Lindley CE Infant School

Lindley CE Infant School is an inclusive school where the learning and teaching, achievements, attitudes and well-being of every member of our school community matter.

The governors and staff are committed to providing the full range of opportunities for all pupils. The school promotes equality of education for all which includes all the protected characteristics covered under the Equality Act 2010 as well as other aspects which have the potential to discriminate against or to devalue any individuals within our community. All pupils have access to the curriculum, and the right to a learning environment which dispels ignorance, prejudice or stereotyping. 

The Equality Act 2010 identifies nine ‘protected characteristics’, which are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

These are the characteristics where evidence shows that there is still significant discrimination in employment, provision of goods and services and access to services such as education and health.  It is against the law to discrimate against someone because of these characteristics.

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

1. All members of our school community 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 already exist.
6. We have the highest expectations of all our staff and children.

In order to ensure that all children are protected from discrimination, the school collects information on protected characteristics.  In addition to children with protected characteristics, we gather further information on the following groups of children:

Children in receipt of Pupil Premium 

Children with Special Educational Needs                                                                                                                                                                                             

Children with English as an Additional Language                                                                                                                                                                                   

Looked after children                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Adopted children

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, we aim to ensure that any gap in attainment for children 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 Equality Act

The information provided here aims to demonstrate that we give careful consideration to equality issues in everything that we do at our 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
• Recording, responding to and monitoring racist incidents
• Regularly monitoring the curriculum to ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of our children 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 children are given equal entitlement to success
• Tracking pupil progress to ensure that all children make good or rapid progress, and intervening when necessary
• Listening to and monitoring views and experiences of children and adults to evaluate the effectiveness of our policies and procedures

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 underachieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention
• Ensuring participation of parents/carers and children in school development
• Listening to parents/carers
• Listening to children at all times

Fostering good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
We foster good relations by:

• Ensuring that Lindley CE Infant School is seen as a welcoming and supportive place within our local community
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum and ethos of the school

Equality Objectives 2023-2027

At Lindley CE Infant School, we are committed to ensuring equality for all children, staff, parents and carers.  In order to further support children, families and staff, we have set the following objectives:
 
Objective 1:  Increase participation in extra-curricular activities for children with protected characteristics by removing barriers to access.

Objective 2:  Increase diversity within all aspects of the curriculum by providing and promoting role models, challenging stereotypes, and developing pride in being our unique selves.

Objective 3:  Improve systems to effectively monitor and analyse achievement, attendance and safeguarding incidents, and act on any trends or patterns in the data to improve outcomes for children and families.

Objective 4: Develop an environment where all members of the school community, including those with protected characteristics, feel welcome and are treated equally.

Please click here to view our Equality Policy.