Meeting Our Equality Duty

St Joseph's Catholic Primary School is a school with a strong Catholic ethos which is truly inclusive and actively celebrates diversity. We believe that all members of our community are of equal worth and we want this to be the experience of everyone. We demonstrate our commitment to this by prioritising the well-being and progress of every child in our school and by striving to ensure that all members of our community are treated fairly in all situations.

We believe that the Equality Act provides us with a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people. It also ensures that we tackle any issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups represented in the school as soon as we find any.

Our approach to equality is based on the following 7 key principles:

• All learners are of equal value
• We recognise, respect and value difference and understand that diversity is a strength
• We foster positive attitudes and relationships
• We foster a shared sense of cohesion and belonging
• We observe good equalities practice for our staff
• We have the highest expectations of all our children
• We work to raise standards for all pupils, but especially for the most vulnerable

Having looked at our school’s improvement priorities and carefully analysed pupil data, we have identified 4 equality objectives which we want to achieve over the next 3 years. We have also taken into account national priorities that have been identified by OFSTED and the priorities for Camden which have been identified by the Education Commission.

We will measure our success in meeting the Public Service Equality Duties by the extent to which we achieve these objectives over the next 3 years and by how much outcomes improve for all priority groups within the school.

Our Equality Objectives for 2023-2026 are:

• We will strive to ensure that all pupils by the end of Y6 make progress at least in line with the progress of pupils with similar starting points including pupils with Disabilities and Special Educational Needs (DSEN) and statements of DSEN.
• We will achieve a year on year (over three years) reduction in the attainment gap in English and Maths at the end of KS2 between pupils within the school’s identified groups (for example, Free School Meals (FSM), English as an Additional Language (EAL), refugees) and their peers.
• We will increase participation by FSM, DSEN, EAL and refugee pupils in after school clubs, extra curricular activities (for example, instrumental tuition) and other extended school provision.