At Northwick Park Academy Trust we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity in line with the Equality Act of October 2010. We seek to demonstrate this through all aspects of school life and in particular through our commitment to every child, fulfilling their potential. This commitment applies to our work in the classroom, our pupil support systems, our recruitment and retention of staff and our work in the local and wider community.

As a school we will ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to achieve the very best that they are capable of and help parents support their child’s achievement. Where pupils experience barriers to their success, we will work with them to address these in a sensitive and sympathetic way.

Through our work in the classroom, we will ensure that pupils understand the importance of equality, what forms discrimination can take and the impact discrimination can have. We will also seek to foster within our pupils their own commitment to promoting equality.

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.

We are 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 diverse groups of 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 pupils are of equal value
2. We recognise, accept and respect difference
3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging
4. We observe good equality, diversity and inclusion practice in staff recruitment, retention and development
5. We aim to proactively reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist
6. We have the highest expectations of all our children
7. We aim to support pupils to attend school regularly in order to ensure equality of opportunity and access to education

Information on pupils by protected characteristics

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

In order to ensure that all pupils are protected from discrimination, harassment and victimisation, the school collects data on protected groups, analyses it and uses it to inform further work.

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 groups
• 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, diversity and inclusion issues in everything that we do at Northwick Park Academy Trust. ‘Due regard’ ensures that we work towards eliminating bullying, discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct that is inappropriate/prohibited by the Equality Act.

We are committed to promoting equality, tackling discrimination and fostering positive relationships for all our staff, parents/carers and children to meet our duties under the Equality Act 2010.

How we work to eliminate discrimination:

• 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 can access extra-curricular provision
• Making reasonable adjustments for pupils with disabilities/impairments
• 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

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 Northwick Park Academy Trust is welcoming, inclusive and seen as a community Trust within our local community
• Ensuring that equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging are embedded in the curriculum and in all that we do (assemblies, events, sports etc).

Equality Objectives

At Northwick Park Academy Trust, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, religion/belief, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, age, pregnancy/maternity, civil partnerships/marriage or socio-economic background.

In order to further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we have set the following objectives:

• Objective 1: To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender, disability and disadvantage, and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.

• Objective 2: To raise levels of attainment in core subjects for vulnerable learners.

• Objective 3: To educate all learners on respect and diversity.

 

Approved by:           Trust Directors                              Date: 10^th September 2022

Last Reviewed On:   September 2023                        Next Review Date: September 2025