The Equality Act 2010

At St James's 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.

St James’s Primary School is an inclusive school.  We focus on the well-being and progress of every child and believe that all members of our community are of equal worth.  

The Equality Act requires the school 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.

St James's approach

Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

1. All learners are of equal value
2. We recognise and respect difference
3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging
4. We observe good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development
5. We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that exist
6. We have the highest expectations of all our children
7. As a Catholic school we ground our approach in the Gospel values and strive to achieve the ‘Common Good’
8. We are a Rights Respecting School and have held the Silver Award since 2019

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.

Information on other groups of pupils

In addition to pupils with protected characteristics, we gather further information on the following groups of pupils:

• Pupils eligible for Free School Meals (FSM)
• Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
• Disadvantaged group
• Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL)
• Young carers
• Looked after children
• Other vulnerable groups

► 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; St James's 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.

Eliminating discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act

The information provided here aims to demonstrate that we give careful consideration to equality issues in everything that we do at St James’s Primary School. ‘Due regard’ ensures that we work towards eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act. We are committed to working for equality for all our staff, parents/carers and children to meet our duties under the Equality Act 2010.

We eliminate discrimination by:

• Adoption of the single Equality Scheme
• Our behaviour policy ensures that all children feel safe at school and addresses prejudicial bullying
• Reporting, responding to and monitoring all racist incidents
• Regularly monitoring the curriculum to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our pupils and that it promotes respect for diversity and challenges negative stereotyping
• Teaching is of the highest quality to ensure children reach their potential and all pupils are given equal entitlement to success 
• Tracking pupil progress to ensure that all children make rapid progress, and intervening when necessary
• Ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to access extra-curricular provision
• Listening to and monitoring views and experiences of pupils and adults to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and procedures

Advancing Equality of Opportunity

► At St James's we advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

At St James's we advance equality of opportunity by:

• Using the information we gather to identify underachieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention
• Ensuring participation of parents/carers and pupils in school development
• Seeking feedback from parents/carers
• Listening to pupils at all times
• We advertise roles widely to encourage a diverse pool of applicants to support proportional representation
• Faith provides a common language which enables a dialogue of mutual respect and harmony

Fostering good relations

► At St James's we foster good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

We foster good relations by:

• We are a Catholic school and believe that everyone is made in God’s image and therefore have the right to expression without prejudice.
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum.
• The school has a link governor for equality, inclusion and diversity.

Public Sector Equality Duties 

► At St James’s we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of their protected characteristics and their socio-economic background. 

In order to do this we have set the following objectives: 

1. To ensure that all groups of children have access to and attend extracurricular opportunities
   1. (i) - Diminish the difference in attainment between black children and the all-inclusive group. Whole school there is a notable variance in Greater Depth Reading and Writing, as well as Greater Depth and Expected Maths.                   
   2. (ii) -  SEND Greater Depth: Writing currently at 0% (target 10%), Reading currently 14% (target 20%) and Maths currently 11% (target 20%).
2. To ensure that staff and children are confident in the use of language and discussing the protected characteristics of all members of the St James’s community.

The policy is update every four years and the objectives are reviewed annually by SLT and the Governing Board.

Please follow the link below to view the Equality Policy and Equality Objectives Statement.

https://www.st-james.richmond.sch.uk/policies/