Legal framework
At Faringdon Infant School:
We welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010 to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations in relation to age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion and sexual identity.
We welcome our duty under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote community cohesion.
We recognise 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.
Guiding Principles
Staff and Governors are committed to promoting equality. This involves tackling the barriers which could lead to unequal outcomes so that there is equality of access and the diversity within the school community is celebrated and valued.
We believe that equality at our school should permeate all aspects of school life and is the responsibility of every member of the school and wider community. Every member of the school community should feel safe, secure, valued and of equal worth. At Faringdon Infants, equality is a key principle for treating all people the same irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, disability, religious beliefs/faith tradition, sexual orientation, age or any other of the protected characteristics (Single Equalities Act 2010).
Equality Objectives
At Faringdon Infant School 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.
In order to further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we have set the following objectives:-
Attainment:
Equality Objective: To narrow the gap by ensuring good progress for children with SEND and also those children with SEND who are also entitled to Free School Meals.
Why: Our schools local statistics show that children with SEN attain below children with SEN nationally. This is also true of children who have SEN and are entitled to Free School Meals. We would like this progress to accelerate to narrow the gap.
How: We have appointed a dedicated Special Needs Coordinator for two days per week to support children with SEND and their families. We will monitor progress for children with SEND and any interventions that they take part in. Support and Intervention TAs have been appointed to help with support programmes targeted at specific children. A dedicated reading teacher supports reading in Year 1 and 2. We will work in partnership with parents to support children’s learning and development.
Outcome: Children with SEND to make good progress from their starting points. In some cases, progress will be measured in small steps towards their goals as identified on their Learning Passports. Parents or guardians will be satisfied with their child’s progress.
Attendance:
Equality Objective: To explore attendance data to see if there are any patterns of absence that raise potential issues for pupils in relation to the protected characteristics and to reduce barriers to attendance
Why: We would like to ensure that there are no barriers to attending school or parent teacher meetings for groups of pupils and their parents.
How: Attendance is monitored each term on an individual basis. We need to look at attendance data to see if any groups of pupils have lower than average attendance and consult with their families to see how the situation can be improved.
We will look at attendance at parent teacher meetings to see if there are issues for families to attend and consult with families to see how the situation can be improved by offering alternative meeting times and dates.
Outcome: Information gathered will enable us to ensure that any barriers to attendance for groups of pupils and their parents will be explored and solutions to improve the situation sought. Our aim is that pupils have attendance of at least 90% and that there is 100% attendance at parent teacher meetings by parents / guardians.
Disability
Equality Objective: To ensure school data includes information on disability
Why: Information collected for SIMS needs to be processed differently so that it can be analysed. At the moment information related to disability is kept as a note under medical needs and cannot be analysed.
How: We will change the way information is collected regarding disability; a separate section on disability will be added to the admission form. The office staff will then be prompted to collate this information in the pre-populated disability section on SIMS. The SENCO will update the office as disabilities become known in school.
Outcome: Information gathered will enable us to ensure that any barriers to learning for a child with disabilities are explored and solutions to improve the situation are sought.
Additional Objectives:
Our data did not identify any areas of concern in relation to religion or belief or to age. However we have decided to include actions in these areas as noted below:
We will continue to develop our school curriculum to include developing an understanding of other communities locally, nationally and internationally through the global dimension of our curriculum
Employment
We recognise our duties under the Equality Act in respect of the staff we employ. We have set the following objectives:
Equality Objective: Ensure we maintain a professional workforce.
Why: We want all staff to feel valued and be able to realise their full potential.
How: We will ensure that all staff are given the opportunity to access all developmental opportunities. This includes internal and external CPD as well as taking on leadership roles within the school setting.
Outcome: To have a professional workforce that feels valued, and treated fairly in accessing training and development opportunities to develop their professionalism.
The equality objectives for Faringdon Infant School will be monitored by the governing body.