As public bodies, local-authority-maintained schools must comply with the public sector equality duty in the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.  This means the school must publish:

• details of how Lime Walk Primary School complies with the public sector equality duty – this must be updated every year
• Lime Walk Primary School’s equality objectives – this must be updated at least once every 4 years

The Governing Board at Lime Walk Primary School fully understands the principle 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 the groups listed below:

• Age;
• Disability;
• Race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin;
• Sex (including transgender);
• Gender reassignment;
• Maternity and pregnancy;
• Religion and belief;
• Sexual orientation; and
• Marriage and civil partnership (for employees).

Addressing Prejudice Related Incidents

Lime Walk Primary School is opposed to all forms of prejudice and recognises that children and young people who experience any form of prejudice related discrimination may fair less well in the education system. We provide both our pupils and staff with an awareness of the impact of prejudice in order to prevent any incidents. If incidents still occur we address them immediately and keep a log of any:

• Exclusions;
• Pupils taken off roll;
• Behaviour;
• Racist incidents;
• Bullying incidents including homophobic bullying.

Objectives

In achieving compliancy with the Act, objectives are set annually. Detailed below are the school’s current set of overriding objectives.

• All pupils are assessed, monitored and tracked through SIMS.
• Under-achievement is identified and appropriate intervention is applied.
• Pupils are able to participate in a full range of extra-curricular opportunities.
• Pupils respect one another.
• Pupils feel safe and valued.
• Pupils, staff and parents know that misconduct and gross misconduct will be challenged.
• All pupils experience ‘good or better’ lessons.
• No pupils (or their families) are disadvantaged academically, socially or emotionally.
• All staff are mindful of the academic and social needs of all children, especially potentially vulnerable children.
• The SLT are responsible for the collection, analysis and publication of equality data including the recording of prejudice-related incidents.

 
Lime Walk Primary School will make reasonable adjustments to meet the needs of pupils with a disability and implement an accessibility plan aimed at:

• increasing the extent to which everyone can participate in the curriculum;
• improving the physical environment of schools to enable everyone to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided; and
• improving the availability of accessible information to everyone

Lime Walk Primary School’s leaders accept and welcome their responsibility to have due regard in decision-making of the possible implications for pupils with protected characteristics. They will consider equality implications before and at the time that they develop policy and take decisions.

Responsibility

We believe that promoting equality is the whole school’s responsibility.

To eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act, advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it, and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it, the school implements the following measures:

• implementation of policies on equal opportunities for pupils (including race and gender equality, special needs, behaviour and anti-bullying);
• implementation of policies for staff on equal opportunities, recruitment and selection, pay and anti-harassment policy;
• PSHCE, SRE, RE and other elements within the curriculum that promote friendship and understanding about cultures and lifestyles;
• employing specialist staff to support pupils with special needs or disabilities, and implementing the school’s disability access plan;
• monitoring of welfare, with intervention and support where required;
• taking steps to meet the particular needs of pupils or staff that have a particular characteristic
• Hold assemblies dealing with relevant issues.
• Working with our local community. This includes maintaining links with different faith groups.
• Encouraging and implementing initiatives to enhance relationships within and between different groups of pupils. All pupils are encouraged to participate in the school’s activities.
• We are supportive of requests for consideration in relation to religion.

The school’s specific equality objectives

While aiming to improve continuously the implementation of equality related policies and procedures, and ensuring that due regard is taken always of the impact of actions and decisions on pupils and staff with particular characteristics, the school has established the following objectives for the period 2021-2022:

• To narrow the attainment gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils.
• For all disadvantaged pupils in school to make or exceed nationally expected progress rates.
• To support our children’s health and wellbeing to enable them to access learning at an appropriate level.
• To enrich the curriculum with opportunities to celebrate differences
• To ensure staff are up to date with current equality training