VALUES, VISION, PRIORITIESEquality Duty

A commitment to equality, diversity and community cohesion is a shared commitment to educational excellence and equality for all sections of our school community. It helps us to focus attention on improving planning, decision making, resource allocation and the monitoring and evaluation of our achievements.

Under the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 it is unlawful for a school to discriminate against a student or prospective student by treating them less favourably because of their:

• sex;
• race;
• disability;
• religion or belief;
• sexual orientation;
• gender reassignment;
• pregnancy or maternity.

These are known as the “Protected Characteristics”. The Act defines four kinds of unlawful behaviour – direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Beyond this we also consider both socio-economic and age related factors within our commitment to equality.

At Wirral Grammar School for Boys, we are committed to building a cohesive school community in which we:

• Tackle all types of discrimination;
• Celebrate the diversity of our school and the wider world through our commitment to the International Schools Award framework and our extensive charity work
• Promote equality of opportunity and outcome;
• Build good relationships between people of different ethnic groups;
• Meet our statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Our Approach

1. Commitment and engagement:

• All senior staff are expected to lead on the implementation of equality objectives in their respective areas (Achievement, Pupil Welfare, Teaching, Staff Professional Development, Spiritual Moral & Cultural Dimensions)
• We will publish details of our equalities policy, including our “equality objectives”, on a dedicated page on our school website (in line with the Equality Act 2010 Specific Duty).

2. Ethos:

• We will reinforce our commitment to equality of opportunity through our publicity materials, such as Nuntius and including the school website.
• We will encourage everyone in the school community to have a positive self-image and high self-esteem so that they may develop their potential.
• We will model relationships which promote mutual respect and value similarities and differences, and face equality issues openly.
• We will ensure that issues of equality, diversity and respect for human rights are promoted through all aspects of school life, including in school assemblies
• We will use our focus on school charity work that is led by our pupils to promote equality issues.

3. Curriculum:

• We will ensure that our curriculum promotes our equality principles so that they form an integral part of what we do.
• We will use our commitment to the International School Award Programme to embed issues of equality and fairness.
• We will provide opportunities for students to meet people from other cultural, religious and social backgrounds, through taking part in trips and visits, meeting visitors to our school and participating in collaborative partnership projects. Current examples of this include our partner project with two schools in South Africa and our engagement in the Comenius programme with  links to schools in Norway, Turkey, Holland and Spain
• We will monitor participation by groups in extra-curricular activities, trips and visits, through our on-line system for organising school visits (EVOLVE)

4. Addressing discrimination and harassment:

• We will record and report all incidents which are discriminatory.
• We will adopt a robust response to all forms of bullying and harassment, in accordance with our “Anti-bullying Policy” and in doing so we will engage our pupils through the lead that they take on the school’s Anti-Bullying Committee and Peer Support Group.
• We will monitor exclusion rates and the use of other sanctions by ethnicity, Free School Meals (FSM), Looked After Children (LAC) and Special Educational Needs (SEN).
• We will monitor recruitment of staff and ensure that all job advertisements include an equal opportunities statement.

5. Achievement and progress:

• We will monitor data on progress, behaviour and attendance by different learner groups at least once per term, including by ethnicity, gender, FSM, LAC and SEN.
• Heads of Department and Heads of Year will monitor and evaluate the attainment and progress of different learner groups, including by ethnicity, FSM, LAC and SEN.
• Tailored support and intervention strategies will be implemented to tackle the causes of under-achievement of individual students.