Tewkesbury School recognises, and celebrates diversity, including that which exists within our student and staff populations and the communities we serve. We are committed to advancing equal opportunities for all and eliminating discrimination on any basis, including disability, ethnicity, sex, gender reassignment, age (except pupils), marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, and religion or belief.
At Tewkesbury School we recognise the following duties under the Equality Act 2010:-
The nine protected characteristics are: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; sexual orientation.
We do this by:
Equality and Diversity is about making a difference to the lives of the people we serve, treating all people with dignity and respect, and recognising the value of each individual. We are committed to ensuring that our services meet the varied and individual needs of children and young people in our school, that our employment practices are fair and promote equality and that we respect the wide variety of lifestyles and cultures, locally and nationally.
We aim to prepare children and young people for living within a diverse society with increasing global connections and a wide variety of values, beliefs and cultures.
We work hard to build strong and trusting relationships with our pupils and their families in order to harness their engagement and enjoyment in all aspects of school life. We recognise that pupils and family members may experience a range of different needs during different times in their lives and we endeavour to meet these needs by working in close partnership with relevant agencies.
At Tewkesbury School we recognise that supporting a diverse organisation is a continuous process where long term and sustainable plans are key. We recognise that attracting, advancing, developing, engaging and retaining a diversity of talent is important; alongside delivering equality of opportunity for our pupils whilst fostering an inclusive culture where differences are valued and enhanced. Tewkesbury School holds a long and deep commitment to welcoming diversity, examples of which are demonstrated on a day-to-day basis throughout the school. The culture of Tewkesbury School has supported the aim to positively encourage EDI.
All learners and potential learners are of equal value and benefit equally from school policies, practices and programmes, whatever their ability, ethnicity or national identity, religious background, gender or cultural identity.
Treating people equally can mean treating them differently. Policies, practices and programmes do not discriminate, but may be differentiated to take account of differences of life experience, outlook and background, and in the kinds of barriers and disadvantage which people may face, in relation to:
Policies and programmes promote:
Steps are taken to positively promote equality, especially where there is evidence of inequality and to ensure that policies and procedures benefit all employees and potential employees in recruitment, professional development and promotion:
In addition to avoiding or minimising possible negative impacts of policies and programmes, we take opportunities to maximise positive impacts by addressing, reducing and removing inequalities and barriers that already exist between:
We recognise that the actions resulting from a policy statement such as this are what make a difference.
The curriculum offered at Tewkesbury School encourages children to develop positive attitudes about themselves as well as to people who are different from themselves.
Equality and diversity is embedded as far as possible in all areas of the curriculum and pupils are given opportunities to explore prejudice and discrimination, and to positively explore differences in relation to race/ethnicity, religion/belief, gender and disability.
We do this by:
All staff at Tewkesbury School will have their professional development needs met in relation to this agenda. This includes staff across all sections (teaching, associate and ancillary) and the support that will be provided to meet their training needs. New staff will be made aware of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy and other practices in relation to this.
All staff have a duty to act in accordance with this policy and treat colleagues with dignity at all times, and not discriminate against or harass other members of staff, regardless of their status. This policy does not form part of any employee’s terms and conditions of employment and is not intended to have contractual effect. It is provided for guidance to all members of staff at the school. The school reserves the right to amend its content at any time.
This Policy applies to the school’s employees, whether permanent, temporary, casual, part-time or on fixed-term contracts, to job applicants and to individuals such as agency staff and consultant volunteers and governors who are not employees but who work at the school (collectively referred to as “Staff” in this policy).
All Staff must set an appropriate standard of behaviour, lead by example and ensure that those they manage adhere to the policy and promote the school’s aims and objectives with regard to equal opportunities. Any questions about the content or application of this policy should be referred to the HR Manager in the first instance.
This policy applies to all aspects of the school’s relationship with Staff and to relations between Staff members at all levels. This includes:
The school will take appropriate steps to accommodate the requirements of different religions, cultures, and domestic responsibilities.
The school aims to ensure that no job applicant suffers discrimination because of any of the protected characteristics above. The school’s recruitment procedures are reviewed regularly to ensure that individuals are treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Job selection criteria are regularly reviewed to ensure that they are relevant to the job and are not disproportionate.
Job advertisements will avoid using wording that may discourage particular groups from applying. The school will take steps to ensure that its vacancies are advertised to a diverse labour market and, where relevant, to particular groups that have been identified as disadvantaged or underrepresented in the School.
