ST COLUMBA’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL


SINGLE EQUALITY SCHEME STATEMENT

Single Equality Scheme

St Columba’sCatholic Primary School

Date agreed by Governors Dec 2015

Review Date Dec 2017

Single Equality Scheme Statement

ST COLUMBA’S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

MISSION STATEMENT

Our school works with families, parishes and the community to provide all our children with opportunities which will help them grow in the knowledge and love of God and each other.

We will help them to develop as a whole person by providing a curriculum which will embrace the individual needs of all pupils.

This will be done within a Catholic setting which seeks to follow the love and teachings of Jesus Christ.

“I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full”

(John 10 : 10)

The school strives in partnership with parents and the wider Catholic community to:-

ST COLUMBA'S CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL AIMS

The practice of the Roman Catholic faith is fundamental in the whole life of the school and with this in mind the following aims have been drawn up:-

To help children in their human and spiritual growth to become independent,

self-motivated and self-disciplined.

To create a praying community where children and staff deepen their knowledge and love of God and express it in prayer, daily life and their relationship with each other.

To develop the partnership of home, school and parish. To prepare the children for a life where they can make best use of their skills at work and in their leisure time.

To develop an awareness of the relationship of all creation to God through an understanding of the world in which they live and its cultures. To be concerned for the future of the environment.

To develop a curriculum in which children acquire the basic tools of learning in which they develop enquiring, imaginative and creative minds.

To create and maintain an environment in which children enjoy learning and where care and respect for others, particularly those with special needs, is evident.

To prepare them for adult life by developing a sense of responsible freedom and the ability to question rationally and make sound choices.

To develop a wide range of physical skills and an understanding of the need for a

healthy life style.

To develop aesthetic awareness and participate in creative arts.

The religious and secular elements of the curriculum should not be separate and the message of Christ should be reflected in every aspect of school life and work.

All children should be helped to be aware of and celebrate the achievements and talents of themselves and each other.

Reviewed and amended by the Governors March 2016

This Single Equality Scheme is intended to respond to the teachings of Jesus as well as being in line with the Equality Act 2010. All decisions in school are evaluated in line with all groups to check there is no discrimination.

This goes beyond the school’s statutory duties to promote race, gender, disability equality and community cohesion and extends to the legislation protecting against discrimination on the grounds of age, sexuality and religion or belief. Race, gender, disability, sexuality, age and religion/belief are known as the six equality strands.

The Scheme aims to integrate equality into the school’s core priorities and functions.

This Single Equality Scheme will inform our School Development Plan as this will enable us to:

  • Demonstrate how promoting equality and eliminating discrimination can help raise standards
  • Ensure that equality and diversity are part of the school’s core business both as a school and as an employer
  • Ensure that our priorities for raising standards support our equality objectives
  • Inform the overall evaluation of our effectiveness in our self-evaluation for our future
  • Ensure that our equality objectives complement the Every Child Matters outcomes for children.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the enforcement body for equalities legislation and can serve the school with a Compliance Notice it fails in its specific duties under the Acts.

What do we mean by Equality and Diversity?

Equality refers to outcomes, making sure that all social groups benefit equally from our activities. Diversity recognises that we can only achieve equality by taking into account the different needs of communities. Equality is impossible to achieve without recognising diversity.

What is discrimination?

Discrimination is a type of negative treatment that affects a whole group of people, or an individual because they belong to a group.

Direct discrimination is when a person is treated less favourable than others because of their (real or perceived) ethnicity, disability, age, sexuality, religion/belief or gender.

Indirect discrimination is when there are rules or procedures that have the effect of discriminating against certain groups of people. In the case of St Columba’s Catholic Primary School the Governors will act in accordance with the tenants of the catholic religion.

The scheme applies to Governors, staff, pupils, parents/carers and visitors all of whom are aware of the ethos of the school and how it supports this equality scheme. Any extended services offered by the Governors of the school or by other providers will be expected to comply with the scheme. During the school year the Governors will show commitment to the scheme by finding ways to evaluate the practice of the school and will use a variety of ways (questionnaires, interviews, observation) to seek the views of stakeholders.

The scheme will be shared with pupils through areas of the curriculum including;

  • RE scheme of work
  • PSHE
  • SEAL

And through other means including;

  • Assemblies
  • Attitude of staff
  • Visitors to the school (eg Give Racism the Red Card)
  • Specific events in school to support the scheme
  • Disability awareness – Kepplewray and links with George Hastwell Special School

The scheme will be shared with parents/carers using the school website (copy available on request) and placing a copy of the scheme on the noticeboard.

