The Royal School is committed to equal opportunities and aims to be a school where everyone:
- Is respected and respects others.
- Takes part in the life of the school.
- Achieves to their potential.
- Develops skills essential to life.
- Exercises choice.
We share the Royal Borough’s belief that no-one should receive less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, disability, physical ability, age, income, religion/belief, colour, ethnic or national origin, marital status, gender, sexuality, nationality or trade union membership.
“The Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead values the rich diversity, not only of its local community but of those people from the wider community who visit and work in the borough”.
“The Council is committed to providing high quality services fairly and equitably to the whole community”.
“The council recognises the importance of having a diverse and representative workforce able to meet the service needs of all the community. The Council is determined to maintain equality and fairness of treatment in all its dealings with staff and the public”
(RBWM Diversity & Equality Policy).
The Legal framework and supporting documents
The following legislation informs our school Equal Opportunities Policy:
- Equal Pay Act 1970 (as amended).
- Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 .
- Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and 1986 and 2005 amendments.
- The Race Relations Act 1976, the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003.
- Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and 2005.
- Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
- The Human Rights Act 1998 and 2000.
- The Part-time employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.
- The Special Needs and Disability Act 2001.
- The Gender Recognition Act 2004 and Sex Discrimination Regulations 2005.
- The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
The laws are administered by:
- Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC).
- Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) .
- Disability Rights Commission.
School Structures, Roles and Responsibilities
The general duties of the school in relation to equal opportunities are the responsibility of the headteacher, all members of staff and those involved in working at the school.
The Governing Body is responsible for the provision of a policy on equal opportunities and the Head teacher is responsible for the implementation of the policy and for reporting on matters related to the policy to the governors.
All members of staff are responsible for seeing that Equal Opportunities receive due consideration in the operation of the areas of the curriculum for which they are responsible.
Staff are responsible for the day to day operation of the policy, in and out of the classroom.
To help the Royal School in its equal opportunities work, it also has the following policies in place:
- Harassment & Discrimination policy.
- Reporting Racial Incidents policy.
- Accessibility plan.
- Admissions Policy.
- Inclusion Policy.
- Behaviour Management Policy.
- Child Protection Policy .
- SEN Policy.
- Pay Policy.
- Recruitment and Selection Policy.
- Staff Grievance Policy.
Pupils & Education
Pupils are admitted to The Royal School without discrimination or prejudice, in accordance with the published admission policy.
Disciplinary procedures will be applied equitably, regardless of race, colour or nationality.
Pupils will be made aware that racism in any form (name calling, graffiti, the wearing of badges, introduction of racist materials to school etc.) will not be tolerated. Pupils guilty of such behaviour may be removed from lessons, sanctioned and their parents/carers contacted. Persistent racism may result in a pupil’s exclusion from the school.
The Royal School is committed to providing personalised support for all pupils, including those with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD), special talents and those who are very able in one or more subjects. We will ensure that they are well supported, encouraged and rewarded, and that their achievements are celebrated.
We will ensure that gifted and talented pupils have the necessary opportunities to use and develop their abilities and to excel.
Pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities
It is recognised that some pupils have special educational needs. These needs will be met according to the procedures laid down in the Special Needs Code of Practice and government legislation.
The Royal School will provide LDD pupils with appropriate opportunities to access a range of support, both inside and outside the classroom. The Royal School is fully committed to the duties placed on schools in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 and Disability Discrimination Act 2005.
In line with the Disability Discrimination Act2005 and the SEN Code of Practice, the Royal School is required to promote disability equality in its policies, procedures and curriculum.
The Royal School will ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to working conditions for disabled pupils in order that they can access the curriculum for and in line with the SEN policy of the school.
In addition we will ensure that disabled discrimination does not occur and that disabled people will not be placed at substantial disadvantage compared to others who are not disabled. This includes pupils who may be disabled but do not have a statement of special educational neither need or be at any stage of special needs assessment.
We will ensure that our policies, in particular in relation to admissions procedures, do not place disabled pupils at a disadvantage.
The Royal School will work with RBWM to audit the school for facilities and access for disabled people and for access to buildings, facilities and the curriculum. It will maintain updated written information on facilities and services and produce a plan to develop accessibility.
Teachers will take specific action to enable the effective participation of pupils with disabilities by:
- Planning appropriate amounts of time to allow for satisfactory completion of tasks.
- Planning opportunities, when necessary, for the development of skills in practical aspects of the curriculum.
- Identifying aspects of their pupil’s programmes of study and attainment targets that may present specific difficulties for individuals.