Applicants will not be asked about past or current pregnancy or future intentions related to pregnancy. Applicants will not be asked about matters concerning age, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or gender reassignment without first considering whether such matters are relevant and may lawfully be taken into account.
The school is required by law to ensure that all members of Staff are entitled to work in the UK. Assumptions about immigration status will not be made based on appearance or apparent nationality. All prospective members of Staff, regardless of nationality, must be able to produce original documents (such as a passport) before employment starts, to satisfy current immigration legislation.
The school is an organisation that uses the Disclosure and Barring Service to assess candidates’ suitability for positions of trust working in an environment with children and young people. The school complies fully with the DBS code of practice and undertakes to treat all candidates fairly.
The school undertakes not to discriminate unlawfully against any candidate who is required to provide information (a Disclosure) through this process. Having a criminal record will not necessarily prevent a candidate from working with the school. Whether or not it does will depend on the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of the offences.
As a disclosure is part of the school’s recruitment process, the school encourages all candidates called to interview to provide details of any criminal record at any early stage of the application process. The school guarantees that only those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process will see this information.
Unless the nature of the position is such that the school may ask questions about an individual’s entire criminal record, the school will only ask about “unspent” convictions as defined in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.
The school will ensure that it discusses with the candidate the relevance of any offence to the job in question. A candidate’s failure to reveal information directly relevant to the job could result in withdrawal of an offer of employment.
Staff training needs will be identified through informal and formal performance management.
All Staff will be given appropriate access to training to enable them to progress within the school and all promotion decisions will be on the basis of merit.
The composition and movement of Staff at different levels will be reviewed from time to time to ensure equality of opportunity at all levels of the organisation.
Where appropriate the school will take steps to identify and remove unnecessary or unjustifiable barriers and provide appropriate facilities and conditions of service to meet the special needs of disadvantaged or underrepresented groups.
The school’s conditions of service, benefits and facilities will be reviewed from time to time to ensure that they are available to all Staff who should have access to them and that there are no unlawful obstacles to accessing them.
The school will ensure that redundancy criteria and procedures are fair and objective and are not directly or indirectly discriminatory.
The school will also ensure that disciplinary procedures and penalties applied are without discrimination and are carried out fairly and uniformly for all Staff, whether they result in disciplinary warnings, dismissal or other disciplinary action.
If a member of Staff is disabled, or becomes disabled, in the course of their employment with the school, they are encouraged to tell us about their condition. This is to enable us to support the member of Staff as much as possible.
If a member of Staff experiences difficulties at work because of their disability, they may wish to contact their Line Manager to discuss any reasonable adjustments to their working conditions or duties which they consider to be reasonable and necessary or which would assist in the performance of their duties.
The Line Manager may wish to consult with the member of Staff and their medical adviser(s) about possible adjustments. Careful consideration will be given to any such proposals and they will be accommodated where reasonable, practicable and proportionate in all the circumstances of the case. Nevertheless, there may be circumstances where it would not be reasonable for the school to accommodate a particular adjustment and in such circumstances it will ensure that it provides the member of Staff with its reasons and try to find an alternative solution where possible.
The school will monitor the physical features of its premises to consider whether they place disabled Staff, job applicants or service users at a substantial disadvantage compared to other Staff. Where reasonably practicable and proportionate the school will take steps to improve access for disabled Staff and service users.
The school will treat seriously and will take action where appropriate concerning all complaints of discrimination, harassment or victimisation on any of the protected characteristics made by any of its staff, students or other third parties.
Any member of staff who considers that they may have been unlawfully discriminated against, victimised or harassed within the meaning of this policy should discuss the matter in the first instance with their Line Manager or, if inappropriate under the circumstances of the case, with the HR Manager. In some cases, it may be possible to resolve the matter informally and reach a satisfactory resolution.
If an employee is accused of unlawful discrimination, victimisation or harassment, the school will investigate the matter fully. In the course of the investigation the employee will be given the opportunity to respond to the allegation and provide an explanation for their actions.
If the School concludes that the claim is false or malicious then the complainant may be subject to disciplinary action.
If on the other hand the school concludes that the employee’s action amounts to unlawful discrimination, victimisation or harassment they may be subject to disciplinary action under the School’s Disciplinary Policy and Procedure, up to and including summary dismissal for gross misconduct.
