Birstwith CE Primary School

As a church school,  Birstwith CE School fosters a welcoming, caring, stimulating and secure environment which encourages development in all aspects of children’s growth individuals. The nurturing of all within the school based on Christian values of tolerance, care, concern and forgiveness enables the broadening of horizons and the development of children’s all round potential. Through our Christian values and ethos, we provide a welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone is cherished and where all flourish.

The Equality Act (2010) was introduced to combine the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Race Relations Act 1976 and Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Previously public bodies were bound by these three sets of duties to promote disability, race and gender equality. In April 2011 these were replaced by a single public sector equality duty (known as the PSED or the equality duty). This new duty extends to all the aspects of a person's identity that are protected under the Equality Act 2010. These are known as protected characteristics and are:

• age

• disability

• gender reassignment

• marriage and civil partnership

• pregnancy and maternity

• race

• religion or belief

• sex

• sexual orientation

General duty

Public bodies including schools and settings have a general duty to have due regard when making decisions and developing policies, to:

- Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct that is 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 across all protected characteristics – between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Specific duty

To help schools and maintained EYFS settings in England meet the general equality duty, there are two specific duties that they are required to carry out. These are:

- To publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the equality duty.

- To prepare and publish one or more specific and measurable equality objectives.

Roles and responsibilities

The Governing Board will:

• Ensure that the equality information and objectives as set out in this statement are published and communicated throughout the school, including to staff, pupils and parents, and that they are reviewed and updated at least once every four years
• Delegate responsibility for monitoring the achievement of the objectives on a regular basis to the Executive Headteacher who will endeavour to ensure the objectives remain relevant and up to date.

The Executive Headteacher will ensure that:

• Knowledge and understanding of the equality objectives are promoted amongst staff and pupils at Birstwith CE School
• Monitor success in achieving the objectives and report back to the governors​

Staff will ensure that:

• Teaching and learning takes this policy into account
• Diversity will be recognised as a positive, rich resource for teaching, learning and the curriculum at Birstwith CE School.