Equality Policy

Equality Policy (Child Friendly)

Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity

At Our Lady and St Rose of Lima Catholic Primary School, our duties under the Equality Act 2010 merge perfectly with our commitment to the Catholic Social Teaching agenda; to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations, in relation to age, disability, race, gender, gender re-assignment, religion or belief and sexual orientation.

As a school, we are fully committed to developing a culture of inclusion, where diversity is celebrated, and all members of the school community can thrive and participate fully in all aspects of school life.

We tackle discrimination in the following ways:

• through the promotion of our core gospel values;
• through our curriculum;
• by challenging bullying and stereotypes; and
• by creating an environment which champions respect for all.

We encourage all members of the school community to speak out against unfairness and any kind of discrimination.

At Our Lady and St Rose of Lima Catholic Primary School, our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

All children and adults are of equal value. Whether or not they are disabled, whatever their ethnicity, culture, national origin or national status, whatever their gender and gender identity, whatever their religious or non-religious affiliation or faith background and whatever their sexual orientation.

We recognise, respect and value differences and understand that diversity is a strength. We take account of differences and strive to remove barriers and disadvantages which people may face, in relation to disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, belief or faith and sexual orientation. We believe that diversity is a strength and should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here.

We foster positive attitudes and relationships. We actively promote positive attitudes and mutual respect and kindness between groups and communities different from each other. We actively teach these attitudes in relation to disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, belief or faith.

We foster a shared sense of cohesion and belonging. We want all members of our school community to feel a sense of belonging within the school and wider community and to feel that they are respected and able to participate fully in school life.

We observe good equalities practice for our staff. We ensure that policies and procedures benefit all employees and potential employees in all aspects of their work, including in recruitment and promotion, and in continuing professional development.

We have the highest expectations of all our children. We expect that all pupils should recognise, understand, respect and take personal responsible for ensuring they uphold our core values and work collectively to ensure they are maintained at all times

We work to raise standards for all pupils, but especially for the most vulnerable. We believe that improving the quality of education for the most vulnerable groups of pupils raises standards across the whole school and the community.