The scheme will be shared with members of staff by placing a copy on the server for members of staff to read and comment on.

Profile of our school

At present there are 198 pupils on roll at St Columba’s Catholic Primary School. . There are few pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds

3 White and Black African, 2 White and Black Caribbean, 1 Other White Background.

See current raise on line for changes

We aim to help all children live life to the full.

Parents/carers feel able to ask for additional support and consideration at appropriate times eg reserving seats at the Christmas play.

Over recent years the school Governors have made reasonable adjustments to the building to improve access including;

  • Disabled toilet for adults to use
  • Decoration to aid visual perception (door frames painted a different colour to doors)
  • Reminders to parents that they can ask for written communications in other forms
  • Requests for additional information on disability so that the school can respond better to needs.

Race Equality Policy

Legal requirements

This Scheme incorporates all of our duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Our duties fall into two parts, a General Duty and a Specific Duty. The General Duty applies equally to all schools and other organisations that provide employment, services and goods. For a Specific Duty, we have to show what we are planning to do to meet the General Duty.

The General Duty for race equality requires us to:

  • Eliminate unlawful racial discrimination.
  • Promote equal opportunities.
  • Promote good relations between people of different racial groups.

The Specific Duty for race equality requires us to publish a Race Equality Scheme that highlights how the school will:

  • Prepare a written statement of the school's policy for promoting race equality, and act upon it
  • Assess the impact of school policies and procedures on pupils, staff. parents and the wider community, including, in particular, the impact of attainment levels of these pupils
  • Monitor, assess and review the attainment level of black and minority ethnic pupils and act accordingly
  • Make information available and accessible to all groups
  • Train and support all school staff and governors to understand race equality and the practical implications for the school and its community
  • Take reasonable steps to make available the results of its monitoring on an annual basis

All groups of children, in fact all children in school are monitored and supported. All schools are required to record any racial incidents and report them to the Local Authority regularly. We would use the electronic reporting system provided by Children's Services to do this if incidents occur and to provide a termly summary. We would also respond appropriately to any racial incidents that happen in school, linked to the school’s Behaviour and Discipline policy, and to provide teaching and learning opportunities to respond to pupils’ needs.

Ofsted will inspect and report on whether we are meeting the general and specific duties.

What are the key issues for our school?

Key staff to engage in race equality training provided by the L.A., Diocese and in house to ensure they are updated on the duties of schools and the sharing of good practice.

What impact have we already had on race equality in our school?

  • The school curriculum routinely covers different cultures especially R.E, literacy, geography, PSHE, MFL and citizenship
  • The school works closely with CDEC and our Barrow Multi Cultural Community
  • The school welcomes visitors from diverse ethnic backgrounds whenever possible and over time.
  • The school is very involved in raising funds for Monze in Africa and invites guest speakers to make this relevant and real. We are also working towards becoming a Fair Trade school and use this as another vehicle for discussions about equality
  • School celebrates diversity and appreciates difference and this is implicit in the school ethos and in everyday practice.
  • School deals with any racist comments/incidents seriously
  • Currently the school has two children with English as an additional language. They are supported as appropriate in order to access the curriculum and are tracked carefully.
  • CIT taking a lead on teaching parents about racism.

Disability Equality Policy

Legal Requirements

This Scheme incorporates our duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.

The school’s duties fall into two parts, a General Duty and a Specific Duty. The General Duty applies equally to all schools and other organisations that provide employment, services and goods. For a Specific Duty we have to show what we are planning to do to meet the General Duty.

The General Duty for disability equality requires us to:

  • Promote equality of opportunity for disabled pupils, staff, parents/carers and other school users
  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination
  • Eliminate harassment of disabled people
  • Promote positive attitudes to disabled people
  • Encourage participation by disabled people in public life
  • Take into account a disabled person’s disability even if it means treating the disabled person more favourably

The Specific Duty states that we must implement the General Duty by publishing a Disability Equality Scheme which:

  • Includes a three year action plan
  • Involves disabled pupils and other disabled people in all stages of the scheme
  • Carries out Equality Impact Assessments of policies and procedures to make sure that disabled people are not being treated unfairly
  • Publish the results of these Equality Impact Assessments
  • Report annually on the progress of the action plan

Social and medical models of disability

One of our key goals is to challenge the view that the inequality faced by disabled people is down to their medical ‘problems’.

