Equality Objectives

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 requires us 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.

Our BWCAT equality statement and objectives can be found here.

St Joseph's Otley is an inclusive school where we focus on the well-being and progress of every child and where all members of our community are of equal worth.

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 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 already exist.

6. We have the highest expectations of all our children.

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

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 Joseph's, Otley. ‘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:

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 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 pupils in school development
Listening to parents/carers
Listening to pupils at all times through surveys, school council, regular pupil voice in all subjects

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 St Joseph's, Otley is part of our local community
Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum and in Collective Worship.

Equality Objectives

At St Joseph's, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background.

The following equality objectives have been set by the Trust Board, all schools within BWCAT are required to adopt the following objectives:

Objective 1:To ensure equality and high standards for all and to tackle under-performance by any particular group.

Objective 2: Undertake an analysis of recruitment data and trends with regard to race, gender and disability, and report on this to the Trust Board and Academy Councils.

Objective 3: To advance equality of opportunity, remove or minimise disadvantage and encourage participation in all activities.