EQUALITY & DIVERSITY POLICY

At Barnby Road Academy we believe in developing the whole child. We aim to equip children with the knowledge, skills, and attitude necessary to attain high levels of achievement and for all children to be able to make ambitious choices about their future lives.

Everything we do is underpinned by our mission statement ‘Achieve our best’.

Barnby Road Academy wants to be recognised as a school at the heart of the community, providing an inclusive, safe, caring and stimulating environment in which to learn. 

‘Respect’ is a key value shared by the Barnby Road Community.

Equality Statement 

At Barnby Road Academy, we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and ability to participate fully in school life.

We tackle discrimination through the positive promotion of equality, by challenging bullying and stereotypes and by creating an environment which champions respect for all.

At Barnby Road Academy, we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit us.

Equality in Teaching and learning

We provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement. We do this by:

• Ensuring equality of access for all pupils and preparing them for life in a diverse society
• Using materials that reflect the diversity of the school, population and local community without stereotyping
• Promoting attitudes and values that challenge any discriminatory behaviour or prejudice
• Providing opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture and celebrate the diversity of other cultures
• Seeking to involve all parents in supporting their child’s education
• Utilising teaching approaches appropriate for the whole school population which are inclusive and reflective of our pupils.

Equality in Admissions and Exclusions

Our admissions arrangements are fair and transparent and do not discriminate on the grounds of race, gender, religion, belief, disability and/or socio-economic background.

Equal Opportunities for Staff

All staff appointments and promotions are made on the basis of merit and ability and in compliance with the law. We are keen to ensure that the staffing of the school reflects the diversity of our community.

Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and other legislation

As a school we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010.  The general duties are:

• Eliminating discrimination and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
• Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Fostering good relations across all characteristics – between people who do share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

We understand the principal of the act and the work needed to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not discriminated against and are given equality of opportunity.  

A protected characteristic under the act covers the groups listed below:

• age (for employees not for service provision)
• disability
• race
• sex (including issues of transgender)
• gender reassignment
• maternity and pregnancy
• religion and belief
• sexual orientation
• Marriage and Civil Partnership (for employees)

In order to meet our general duties, listed above, the law requires us to carry out some specific duties to demonstrate how we meet the general duties.  These are to:

• Publish Equality Information – to demonstrate compliance with the general duty across its functions (We will not publish any information that can specifically identify any individual)
• Prepare and publish equality objectives which we will review on an annual basis
• Consult all our stakeholders in the development of our equality objectives and report on progress against our objectives on an annual basis

In order to do this effectively we will collect data related to the protected characteristics above and analyse this data to determine our focus for our equality objectives.  The data will be assessed across our core provisions as a school, but we will also analyse available data relating to the context of our local community, including hate crime data and demographic information. In relation to school provision we will pay particular attention to the following functions:

• Admissions
• Attendance
• Attainment
• Exclusions
• Prejudice related incidents

Our objectives will detail how we will ensure equality is applied to the services listed above however where we find evidence that other functions have a significant impact on any particular group we will include work in this area.

We also recognise that our work on equality is central to the successful promotion of fundamental British Values, especially in relation to the values of respect and tolerance and the rule of law. We will therefore ensure that our curriculum helps to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain and that we work proactively to address all forms of prejudice and discrimination, including derogatory and discriminatory language.

We recognise that these duties reflect international human rights standards as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998.

In fulfilling our legal obligations we will: 

• Recognise and respect diversity 
• Foster positive attitudes and relationships, and a shared sense of belonging
• Observe good equalities practice, including staff recruitment, retention and development
• Aim to reduce and remove existing inequalities and barriers
• Consult and involve widely
• Strive to ensure that society will benefit

Our Vision Statement

‘Achieve our best’

At Barnby Road Academy, we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and ability to participate fully in school life.  We want all children to have the chance to shine.

We tackle discrimination through the positive promotion of equality, by challenging bullying and stereotypes and by creating an environment which champions respect for all.

At Barnby Road Academy, we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all stakeholders.

Addressing Prejudice Related Incidents

This school is opposed to all forms of prejudice and we recognise that children and young people who experience any form of prejudice related discrimination may fair less well in the education system.  We provide both our pupils and staff with an awareness of the impact of prejudice in order to prevent any incidents.  If incidents still occur we address them immediately and may seek support from the Local Authority Equality Team. 

Responsibility

We believe that promoting Equality is the whole school’s responsibility:

We will ensure that the whole school community is aware of the Single Equality Policy and our published equality information and equality objectives by publishing them on the school’s website. 

Breaches

Breaches to this statement will be dealt with in the same way that breaches of other school policies are dealt with, as determined by the head teacher and governing body.

Monitor and Review

Every four years, we will review our objectives in relation to any changes in our school profile.  Our objectives will sit in our overall school improvement plan and therefore will be reviewed as part of this process. 

EQUALITY OBJECTIVES

Barnby Road Academy has used the following process to assist them in identifying some of the barriers to their pupils in accessing education provision.

Stage 1: Understanding Our School Community – Pupils - What is the school profile?

• How many children are on roll at the school?        Pupils in total - 602

What information on pupils is collected by protected characteristics? 

Stage 2: Understanding the Information Gathered  

Using the monitoring information gathered the school looked at the following to identify whether there were any obvious gaps or potential issues for pupils in relation to the protected characteristics:

• Admissions  
• Attainment  
• Attendance 
• Engagement in school activities
• Exclusions
• Prejudice related incidents
• Rewards and sanctions
• Representation on school bodies e.g school councils, 
• Attainment  

Equality Objectives: 

 1. To reduce prejudice and discrimination and increase understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion, more specifically an understanding of discrimination by the whole school community including SLT, Governors, staff, pupils and parents

Why: Our curriculum content and resources are not fully representative of wider society. The general equality duty requires us to foster positive relations between different groups.

How: Provide training on the protected characteristics. Provide opportunities to celebrate the diversity in our school community. Provide a range of diverse curriculum opportunities.

Outcome:   All stakeholders will demonstrate an increased and sustained understanding and respect of the diversity in the school and local community.

 2.  To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.

Why: According to the 2021 census, Newark and Sherwood is 96.3% white and this is representative of our school community. We feel that as a result of this it is extremely important that we work hard to give our children excellent opportunities to explore different ethnicities, race and faiths and nurture a culture of everyone being welcome at Barnby Road Academy

How:  Any patterns or trends that show identified groups require additional support will be addressed and interventions put in place as required. This may be academic support or ELSA support to raise self-esteem/confidence or address any barriers to learning

Outcome:   All groups of children will achieve to their full potential and any support needs will be identified.

           3. To develop staff and children’s knowledge of the protected characteristics.

            Why: Children’s knowledge of protected characteristics and particularly the language around this is limited.

We need to raise the profile around protected characteristics and ensure that all children and staff know these.

How: Staff CPD focused on equality, diversity and the protected characteristics.  PSHE/RSE time to teach protected characteristics/diversity and inclusion

Outcome:  Staff and children will be more aware of the 9 protected characteristics and these are embedded within our PHSE and overall teaching practice.

The equality objectives for Barnby Road Academy are contained within the school improvement plan and are monitored termly by the Governing Body.