Equality Statement

Public Sector Equality Duty

We welcome our general duty under the Equality Act 2010, which requires us to publish information that demonstrates that we have due regard for the need to:

• Eliminate 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 across all protected characteristics, and between people who share a protected characteristic* and people who do not share it

This information is reviewed and updated annually.

At Honley CE (VC) Junior, Infant and Nursery School we prepare our children for the future to enable them to make a positive contribution to society by:

• Providing a safe and distinctive Christian ethos where we value diversity and the unique qualities of individuals.
• Removing barriers to learning so that all members of our school community achieve and flourish.
• Providing a stimulating and empowering curriculum and environment which will deliver excellent achievement and a thirst for lifelong learning.
• Valuing each person’s contribution and achievement so that they feel a sense of pride and see themselves as successful.
• Encouraging everyone to care for themselves, others and their surroundings with a sense of belonging and stewardship.
• Promoting independent thinking and developing the capacity to be creative and resourceful.

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 tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups, take steps to meet different needs and encourage participation.

Information on pupils and groups of pupils

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination on the basis of protected characteristics.

In addition to this, we gather further information on the following groups of pupils:

• Pupils eligible for Free School Meals
• Pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
• Disadvantaged group
• Pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL)
• Young carers
• Children in Care
• Pupils at risk of exclusion
• Other vulnerable groups

End of KS2 SATS 2023 – number of children reaching expected standard

There are no significant under-performing ethnic groups. The Mixed White British and Caribbean consisted of two children, but as neither attained expected standards in any subject, this will be a group that we monitor in other cohorts.

Progress and attainment of children in receipt of Pupil Premium funding and SEN children made significantly less progress than their peers and attained less. These two groups are focus groups for our school development plan for next year.

Through rigorous tracking and monitoring of individuals and of groups of children, including progress and attainment, and by providing equal opportunities to access the curriculum and activities, we aim to ensure that any gap in attainment or progress for pupils within any of the above different groups is reduced.

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 Honley Junior Infant and Nursery School. 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:

• Our Relationships, Behaviour and Anti-bullying policy ensures that every member of our school community should have an equal opportunity to achieve his or her full potential
• Reporting, responding to and monitoring all racist incidents
• Reporting, responding to and monitoring all online incidents and sharing information with parents/carers to raise awareness and help prevent online safety incidents
• Regularly monitoring the curriculum to ensure it meets the needs of all our pupils and that it promotes respect for diversity and challenges negative stereotyping
• Ensuring teaching is of the highest quality to ensure all pupils have an equal and fair chance to thrive and learn in an atmosphere of respect and dignity
• Tracking pupil progress to ensure that all pupils make progress, intervening where necessary
• Ensuring that all pupils have the opportunity to access extra-curricular provision
• Carrying out risk assessments for every trip to ensure access for all pupils
• Listening to and monitoring views and experiences of pupils and adults to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and practice

Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic*  and people who do not share it

We advance equality of opportunity by:

• Using the information we gather to identify under-achieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention
• Benchmarking our performance and processes against other similar schools and national data
• Ensuring the participation of parents/carers and pupils in school development
• Reviewing and updating the Accessibility policy every year
• Listening to parents/carers
• Listening to pupils

Fostering good relations across all characteristics

We foster good relations by:

• Working with the community and placing the school as a learning community at the heart of it
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum (teaching, resourcing and support) and in collective worship

Equality Objectives

In order to further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we have set the following objectives:

1. To increase understanding and awareness of other non-British cultures within our community
2. To diminish the difference in progress of children with SEN to those without
3. To diminish the difference in progress of children in the disadvantaged group to those not in the group

Other information linked to show how the school has embedded its commitment to meet the equality duty:

• Relationships, Behaviour and Anti-bullying policy
• School development plan
• Accessibility Plan
• Health and Safety policy
• Online Safety policy
• Curriculum maps
• Governing body minutes
• School newsletters
• Results of parent and pupil surveys
• Equality policy
• PSHE policy
• Mental Health and Wellbeing policy
• Other school policies