Equality Information and Equality Objectives Policy

We in Tanfield School are committed to equality. We aim for every pupil to fulfil their potential no matter what his/her background or personal circumstances.

We maintain the aim of embedding principles of fairness and equality across our entire curriculum, in assemblies, break and lunchtimes, in pastoral support and in before and after school activities.

We must, under the general duty of public sector equality duty, in the exercise of our functions, have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other conduct that is prohibited under the Act.

• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

• Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

This will apply to all pupils, staff and others using facilities.  We will give relevant and proportionate consideration to the PSED.

The protected characteristics for the school’s provisions are:

• Disability

• Gender reassignment

• Pregnancy or maternity

• Race

• Religion

• Sex

• Sexual orientation

• Age

• Marriage or Civil Partnerships (only applicable to staff, not pupils)

Age, marriage, and civil partnership are NOT protected characteristics for the school’s provisions for pupils.

We will have due regard to advancing equality of opportunity including making serious consideration of the need to:

• Remove or minimize disadvantages suffered by persons who share a relevant protected characteristic.

• Take steps to meet the needs of [persons who share a protected characteristic that is different from the needs of persons who do not share it.

• Encourage persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to participate in public life or in any activity in which participation by such persons is disproportionately low.

We will take into account the six Brown principles of ‘due regard’:

• Awareness – all staff know and understand what the law requires

• Timeliness – all implications considered before they are implemented

• Rigour – open-minded and rigorous analysis

• Non-delegation – the PSED cannot be delegated

• Continuous – ongoing all academic year

• Record-keeping – keep notes and records of decisions and meetings.

We welcome the opportunity to be transparent and accountable.  To this end, we fulfil the specific duties of the Act by:

• Publishing our equality information

• Publishing our equality objectives

We aim to make the information accessible, easy to read and easy to find.

We maintain confidentiality and work to data protection principles.  We publish information in a way so that no pupil or staff member can be identified.

We will update our equality information at least annually.

We adopt a whole school approach to equality and consider it important for pupils to learn about equality and human rights.  We adhere to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHCR) statement:

To reap the full benefits of equality and human rights education, it is essential to teach topics in an environment which respects the rights and differences of both students and teachers.  Without an equality and human rights culture within the classroom and school as whole, learning about these topics can at best appear irrelevance, and at worst hypocritical.  The respect and tolerance it teaches will help staff and students create a healthier, happier, fairer school culture, and could lead to reductions in bullying and other negative behaviour, and improvements in attainment and aspirations.

Though the Act refers to ‘race’, the use of ethnic/cultural origin, background or heritage is often more appropriate.

We do not collect this information

We do not collect this information

We do not collect this information

We will update our equality objectives every four years and will publish progress on them annually.

To close the achievement gap by ensuring there is no significant difference in the progress made by different groups of learners.

Why we have chosen this objective:

The Equality Act 2010 introduced a single Public Sector Equality Duty, which applies to all schools, including both LA maintained and Academies. It requires that the school must have due regard to the need to:

• Advance equality and opportunity between people who share a prohibited characteristic and people who do not share it.

Tanfield is a smaller than average secondary school and we have more boys than girls on roll. Approximately 37% of our students are from low-income families and so qualify for the pupil premium. Approximately 10% of our students are on the SEN register.

It is unacceptable that in our country there is such an enormous gap between the life chances of children from poor backgrounds and other children:

• In 2012, only 36.3% of disadvantaged students eligible for free school meals achieved 5 or more A*–C grades at GCSE including English and Maths - the national average was 58.8%.

• Nationally, only 1 in 20 disadvantaged students achieves the EBacc compared to the national average  of nearly 1 in 5.

• By the age of 14, young people from the poorest backgrounds are on average 2 years academically behind their counterparts from the most affluent areas.

• The chance of getting into a good university is 25 times higher for independent school students than those from disadvantaged backgrounds at state schools.

• Around 7 out of 10 of the poorest children still leave school without 5 good GCSEs.

• At Tanfield School, our mission is simple: we celebrate diversity and relentlessly focus on the highest standards of student achievement. We believe that every child will succeed, regardless of background. This objective was chosen after consultation with staff.

To ensure 100% of students participate in, at least, one extra-curricular activity throughout Year 7, 8 and 9.

Why we have chosen this objective:

The Equality Act 2010 introduced a single Public Sector Equality Duty, which applies to all schools, including both LA maintained and Academies.  It requires that the school must have due regard to the need to:

• Foster good relationships across all characteristics, between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

Approximately 37% of our students are from low-income families and so qualify for the pupil premium. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to be encouraged to participate in extra-curricular activities. We want to ensure that every child at Tanfield regularly participates in at least one extra-curricular activity.

Research indicates that participating in after school programmes improves performance on measures of academic achievement. There is also evidence that there are wider benefits for low income students in terms of attendance at school, behaviour and relationships with peers (Education Endowment Foundation). This objective was chosen after consultation with students.