The medical model has fed negative stereotypes held by non-disabled people such as:

  • Focusing only on what a person cannot do.
  • Making assumptions about what is best for the disabled person.
  • Thinking that disabled people lack intelligence.
  • Feeling embarrassed among disabled people.
  • Bullying and harassing disabled people.

The social model focuses on the social environment and how it causes

some people to be disabled:

With thanks to Stockton-on-Tees for diagram

What is a disability and how many disabled people are there in the UK?

Disability is any condition that affects a person in their day to day life. This

can happen suddenly, for example as a result of an accident, or gradually as a result of a condition such as arthritis.

In the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) this is called an impairment. The DDA now recognises around 400 impairments including:

  • Mobility impairments (requiring aids such as sticks or wheelchairs to move about).
  • Sensory impairments (hearing or sight loss).
  • Mental ill health (including depression, stress, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia).
  • Cognitive developmental impairments (including learning disabilities, dyslexia, and autism).
  • Muscular impairments (including spinal injuries).
  • Asthma
  • Cancer
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Phobias
  • Arthritis
  • Acquired brain injuries.

Reasonable adjustments

The school is required to improve access to the curriculum, our buildings and our other services to disabled people. This also means that we need to take a proactive stance and anticipate what we may need in the future for disabled users.

Accessibility Plan

Please see attached.

Recruitment and Retention of disabled staff

Our school welcomes a diverse workforce and we wish for an ethos where potential and existing staff feel able to disclose any impairment that they have. This is not just for data collection purposes, but in order for the school to make any reasonable adjustments for this member of staff. All disclosures will be treated sensitively and confidentially.

Disability and special educational needs

Not all pupils who are defined as disabled will have special educational needs. For example, those with severe asthma or diabetes may not have SEN but may have rights under the DDA. Similarly, not all children with SEN will be defined as having a disability.

What are the key issues for our school?

  • Under the definition of the DDA the school has 4 disabled pupils on roll, including those with hearing impairments dyslexia or other learning disabilities. It has 26 children with Asthma.
  • We must ensure that ALL pupils, including those mentioned above, are given every opportunity to participate in every aspect of school life including extra-curricular activities, residential trips, school trips and in positions of responsibility
  • We must encourage parents/carers who have a disability to be represented on our PTFA and board of Governors

What impact have we already had on disability equality in our school?

  • St Columba’s Catholic Primary School has ensured that, wherever the limitations of the building permit, we make access possible. All new building work has complied with disability access.
  • All children with a disability presently in the school have their needs met and are able to access the curriculum at a differentiated level
  • Through various curriculum areas e.g. PSHE and R.E, children are taught about and discuss disabilities and how they can affect people’s lives and what we can do to help.

Gender Equality Policy

Legal requirements

This Scheme incorporates our duties under the Equalities Act 2010.

Our duties fall into two parts, a General Duty and a Specific Duty. The General Duty applies equally to all schools and other organisations that provide employment, services and goods. For a Specific Duty we have to show what we are planning to do to meet the General.

The General Duty for gender equality requires us to:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment
  • Promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

The Specific Duty requires us to publish a Gender Equality Scheme which includes:

  • Steps to address the causes of any gender pay gap
  • Collect and use information on gender equality in the school
  • Consult with stakeholders on priorities for gender equality
  • Carry out Equality Impact Assessments
  • Identify priority areas for gender equality
  • Publish a three year action plan and report on it yearly

Staff

The Governors of the school appoint staff on nationally recognised pay scales with agreed pay and conditions. All members of staff have equal opportunities to develop professionally and progress through their individual career schemes and paths, support by senior managers.

All members of staff have a duty to promote gender equality to ensure that their words and actions are in keeping with this duty. All members of staff must ensure that their expectations of pupils, across a wide range of issues, are the same for girls and boys and to avoid stereotyping activities and expectations according to gender.

In some instances it will be necessary to promote some activities to particular groups of pupils to ensure equal participation eg girls only PE and sport clubs to promote physical activity to girls who would otherwise not participate, to encourage boys to participate in creative activities, etc.

Analysis of achievement and attainment at the end of the each school year will be necessary to evaluate how well the school is meeting its duty to promote gender equality. The school tracking system and the Raiseonline report provide opportunities to analyse results.

What are the key issues for our school?

  • That boys and girls are given the same opportunities and are treated equally in all areas of school life
  • That the environment promotes equality – library and class books are not gender stereotyped.
  • That school challenges gender inequality through discussion about our own community and national and international communities.

What impact have we already had on gender equality in our school?