ArkwrightEquality Statement
We are committed to the development of cohesive communities both within our school's physical boundaries and within our local, national and global environments. Our school embraces the aim of working together with others to improve children's educational and well-being outcomes. You can view our Equality information and Objectives here *This document is reviewed annually.
The school aims to foster good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it by:
- Promoting tolerance, friendship and understanding of a range of religions and cultures through different aspects of our curriculum. This includes teaching in RE, citizenship and personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education, but also activities in other curriculum areas. For example, as part of teaching and learning in English/reading, pupils will be introduced to literature from a range of cultures
- Holding assemblies dealing with relevant issues. Pupils will be encouraged to take a lead in such assemblies and we will also invite external speakers to contribute
- Working with our local community. This includes inviting leaders of local faith groups to speak at assemblies, and organising school trips and activities based around the local community
- Encouraging and implementing initiatives to deal with tensions between different groups of pupils within the school. For example, our school council has representatives from different year groups and is formed of pupils from a range of backgrounds. All pupils are encouraged to participate in the school’s activities, such as sports clubs. We also work with parents to promote knowledge and understanding of different cultures
- We have developed links with people and groups who have specialist knowledge about particular characteristics, which helps inform and develop our approach.
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 or treat them less favourably because of their sex (gender), race, disability, religion or belief, gender reassignment, sexual orientation or pregnancy or maternity.
The Act introduced requires all schools to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty and two specific duties.
Public Sector Equality Duty requires us a school to:
Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation Advance equality of opportunity between different groups
Foster good relations between different groups
The Two “specific duties” requires us to:
-Publish information to show compliance with the Equality Duty
-Publish Equality Objectives at least every 4 years which are specific and measurable
The action plan and statement demonstrate these two specific duties.
We recognise that these duties reflect international human rights standards as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998.
Equality Statement:
Our Equality Statement is based on the principles above and aims to ensure that:
‘All pupils and members of staff at our School are provided with opportunities to fulfil their potential whatever their sex, race, colour ethnic or national origin, marital status, age, sexual orientation, disability or religious belief.’