The Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 has three aims under the general duty for Schools, Academies and Settings:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act by removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not by taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people.
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not by encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.
Our school has considered how well we currently achieve these aims with regard to the eight protected equality groups: race, disability, gender, gender reassignment, age, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief and sexual orientation. We have:
- Identified evidence already in the school of equality within policies and practice and identified gaps.
- Examined how our school engages with the protected groups, identifying where practice could be improved.
Protected Characteristics
We work to ensure that our children understand that:
- There are no outsiders at Woodside Primary.
- Everyone is different.
- We celebrate our differences.
- We are all equal in our differences.
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.
From these nine, we have decided to focus on:
Age, Disability, Race, Religion / Belief, Sexual Orientation and Gender (Sex).
We achieve this throughout the curriculum and below sets out our reading spine linked to PSHE. There is a focus book each half term to support the theme (from Jigsaw) linked to a protected characteristic. Due to the nature of the topic, the characteristics often link with each other through a given text. Pupils will often lead this through different questions and enquiries and our staff are skilled at facilitating this.
Equality Diversity and Protected Characteristics Reading Spine Picture Books