Equality
Statement and Objectives

Version: September 2024         Review Date: September 2025

We welcome our duties under the Equality Act 2010. The academy’s general duties with regards to equality are:

•        Eliminating discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010

•        Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

•        Fostering good relations across all protected characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

Introduction

At Co-op Academy Swinton we value diversity and believe that equality should permeate all aspects of academy life and is the responsibility of every member of the academy and wider community. Every member of the academy should feel safe, secure, valued and of equal worth. 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 and 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 are going to be focusing on this year.

Equality Statement

Equality of opportunity is fundamental to good practice in education, in which fairness of opportunity for all is a basic right. At the academy we work together to eliminate all forms of discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Progress towards meeting our equalities objectives is reviewed regularly by the senior leadership team and governing body.

Co-op Academy Swinton is committed to being inclusive as we see our increasingly diverse population of both pupils and staff as one of the School’s greatest strengths. We are proud of our academy community, in which all members have a right to be treated and valued equally regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, size, religion or the challenges of disability or disadvantage. Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

• All members of our community 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 difference. We take account of this 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, which should be respected, embraced and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit here.
• 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 high expectations of all our students. We expect that all students can make good progress and that all members of the community can achieve to their highest potential.
• We work to raise standards for all students, with a distinct focus on the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. We believe that improving the quality of education for the most vulnerable groups of students raises standards across the whole school.

Actions taken 2023-24

During the last year we have taken the following actions to advance equality, diversity and inclusion, and to comply with our equality duty:

Students

•        Zero tolerance approach to bullying  

•        Participation in national and international awareness days

•        Consideration given to race and gender in the production of promotional and educational materials in school

•        Representations of different cultures and ethnicities in the curriculum

•        Free revision guides issued to PP pupils

•        Religious observance authorised

•        Equality and diversity student group set up to discuss matters within the academy

•        Form time used to deliver lessons on religious and cultural events during the year e.g. Eid, Chinese New Year

•        Multi faith room made available at lunchtime

Colleagues

•        Provide Occupational Health referrals for colleagues struggling with health issues (both physical and mental)

•        Provide ergonomic assessments / equipment for colleagues who struggle with mobility, so they can access the workplace

•        Provide a confidential employee assistance programme through BUPA

•        CPD provided to staff on gender equality and racial equality    

•        Bereavement support by SLT

•        Received training

Our Community

•        All newsletter and letters are pitched at appropriate level, so they are accessible to as many as possible

•        Parent and staff association supports opportunities for any parent to engage with the academy

•        Ensure any reasonable adjustments in line with The Equality Act are in place to enable candidates to access our recruitment procedure

•        Blind shortlisting for interviews

•        Services for mental health, domestic violence, housing etc are signposted on social media

Equality Objectives 2022 - 2024

Objective 1: To poverty proof the Academy ensuring all disadvantaged and SEND students make progress to achieve their potential                        

• Narrow the achievement gap between PP and non-PP students in all subjects and ensure that barriers to achievement are tackled
• Analyse achievement data by all key student groupings in order to identify and address any issues of under-achievement at student group level
• Track destination data to ensure all students are equally successful in accessing further education / apprentice / training or employment
• Work with students to eliminate daily learning barriers
• Understand, embed and evaluate student passports for SEND students

Objective 2: : To embed equality, diversity and inclusion into the curriculum and teaching and learning practices.

We will work towards a curriculum and teaching and learning practice which:

• Uses materials that reflect a range of cultural backgrounds, without stereotyping
• Promotes attitudes, values and skills that challenge discriminatory behaviour;  
• Provides opportunities for pupils to appreciate their own culture, religion and beliefs and celebrate the diversity of other cultures;  
• Covers issues of equality, diversity, religion, human rights and inclusion;  
• Provides educational visits and extra‐curricular activities that involve all pupil groupings;  
• Takes account of the different learning needs of different groups of pupils, using an appropriate range of teaching strategies to enable all pupils to progress
• Has careers as an embedded thread throughout learning to inspire all students to be ambitious