This policy should be read in conjunction with the Royal School’s SEN policy
The Curriculum
The Royal School will ensure that the Curriculum, including extra-curricular activities, meets the needs of all pupils and offers choice to all. Pupils will not be excluded from any part of the curriculum because of lack of funds.
Discrimination & Harassment:
The school will use the structures of its existing policies to support pupils who are victims of discrimination and to help modify the behaviour of those causing discrimination. All racist incidents will be reported to RBWM.
Parents
All parents will be encouraged to become actively involved in the education of their children. The Governing Body and the school's PTA will take steps to encourage representation of all parents.
Employment & the School as an Employer
As an employer, The Royal School is committed to the employment policies and practices of the Royal Borough for every member of staff, including part-time, agency and supply. This also includes opportunities for professional development.
The aim is to create an environment where Governors and Employees apply equality and fairness in employment practices. All decisions including advertising of vacancies, short listing, selection, induction, appraisal, training, development, promotion, and pay will be based on an objective and fair assessment of need.
The Royal School will ensure that all staff (including Governors) involved in recruitment are trained in equal opportunities practices and that procedures are fair, honest and open.
The school will monitor staff recruitment, retention and career development by ethnicity, gender, disability and age.
Gender
The Royal School is opposed to any direct or indirect discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or marital status. This will include any unequal treatment based on pregnancy.
Race/Religion
The Royal School is opposed to any direct or indirect discrimination based on race, colour, and religion, ethnic or national origin.
In line with the requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, the school fully understands the need to promote racial harmony and to plan opportunities for combating racism in our policies, procedures and curriculum.
We believe that The Royal School must be a safe place for everyone and we are committed to tackling racial discrimination, promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations.
We will tackle racial discrimination by monitoring the outcomes of opportunities at our school and by dealing with and reporting racist incidents.
We accept the definition of a racist incident adopted by the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report:
- “A racist incident is any incident that is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.”
Allegations of harassment and discrimination based on ethnicity will be investigated as far as possible, using the school’s usual disciplinary procedures, and racism will be directly challenged. Action will be taken to prevent the likelihood of recurrence. Our procedure for dealing with racist incidents will be made known to everyone at or connected with our school and through the school’s Harassment and Discrimination policy and its Reporting of Racist Incidents policy.
Disability
The Royal School is opposed to any discrimination against people with disabilities based on assumptions on their ability or otherwise to carry out the duties of a post in the school. Provision will be made for adjustments to the working conditions or environment where this is practicable.
The definition of disability is “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on an individual’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. The impairment must have lasted, or will last, at least 12 months or last the rest of an individual’s life. This does not mean that people with “disabilities” do not have “abilities” that are valuable within a working environment (Disability Discrimination Act 2005).
The Royal School is fully committed to the duties placed on schools in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 and Disability Discrimination Act 2005.
In line with the Disability Discrimination Act2005, the Royal School is required to promote disability equality in its policies, procedures and curriculum, the school will consider the needs of all people on the school premises at any time including:
- Pupils who may be disabled but do not have a statement of special educational needs or be on any stage of special needs assessment.
- Teachers and other school staff.
- Governors.
- Professionals from other agencies.
- Parents.
- All visitors to school.
The Royal School will ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to working conditions for disabled staff.
In addition we will ensure that discrimination does not occur and that disabled people will not be placed at substantial disadvantage compared to others who are not disabled.
The Royal School will work with the LA to audit the school for facilities and access for disabled people and for access to buildings, facilities and the curriculum. It will maintain updated written information on facilities and services and produce a plan to develop accessibility.
Age
The Royal School is opposed to any direct or indirect discrimination, based on age, towards any employee before, during or after employment.
The school must not subject any employee to harassment that violates an employee’s dignity, nor victimisation because they have made or intend to make a complaint of discrimination on the grounds of age. This right continues after the working relationship ends.
Political Affiliation
The Royal School also recognises its statutory obligation not to discriminate on the grounds of Trade Union or Political Affiliation.
Positive Action
The Royal School recognises that the avoidance of discrimination is not sufficient to ensure that equality of opportunity exists in the school. It will therefore give full consideration to measures of positive action that may assist in achieving the aims of this policy. Examples of such measures may include:
- Encouraging applications from specific groups that are under-represented in the school.
- Supporting training measures for under-represented groups.
- The use of job-sharing arrangements if practicable.
- Exploring the availability of childcare or other facilities that may be needed in the area that can be made available to employees in the school in order that they can be or remain to be employed.
Promoting equality of opportunity and good race relations amongst pupils and staff
These aspects of our race equality work will largely be done through monitoring and planning within the curriculum to reflect diversity and engage with teaching about discrimination and race equality. In addition, the Royal School will audit its policies and practices to identify areas of race equality for development.