We seek to promote equality and we celebrate the diversity within our community.  We welcome the public sector equality duty as set out in the Equality Act (2010).

What is the duty?

We must:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• Advance equality of opportunity between different groups
• Foster good relations between different groups

What are the protected characteristics?

The Equality Act 2010 was introduced to ensure protection on the grounds of specific characteristics (referred to as protected characteristics). 

For schools, this means that it is unlawful to discriminate against students or treat them less favourably because of their sex; race; disability; religion or belief; gender reassignment; sexual orientation; pregnancy or maternity. 

Marriage and civil partnerships and age are also 'protected characteristics'.  These apply to staff but not students in schools.

St Augustine’s Catholic Primary School

Equal Objectives

Christ is the foundation of everything we do and the Gospels provide us with our influence and

inspiration. We are therefore committed to promoting:

• the uniqueness of the individual

We believe that every person is a unique individual, created in God’s image and loved by Him. We are therefore committed to treat every person with equality of esteem and the respect and dignity due to a child of God.

• the search for excellence

We are called to seek perfection in all aspects of our lives. We celebrate the enrichment of the total community which flows from diversity of age, gender, racial and social origins, abilities, culture and religion. We are therefore committed to ensure that all are to be given every opportunity to develop their talents to the full.

• the education of the whole person

We offer young people the experience of life in a community founded on Gospel values and

working in harmony. Through this and a variety of educational experiences and interactions we aim to prepare young people for a life working with others in communities which maybe diverse

socially, culturally and religiously. We recognise that it is also important to help pupils to

understand their own ethnic identity and cultural heritage as well as helping them to understand that of others irrespective of whether the school serves or is located in an ethnically diverse community.

• the education of all

We have the duty to care for all, with preferential consideration for the poor, and to ensure that we provide for those who are socially, academically, physically or emotionally disadvantaged. We are committed tp promoting community cohesion.

• moral principles

Our belief in the Gospel message commits us to be in the forefront of the movement for social

and racial justice and harmony. We believe this is fundamental to the common good. We aim to

prepare our young people to serve as witnesses to these moral and spiritual values in the wider

world.

 Consequently, we will strive to ensure that:

• any person recruited to the service of the school, whether as a member of staff or a volunteer, is made fully aware of our aims and objectives and required to support them;
• children who are admitted to the school and their families are fully aware of our aims and

objectives and undertake to support them;

• all of our structures and policies are evaluated and kept under constant review in order to see that no individual is subject in any way to unlawful discrimination, whether intentional or unintentional, and to ensure that all are enabled to reach their full potential.

Finally, we acknowledge that minority groups have often suffered disadvantage due to prejudice or ignorance. We recognise that it is all too easy for the structures of institutions to result in

“inequality by default”. We therefore commit ourselves to take positive steps to examine our

policies and practice and to change them where necessary.

September 2021