Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 provides a single, consolidated source of discrimination law.  It simplifies the law and it extends protection from discrimination in some areas. Within the Act the public sector Equality Duty came into force on 5th April 2011. The Equality Duty applies to public bodies and others carrying out public functions such as schools. It supports good decision making by ensuring public bodies:

• consider how different people will be affected by their activities.
• meet different people's needs by delivering policies and services which are efficient and effective.
• enable accessibility to all.

The Equality Duty is supported by specific duties which requires public bodies to publish relevant information demonstrating their compliance with the Equality Duty and to set and publish equality objectives at least every four years.

Derwent Primary School must publish information to show our compliance with the Equality Duty in three ways:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

This is demonstrated within the Derwent Primary School Accessibility Policy and the Derwent Primary School Equal Opportunities Policy.

The specific duties require us to prepare and publish one or more specific and measurable equality objectives which will help us to further the aims of the Equality Duty. Our equality objectives are:

1: To raise the levels of attendance of free school meal pupils to meet or exceed the national average.

2: To ensure we promote diversity through ensuring systematic exposure to people with protected characteristics through the curriculum.

3: To ensure we are closing the attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and others in school and nationally.

Our equality statement can be found below:

Equality Statement