Equality and Diversity Statement

The school is required to hold and publish information about how we comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty. This is addressed within our Equality and Diversity Statement below. 

Legal duties

As a school we welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010.  The general duties are to:

• eliminate discrimination,
• advance equality of opportunity
• foster good relations

We understand the principle of the Act and the work needed to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not discriminated against and are given equality of opportunity. 

A protected characteristic under the act covers the groups listed below:

• age (for employees not for service provision),
• disability
• ethnicity
• gender
• gender reassignment
• maternity and pregnancy
• religion and belief, and
• sexual identity
• Marriage and Civil Partnership (for employees)

In order to meet our general duties, listed above, the law requires us to do some specific duties to demonstrate how we meet the general duties.  These are to:

• Publish equality information – to demonstrate compliance with the general duty across its functions – by 6 April 2012

We will not publish any information that can specifically identify any individual child or adult

• Prepare and publish equality objectives – by 6 April 2012

To do this we will collect data related to the protected characteristics above and analyse this data to determine our focus for our equality objectives.  The data will be assessed across our core provisions as a school. This will include the following functions:

• Admissions
• Attendance
• Attainment
• Exclusions
• Prejudice related incidents

Our objectives will detail how we will ensure equality is applied to the services listed above however where we find evidence that other functions have a significant impact on any particular group we will include work in this area.

We also welcome our duty under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 to promote community cohesion.

We recognise that 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.

Core statements

In fulfilling our legal obligations we will be guided by seven core statements:

Statement 1: All learners are of equal value.

Statement 2: We recognise, welcome and respect diversity.

Statement 3: We foster positive attitudes and relationships, and a shared sense of belonging.

Statement 4: We observe good equalities practice, including staff recruitment, retention and development.

Statement 5: We aim to reduce and remove existing inequalities and barriers.

Statement 6: We consult and involve widely

Statement 7: We strive to ensure that society will benefit. 

Our ethos

At The Coppice School we believe that together we learn, enjoy and achieve.

At The Coppice School we;

• aim to provide stimulating challenges in an atmosphere where pupils experience success and enjoyment.
• aim to create a curriculum that is sensitive and appropriate for all pupils, preserving dignity at all times.
• through established community links, we aim to enrich the curriculum of every pupil so they can be as independent as possible within their environment.
• aim to provide a happy, caring and supporting environment through understanding and responding to life opportunities.
• aim to create a sense of belonging for all through consistent approaches to learning and self-discipline, recognising effort and achievement.

school objectives

Objective 1: To engage a wide range of stakeholders in working towards Lancashire's Equality Mark.

Objective 2: To review curriculum resources to ensure a reflection of diversity across all our provision. 

ADDRESSING prejudice related incidents

This school is opposed to all forms of prejudice and we recognise that children and young people who experience any form of prejudice related discrimination may fare less well in the education system. 

We provide both our pupils and staff with an awareness of the impact of prejudice in order to prevent any incidents. 

If incidents still occur we address them immediately and report them to the Local Authority using their guidance material.  The Local Authority may provide some support.

responsibility 

We believe that promoting Equality is the responsibility of everyone in the school community:

We will ensure that the whole school community is aware of the Equality & Diversity Statement and our published equality information and objectives by publishing them on our school's website.

breaches

Breaches to this statement will be dealt with in the same ways that breaches of other school policies are dealt with, as determined by the head teacher and governing body.

monitoring and review

Every three years, we will review our objectives in relation to any changes in our school profile.  Our objectives will sit in our overall school improvement plan and therefore will be reviewed as part of this process.

The Senior Leadership Team and Governors at The Coppice School regularly review the progress we are making towards meeting our equality objectives and report annually on any matters arising from our monitoring of this.

September 2022