Equality Statement & Objectives

Introduction

At Co-op Academy Broadhurst, we’re committed to promoting equality and preventing discrimination in both employment and education provision. We will create an inclusive environment, where everyone can contribute their best work and develop to their full potential. We will celebrate the fact that everyone is different yet valued, and make sure that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

You can read more about this below, including the actions we have already taken to advance equality, diversity & inclusion in our academy and our community, and to comply with our equality duty. We’ve also set out our equality objectives, which are the things we’re going to be focusing on this year.

Equality Statement

At Co-op Academy Broadhurst, we are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, sexual orientation, age or socio-economic background. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected to the school feel proud of their identity and ability to participate fully in school life.

We tackle discrimination through the positive promotion of equality, by challenging bullying and stereotypes and by creating an environment which champions respect for all.

At Co-op Academy Broadhurst we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit us. We are a learning community with the children very much at the heart of everything that we do. Our main aim is to encourage the children to develop a life-long love of learning whilst giving them the skills and values to become positive citizens of the future.

We believe that a strong partnership between home and school is the foundation for a successful education and we value the contributions that parents and carers make to the life of the school. It is important to us that the children have an excellent start in our Early Years Foundation Stage and we recognise the significant role of parents in helping their child to progress.

Our ethos is inclusive and caring and we aim to support and nurture every child to achieve their best. All our children have talents and strengths and we believe it is vital to provide them with the opportunities to develop their strengths, behave well, support each other and grow in confidence. In order to do this we have developed an exciting and stimulating curriculum to fully engage the children to enjoy learning and make excellent progress. We aim to adapt our teaching and learning around the needs and abilities of all our pupils.

• We value each child as a unique individual.
• Each child is supported and encouraged to achieve their best in a nurturing and caring environment
• We have high expectations in a ‘can do’ culture where the children rise to the challenge
• Our curriculum is stimulating and develops the children’s, enjoyment, confidence, ability to think and reason, ability to cooperate and share ideas, resilience and independence
• Our curriculum reflects the society in which we live, including, using the latest technology, awareness of cultural diversity, developing tolerance and global responsibility
• We develop the children’s experience of nature and outdoor spaces by using it as a teaching resource
• We foster a sense of community amongst parents, staff, pupils and the local area
• Every child has a voice and a feeling of ownership of the school

Actions Taken - 2021/22

During the last year we have taken the following actions to advance equality, diversity & inclusion; eliminate discrimination; improve equality of opportunity for people with protected characteristics; consult & involve those affected by inequality in the decisions that Co-op Academy Broadhurst takes to promote equality and eliminate discrimination and to comply with our equality duty:

Pupils / Students

• Children are involved in Pupil Voice
• Classes have an ‘Author of the month’ to reflect the diverse nature of our society.
• Rewards/activites/acknowledgement for children with excellent attendance.

Colleagues

• Track students with Persistent Absences (PA) or at risk of becoming PA by all key student groups and to take positive action to avoid any and all instances of this, regarding student characteristics.
• Track student’s attendance by all key student groups and put specific plans in place to address any emerging trends.
• Curriculum leads to produce ‘diminishing the difference’ reports for all foundation subjects to assist subject leaders in analysing and addressing gender issues where relevant.
• Monitor their use of images/ resources to ensure that they represent diversity and promote tolerance of difference.
• Use data to identify any gender differences.
• Create a curriculum which will be engaging for boys to develop their reading and writing
• Specific needs are identified that may be a barrier to attendance and put specific plans in place to address these barriers
• Analyse achievement data by all key student groups.
• Identify and address any issues of under-achievement at student group level.

Our Community

• Half termly monitoring to identify pupils and agree follow-up actions including working with parents/carers.
• Regular communication to parents regarding importance of regular attendance and punctuality
• Involvement of outside agencies where appropriate

Equality Objectives - 2022/23

The following objectives were agreed in September 2021 and remain current. A review of progress towards them is included in the ‘action taken’ section above. 

Objective 1: to embed equality, diversity and inclusion into the curriculum and teaching & learning practices

We will work towards a curriculum and teaching & learning practices which:

• are inclusive - all pupils and staff are welcomed and valued
• show respect for and appreciation of one another as individuals
• prepare pupils for life in a diverse society by encouraging respect for linguistic, cultural and religious diversity that exists in local communities and the wider world
• develop personal and cultural identity in all pupils
• widen educational and personal horizons of all pupils if limited by factors that compromise equality
• are proactive in tackling discrimination
• promote benefits of diversity

We will work with our sponsor, the Co-op, to develop a new curriculum on anti-racism so that the next generation knows what it means to be anti-racist.

Objective 2: to embed equality, diversity and inclusion into the academy

We will monitor and analyse pupil achievement and progress by ethnicity, gender and disability, and act on any trends or patterns in this data which identify the need for additional support for pupils with the aim of narrowing the gap for equality groups.

We will create and promote opportunities for staff voice, and debate & dialogue, around these key issues.

Objective 3: to improve the progress and attainment of all disadvantaged pupils so that the difference between their outcomes and those of non-disadvantaged pupils, within the academy and nationally, decreases.

We will work together to achieve this objective by:

• Analysing achievement data by all key student groups.
• Identifying and addressing any issues of under-achievement at student group level.
• Reviewing and publicising PP spending plan
• Ensuring that decisions on PP spending are based on effective self-evaluation/research
• Curriculum leads producing ‘diminishing the difference’ reports for all foundations subjects to assist subject leaders in targeting support for PP children.

Further information

Co-op Academies Trust’s Equality Diversity & Inclusion Policy can be found here https://www.coopacademies.co.uk/equality-diversity-inclusion/ 

Review date: 01 September 2023