Equality Objectives

The Equality Act 2010 was passed by Parliament to advance equality of opportunity and eliminate discrimination in a variety of contexts and settings; including schools.

In accordance with this Act, Downfield Primary School ensures that all members of the school community are treated equally and fairly without discrimination or prejudice. All visitors in whatever capacity they are at our school in, are treated equally and in accordance with the following elements of the Act:

• Age
• Sex
• Race
• Disability
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation
• Gender reassignment
• Pregnancy or maternity and breast feeding

Objective 1: To promote a sense of identity in all pupils through providing access and education around diversity.

Objective 2: To raise equality awareness with students and staff, ensuring tolerance and respect towards individuals who identify with any of the protected characteristics.

Objective 3: To ensure that the school promotes role models and heroes that pupils positively identify with and who reflect themselves, our school and the wider community.

Objective 4: To provide equal access for the whole school community to services supporting good social, emotional, mental and physical health through our wellbeing hub.

Equality Duty Statement - Downfield Primary School  

It is our mission that Downfield Primary School should be a place where all people thrive – physically, mentally, socially, spiritually and economically.

We will do everything within our powers and resources to make this happen. We will do this with due regard to our responsibilities as a public body incorporating the General duties and specific duties detailed under the Equality Act 2010.

The General Duty requires us to:

Eliminate discrimination, Promote and Advance Equality of Opportunity and Foster Good Relations between people from different groups. We will take action to ensure equality of opportunity and we will work vigorously to combat all forms of discrimination and injustice.

We will celebrate diversity within our school community. We will work to ensure that Downfield Primary School is a strong and vibrant community where everyone feels safe and valued with the opportunity to participate fully in school life. To eliminate discrimination we will:

• Ensure that our inclusion and accessibility policy is available to all stakeholders.
• Actively challenge gender stereotypes and regularly assess differences in gender achievement.
• Offer a culturally diverse curriculum to ensure awareness of different cultural needs and customs.
• Ensure that prompt action is taken for homophobic, racist or sexist comments.
• Respect different religious beliefs and make allowances for these in the curriculum.

At Downfield Primary School we recognise the importance of equality of opportunity for all staff and users of our public service. To promote and advance equality of opportunity we will: · Ensure that every employee is treated fairly at work and will not receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin or any other grounds which cannot be justified.

• Ensure that our recruitment procedures reflect a non-discriminatory base as outlined above.
• We commit to removing disadvantage, meeting needs and encouraging participation with regard to individuals including staff and service users who have protected characteristics documented in the equalities act.

At Downfield Primary School we acknowledge the importance of fostering good relations with all staff and users of our public service. To promote and foster good relations we will:

• Commit to eliminate discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin or any other grounds which cannot be justified.
• Take positive action to enhance the opportunities of those who experience discrimination or disadvantage.
• Use the strength of our partnerships with parents and service users to ensure good relationships continue to evolve and develop. Analysis of our policies and practices with regard to the requirements of the general duty. As a matter of course and with immediate effect we undertake to review all policies and practices using an Equality Impact Assessment tool to ensure due regard is given to meeting the criteria of the General Duty. Our initial analysis of our policies and practices indicate that we are committed to:
• Eliminating discrimination and harassment
• Promoting equality of opportunity
• Promoting good relations and positive attitudes towards all people
• Encouraging participation in public life. Our commitment covers equality on grounds of: age, disability, gender (including transgender), race, religion/belief and sexual orientation. We expect our staff and governors to put in place our commitment and organisational values by:
• Ensuring acceptable behaviour
• Responding to complaints and incidents in a positive and pro-active way
• Providing access to services, facilities and information
• Recruiting and employing people fairly and
• Meeting specific needs.