Equality Compliance Information

Equality Information

Number of pupils on roll at the school: 323
Age of pupils: 4 to 11

Information on pupils by protected characteristics

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. Our school cohort is comprised of the following groups:

Gender: 49% male, 51% female

Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM): 201%

Pupils eligible for Pupil Premium Funding – Disadvantaged group: 26%

Pupils with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND): 15.8%

Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL): 1.9%

Young Carers: 0%

Children Looked After & Children Previously Looked After: 0.9%

*Please note we have not published information about ethnicity and race due to the small numbers of children from these groups attending our school, hence rendering it possible to identify these children.

Through rigorous tracking and monitoring of individuals and of all the groups of children, including progress and attainment, and by providing equal opportunities to access the curriculum and activities, we aim to ensure that any gap in attainment for pupils within any of the above different groups is removed, or at least remains less than the gap nationally.

The Equality Act 2010 was introduced to ensure protection from discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the grounds of specific characteristics (referred to as protected characteristics). This means that schools cannot discriminate against pupils, staff, parents and carers or treat them less favourably because of their sex (gender), race, disability, religion or belief, gender reassignment, sexual orientation or pregnancy or maternity.

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.

Bowmandale Primary School is an inclusive school where we place equal value on the holistic development, emotional wellbeing 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 aim to create a prejudice-free environment

Bowmandale Primary School believes that by realising the uniqueness of every individual, a greater level of success from children and staff can be achieved. As a school we are absolutely committed to creating a prejudice-free environment where individuals feel confident, happy and safe.

• We aim to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect.
• We want to make sure that our school is a safe, secure and stimulating place for everyone.
• We recognise that individuals have different needs and we understand that treating people equally does not always involve treating them all exactly the same (equity).
• We have developed an inclusive curriculum that is accessible to all.
• We recognise that some children require extra support to help them to achieve and be successful.
• We encourage an inclusive attitude as well as an understanding and celebration of diversity.
• We make sure that people from all groups are fully involved in decisions, for example through talking to children, our school council, families, governors and school staff.
• We aim to ensure that nobody experiences harassment, less favourable treatment or discrimination due to age; disability; ethnicity, colour or national origin; gender; gender identity or reassignment; marital or civil partnership status; being pregnant or having recently had a baby; religion or beliefs; sexual identity and orientation.

Dealing with prejudice

Bowmandale Primary School does not tolerate any form of prejudice-related behaviour. Whether direct or indirect, we treat discrimination against all members of our school with the utmost severity. If an incident be reported, our school is absolutely committed to ensuring that appropriate action is taken at all times.

Equality in our curriculum

We are committed to providing a balanced and inclusive curriculum. We aim to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions in order to ensure that children learn to become more accepting and inclusive of others. Through our comprehensive PSHE and RSE framework, challenging and controversial concepts are delivered in a way that prevents discrimination and instead promotes inclusive attitudes.

The equality duty supports good education and improves pupil outcomes. It helps us as a school to identify priorities such as underperformance, poor progression and bullying. It does this by requiring us to collate evidence, take a look at the issues and consider taking action to improve the experience of different groups of pupils. It then helps us to focus on what can be done to tackle these issues and to improve outcomes by developing measurable equality objectives.

At Bowmandale Primary School we have rigorous systems for monitoring educational standards and challenging any underperformance; our responsibility in this equality duty is scheduled as part of this rigorous process.

Promoting equality of opportunity

Under the Equality Act 2010, we are also required to have due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations. This includes steps we are taking to tackle disadvantages and meet the needs of particular individuals and groups of pupils.

• We are aware of the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 that it is unlawful to discriminate, treat some people less fairly or put them at a disadvantage.
• Where applicable our policies make explicit that we aim to give careful consideration to equality issues and as policies are reviewed in line with the monitoring cycle they will be edited to reflect this requirement
• We keep an accurate record, when possible and appropriate, of the protected characteristics of our pupils and employees at whole school and year group levels
• We analyse our data to ensure we act upon any concerns in relation to the protected groups and this is reported termly to Governors through our School Self Evaluation Framework and School Development Plan
• We record any racist or homophobic incidents and act upon any concerns and report this to the LA and the Governing Board on a termly basis
• We give due regard for equality issues in decisions and changes we make.
• We have a special educational needs policy and SEND Information Report that outline the provision the school makes for our children with special educational needs. These documents are updated annually.
• We provide guidance to all staff in relation to dealing with bullying and harassment incidents.
• We deal promptly and effectively with all incidents and complaints of bullying and harassment that may include online bullying and prejudice-based bullying related to disability or special educational need, ethnicity and race, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy or maternity, religion and belief and sexual orientation. We keep a record of all such incidents and notify those affected of what action we have taken and importantly monitor the impact our provision has had.

An inclusive approach

We are committed to working for the equality of people with and without special educational needs and disabilities:

• Our school admissions criteria welcomes all pupils.
• Feedback from our teaching and learning questionnaire shows that our children with additional needs are happy in school.
• We provide good quality training for our staff on inclusion.
• When required, we gain external advice and support from many different professionals.
• We aim to promote positive links and communicate regularly with our parents.
• Specific targeted support is provided where appropriate, in accordance with the school’s graduated approach to need.
• We continually liaise and work in partnership with a number of professional organisations.
• A wide range of resources is stored in an easily accessible central location.
• We work with local nurseries and secondary schools to ensure that transfer into and from our school is effective and as smooth as possible.
• We enable all pupils to learn about the experiences of disabled people and the discriminatory attitudes they often experience.
• We ensure that the curriculum and resources we use have positive images of disabled people.
• Effective, positive relationships with parents, school and home working in partnership to support the child.
• Effective inclusion of children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Equality and dignity in the workplace

This information describes how the Governing Body of Bowmandale Primary School intends to fulfill its responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty with regard to its workforce. We will have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality 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 those who do not share it.

Bowmandale Primary School does not discriminate against staff with regards to their:

• Age
• Disibility
• Gender reassignment.
• Marital or civil partner status.
• Pregnancy or maternity.
• Race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin.
• Religion or belief.
• Sex or sexual orientation.

Equality of opportunity and non-discrimination extends to the treatment of all members of the school community. All staff members are obliged to act in accordance will the school's various policies relating to equality. We will guarantee that no redundancy is the result of direct or indirect prejudice. All disciplinary procedures are non-prejudicial, whether they result in warnings, dismissal, or any other disciplinary action.

Equality information

We will collect and use equality information to help us to:

• Identify key issues.
• Understand the impact of our policies, practices and decisions on people with different protected characteristics, and thereby plan them more effectively.
• Assess whether there is unlawful discrimination when carrying out any of our functions.
• Identify what the key equality issues are for our organisation.
• Assess performance
• Benchmark our performance and processes against those of similar organisations, nationally or locally.
• Consider taking steps to meet the needs of staff who share relevant protected characteristics.
• Identify if there are any actions we can take to avoid discrimination and harassment, advance equality of opportunity or foster good relations.
• Make informed decisions about policies and practices which are based on evidence about the impact of our activities on equality.
• Develop equality objectives to meet the specific duties.
• Have due regard to the aims of the general equality duty by ensuring that staff have appropriate information for decision-making

Prejudice is not tolerated at Bowmandale Primary School and we are continuously working towards a more accepting and respectful environment for our school community.

Equality, Diversity and Accessibility Documents