Equality Duties and School Objectives

Spring Trust is an ambitious group of schools which seek to educate the whole child and strive for the highest standards of teaching, learning and behaviour in an environment where all children and staff are valued as individuals and their efforts are respected and celebrated.

At Spring Trust schools, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers receiving services from the schools, irrespective of race, gender, disability, faith or religion or socio-economic background. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and are able to participate fully in school life.

The achievement of pupils will be monitored by race, gender and disability and we will use this data to support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching. We will tackle discrimination by the positive promotion of equality, challenging bullying and stereotypes and creating an environment which champions respect for all. At Spring Trust schools, we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here.

Following the publication of the Equalities Act (2010) there are now two kinds of duty that schools must meet: the general, which is the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and the specific duties detailed below. To fulfil the requirements, DfE guidance states that schools should:

• publish information which shows compliance with the PSED and
• publish at least one equality objective.

Information which shows compliance with the PSED

• decision makers in schools must be aware of the duty to have “due regard” when making a decision or taking an action and must assess whether it may have implications for people with particular protected characteristics;
• schools should consider equality implications before and at the time that they develop policy and take decisions, not as an afterthought, and they need to keep them under review on a continuing basis;
• the PSED has to be integrated into the carrying out of the school’s functions, and the analysis necessary to comply with the duty has to be carried out seriously, rigorously and with an open mind – it is not just a question of ticking boxes or following a particular process;
• schools cannot delegate responsibility for carrying out the duty to anyone else.

At Elmstead Wood Primary School we ensure that we adhere to these general duties and we work to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity between different groups and to foster good relations between different groups.  This especially applies to, but is not limited to, protected characteristics. These ensure 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, pregnancy or maternity.

Equality Objectives

The objectives which we identify represent our school’s priorities and are the outcome of a careful review of and analysis of data and other evidence. They also take into account national and local priorities and issues. We evaluate our success in meeting the PSED by the extent to which we achieve improved outcomes for the different groups. We produce Equality data Analysis which inform our discussions about the Equality Objectives.

Our Equality Objectives for 2025 – 2027 are:

• To ensure that all groups make good or better progress across all year groups.
• To continue to ensure children’s social, emotional and behavioural needs are met and consequently children access learning more effectively.
• To continue to enable pupil premium children to access the wider life of the school leading to positive attitudes to learning
• To ensure that each year group is attaining in line with, or above, national averages e.g. In each subject area average performance meets national average.
• To improve the quality of teaching so that all lessons demonstrate a high level of differentiation, challenge and targets adult support.
• To ensure that children with SEN make the same or better progress than their peers as a result of highly intensive support or strategies put in place to enable them to make progress.
• Management information systems to incorporate the recording of all incidents of discriminatory behaviour. This database will provide information to the school to enable it to take action to address any patterns or trends and act promptly and effectively in individual incidents. There will be regular tracking and analysis of data by SLT. The impact of these actions will be evaluated to inform future planning.

Monitoring and reviewing objectives

We will review and update our equality objectives every two years and report annually to the governing body on progress towards achieving them. We involve and consult staff, pupils, trustees and parents and carers.

Our Equality and Diversity Policy can be found under Spring Trust Statutory Policies.