Equality and Accessibility

Lady Elizabeth Hastings VA Church of England School, 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 members of the school and wider community are of equal value
2. We recognise and respect diversity
3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.
4. We will ensure that the recruitment, retention and ongoing development of staff is undertaken in a fair and equitable manner to support our school’s vision and values
5. We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist.
6. We consult widely
7. We feel that the community as a whole should benefit

Equality Information

Number of pupils on roll at the school: 114

Age of pupils: 4 – 11

Information on pupils by protected characteristics

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on protected characteristics. Every person has several of the protected characteristics, so the Act protects everyone against unfair treatment.

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 consider equality issues in everything that we do at Lady Hastings CE VA Primary 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
• 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 could 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.

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 Lady Elizabeth Hastings CE VA Primary is seen as a school within our local community
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum and in collective worship.

Equality Objectives

At Lady Elizabeth Hastings CE VA Primary, 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.

To further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we have set the following objectives for 2022-2026:

Objective 1: To ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the school’s Equalities Policy and objectives have awareness of their responsibilities.

Objective 2: To provide appropriate training to ensure stakeholders have the required knowledge and understanding to meet their responsibilities.

Objective 3: To ensure that the teachers, governors and leadership team monitor and analyse pupil achievement for those with protected characteristics.

Objective 4: To ensure that diversity is promoted overtly across the school, including in displays and reading materials for the children.

Objective 5: To ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of all learners and is designed with a wide range of role models and historical figures who represent diversity.