Equal Opportunities Statement

Equal opportunities is about ensuring that every member of the school community is regarded as being of equal worth and importance. It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of their age; gender reassignment; being married or in a civil partnership; being pregnant or on maternity leave; disability; race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin; religion or belief; sex; or sexual orientation (discrimination by the Equality Act 2010). At West Meadows Primary School, we celebrate differences, meet individual needs and take positive action, so that everyone has equal access to the educational opportunities we offer.

Aims

At West Meadows Primary School, we aim to achieve:

  • An entitlement to equal access and participation in all appropriate aspects of school life for every child.
  • An awareness of the inequalities that exist in society and the determination that these shall not be replicated/perpetuated in school.
  • A recognition and valuing of the diversity of cultures, languages, religions, opinions and beliefs in society.
  • Open questioning and discussion to counter all forms of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination and to take positive action to enable every child to raise his/her self esteem, expectations and achievement.

Curriculum

At West Meadows Primary School, we ensure that all children experience every area of the curriculum and that appropriate provision is made, taking account of cultural and social background, abilities and interests. This includes providing for children whose families, at times, are unable to support them in their learning and to allow pupils with special educational needs to join in the everyday activities of the school as far as is practical. One of the key drivers of our curriculum is ‘diversity’. Our curriculum is designed to champion a wide range of cultures and ensures that our children benefit from a full range of spiritual, moral, social and cultural activities, for example, providing opportunities to study a range of historical periods and viewpoints; a diverse range of authors, core texts and artists. These activities enrich their lives and those of our whole school community and make them proud of their British values and the diverse society to which belong and play an active part. In our choice of resources, we try to avoid stereotyping and bias of any kind, and to positively reflect a wide range of people, cultures and human achievements. We strive to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect between all stakeholders. We ensure that our best efforts are made to become aware of the ‘messages’ we may be giving. This could be through the language that we use, the images and displays around school and in the choice of visitors invited to the school. We monitor our playground use so that all children can be catered for and no single group is dominant. With regards to the physical environment and classroom management, we make every effort to provide equal access and inclusivity by monitoring the criteria used for grouping children to promote confidence and to provide supplementary and extension activities. We are aware of the balance of time and attention we give to all children and we always attempt to ensure that all children’s needs are met. We remember to make time for the undemanding child.

 

Parents and the Community

At our school, we endeavour to increase parental involvement by improving communication on a formal and informal basis and by offering meetings at a variety of times. We actively encourage all parents/carers to become involved in school activities and all aspects of school life. We seek and value the views of all parents and aim to work in partnership with our parents / carers. We aim to develop a wide range of opportunities to work with and engage our local and wider community.

 

Staffing

We ensure that the school’s recruitment, selection and promotion procedures are based on good equal opportunities practice, in accordance with Barnsley’s and St. Mary’s Academy Trust’s Equal Opportunities Policy and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. We regularly review the professional development of all staff within school through our Performance Appraisal systems. We are aware of the importance of a diverse range of positive role models for our children.

 

Assessment and Achievement

We maintain consistently high expectations of all children and ensure that there is no discrimination in assessment procedures. We provide appropriate support for children during assessment.

 

 

Written January 2023, the policy will be reviewed in January 2024. Regular monitoring and evaluation of this policy will be through self review, feedback from all stakeholders and ensuring that it complies with the most up to date legislation and guidelines.