At St Anthony’s, we aim to develop a culture of equality, inclusion and diversity – celebrating the ways in which we are each different, while highlighting the many ways in which we are all equal.
The Single Equality Act, which came into place on October 1st 2010 (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents), brought together the duties set out in our Race, Disability and Gender policies into one single Public Sector Equality Duty. The Single Equality Act combines the existing three duties into one new Public Sector Equality Duty that covers all nine of the protected characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Gender-identity
- Race
- Pregnancy
- Maternity
- Religion or belief
- Sexual orientation
We will ensure that at every level, in all our work and throughout all aspects of the school community and its life, all will be treated equally.
The General Duty covers all protected characteristics and has three main aims requiring public bodies to have due regard to the need for:
- Eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited under the Equality Act 2010.
- Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
The Leadership Team and Local Governing Body will annually review how well we achieve these aims with regard to the protected groups under the Equality Act.
Please see below our Equality Objectives for 2024/25:
- To continue to close the gaps in attainment and achievement between students and all groups of pupils; especially boys and girls, disadvantaged students, students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
- To ensure that all students are given the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the life of the school, particularly focusing on developing leadership opportunities for all students.
- To eradicate the use of homophobic, sexist, racist and other discriminative language by pupils in the school.
- To review the accessibility across the school for students, staff and visitors with disabilities, including access to specialist teaching areas.
- To review policy and procedure to ensure that the membership of growing cultural groups are fully represented.
Please see our relevant policies – British Values, SEND, Accessibility and Single Equalities Policies.
(All policies consider an Equalities Impact Assessment to ensure that they do not isolate any characteristics).
