At Whitheath, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers receiving services from the school, irrespective of race, gender, disability, faith or religion 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 are able to participate fully in school life. 

The achievement of pupils will be monitored by race, gender and disability and we will use this data to support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching. We will tackle discrimination by the positive promotion of equality, challenging bullying and stereotypes and creating an environment which champions respect for all.  We believe that diversity is a strength, which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here. We recognise that these duties reflect international human rights standards as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child, the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Equality Act

The Equality Act became law in 2010. It covers everyone in Britain and protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Everyone in Britain is protected. This is because the Equality Act protects people against discrimination because of the protected characteristics that we all have. Under the Equality Act, there are nine Protected Characteristics:

1. Age
2. Disability
3. Gender reassignment
4. Race
5. Religion or belief
6. Marriage or civil partnership
7. Sex
8. Sexual orientation
9. Pregnancy and maternity

Whiteheath Junior School prides itself on being an inclusive school that cares for every individual child. In doing so, we promote and deliver a range of strategies to ensure that we comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The 9 Protected Characteristics are actively promoted in our school through:

• Our school vision and ethos statements, SDP, and SEF
• Our school behaviour policy
• Conscious role modelling by all adults in the school community
• Active engagement and communication with parents and carers, embracing our diverse community
• Providing workshops e.g SEND, pastoral, curriculum, year group information meetings, that are inclusive to all parents
• Upholding and teaching children about Fundamental British Values alongside our school values: Opportunity, Confidence and Growth
• Promoting tolerance, mutual respect and understanding through special assemblies (eg. Diwali) and welcoming people from different backgrounds to share their knowledge with the children
• Learning about significant people who represent the protected characteristics and challenging stereotypes and discrimination (through whole school assemblies, RE curriculum, PSHE curriculum)
• Developing a love of reading through a range of authors and genres
• Promoting articulation by building appropriate language and a coherent vocabulary
• Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE) sessions and RSE lessons
• Religious Education lessons
• Art projects and visits
• School Council: the children are from different year groups and the group is formed of pupils from a range of backgrounds. The children understand democracy and the voting system. They understand that their views will be listened to, and they are able to use their voices to make changes to the school and our local and wider community. 

Equality Objectives

The Equality Act 2010 requires us to publish specific and measurable equality objectives. Our equality objectives are based on our school’s context and analysis of data and other information.

Our equality objectives focus on those areas where we have agreed to take action to improve equality and tackle disadvantages. We will regularly review the progress we are making to meet our equality objectives.