At St James' we promote equal opportunities and do not tolerate inequality in any areas of the school's life or work.  Our intention is to develop, grow and thrive.  Diversity and differences will be valued and respected by all and will contribute to the richness of our school life and learning. 

We welcome our general duty under the Equality Act 2010 to have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, 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.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

We also welcome our specific duties to publish information about our school population, to explain how we have due regard for equality and to publish equality objectives, which show how we plan to tackle particular inequalities or disadvantages.

Meeting our duties to promote community cohesion and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, also supports how we meet the needs of different groups of pupils and how we foster good relations.

St. James’ Safeguarding Procedure takes full account of the new duties under the 2010 Equality Act.  We make reasonable, appropriate and flexible adjustment for children with a disability and we recognise that children with special educational needs and disabilities can face additional safeguarding challenges and that additional barriers can exist when recognising abuse and neglect in this group of children.

We ensure the performance of vulnerable groups in the school are closely monitored.

Our Equality Objectives 

Equality Objective 1 - linked to promotion of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

OBJECTIVE: to ensure the school actively promotes and priorities raising awareness, appreciation and celebration of diversity including gender, sexuality, race and religion.

Equality Objective 2 - Linked to Pupil Attendance/Pupil Premium

OBJECTIVE: to explore and understand the reasons for the disproportionately higher absentee levels of PP pupils and begin to improve attendance rates of these pupils.

Equality Objective 3 - Linked to Pupil Attainment and Progress/Gender, Race, Disability and Disadvantaged 

OBJECTIVE: to monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender, disability and disadvantaged pupils and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.