Equality Audit (2016)

General /
  • The school promotes the equal opportunities of all pupils and staff in a variety of ways and very effectively ….”the school promotes equality of opportunity extremely well.” - Ofsted 2015 (page 4).
  • Information is monitored during the year to enable governors and staff to continue to improve provision. Some of this information helps us to understand the school context and need. The school also completes the Devon SEN Audit and framework with specific evidence about SEND pupils.
  • Ofsted 2015 (see link below – page 1) was very positive about the care and support available to disadvantaged pupils at the school – “The care, support and guidance offered to disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs is excellent. This enables these pupils to make rapid progress. Safeguarding of pupils is excellent.”

Achievement /
  • Pupil performance data is analysed and discussed by staff and governors regularly. The school has a large majority of pupils who qualify for Pupil Premium and in addition a significant minority i.e. about 42% of SEND pupils. There are very few Ethnic Minority pupils and a small minority of Children in Care (CiC) in the school.
  • There are no significant differences between the performance of these groups and the school has consistently performed well in national comparisons. There have been times when the performance of Pupil Premium children has surpassed Non Pupil Premium.
  • Gaps that emerge during the year are analysed particularly by staff and action taken accordingly. This includes the placement of staff across the school at the start and changes during the academic year.
  • Pupil Premium Action Plan/Reports for the last two years are listed in the Statutory Section of the school web site – see link below:
  • The report listed above contains comparative achievement information from the Foundation Stage to Key Stage 2.

Attendance /
  • Attendance is monitored daily with weekly meetings to review individuals, groups and overall trends. Attendance data is promoted weekly and in fortnightly newsletters. Action is taken promptly to address concerns and the school receives significant support from the LEA every week to ensure that attendance is at least equal to national i.e. 96%.
  • The school also employs additional staff (EWO, Family Support Worker) to support vulnerable children with attendance being one of the issues they address.
  • There are no significant differences between groups of children in terms of attendance at the school. There was an issue in relation to the early years attendance previously but this is now at least equal to older pupils and at times it surpasses. Parents/carers and indeed children have responded well to school action. The challenge for the future is to improve the attendance of nursery aged children which is non statutory but below other groups in the school.

Curriculum /
  • The curriculum is intended to engage all children and be accessible to every pupil. Visits are in integral part of the provision, often in the local environment and staff take particular care to enable all to be included. Risk Assessments for visits and after hour clubs take account of all pupils needs.
  • There have been two physical improvements to the school site recently to enable all SEND pupils to participate in all aspects of the curriculum:
  1. Tarmac path to Forest School area
  2. Outdoor lift to upper playground
  • There are School Council representatives from each class and there are supported by a teacher who ensures that all pupils have a voice and are able to participate. The council meet regularly and have made significant contribution to school improvement e.g. ideas about attendance.
  • Assemblies also are diverse, taking account of the multi cultural nature of our country, rather than the rather restricted context of the local community.
  • There school also has developed special days to promote aspects of the curriculum across all year groups e.g. Chinese New Year, Divali.
  • The overall structure of the curriculum is available for parents/carers and others on the school web site – see link below for current year:


Behaviour /
  • There are reporting and recording systems in place in the school for bullying and racial prejudice. Serious concerns are recorded in the Behaviour Log with racial incidents highlighted in green.
  • Governors monitor and report on this data. Staff take effective action quickly in relation to bullying and children have spoken positively abut relationships in the school – see Ofsted Report2015 (page 5)

Positive Images /
  • Staff would take account of the need to promote positive equality images when making decisions about resources and curriculum organisation e.g. library books, religious artefacts, PSHE etc. This would also be reflected in school assemblies and class “circle time” sessions.

Annual Events /
  • The school acknowledges certain events and festivals during the year that promote a greater understanding of the diversity of our country, our responsibilities as citizens and British heritage.

Premises /
  • The school environment is made as accessible as possible for pupils, parents/carers and staff. All areas of the buildings are now accessible following improvements made to the building (see above).
  • There school has been particularly successful this year at improving parent/carers attendance to particular events e.g. Stay & Play (Foundation), Reading Meetings (Years 2/3), Mothers Day Assembly (all), Christmas Fayre.

School Information /
  • All new parents/carers are consulted on ways in which the school can communicate most effectively with choices being made available. The newsletter is now fortnightly and is deliberately fairly simple accessible in structure and length.
  • The school now has a facebook page which has proved quite popular with parents/carers
  • And the school web site is designed specifically to encourage comments and contributions form pupils, parents/carers and others. The content is monitored by the Headteacher however, prior to publication. Past pupils often contribute as well.

  • The school does not produce a prospectus now because there appears to be little demand in the electronic age with parents/carers access to the school web site and facebook page.

Equality in practice /
  • There is a Staff Handbook provided for all staff every year (or on appointment) which is updated regularly and takes account of staff responsibility in relation to equality. All staff would be clear that they need to make “reasonable adjustments” in terms of provision and curriculum access for pupils and parents/carers.
  • The Equality Policy is reviewed and adopted every year by Governors as part of the Annual Cycle.

Recruitment /
  • Governors and staff have received training in Recruitment and follow agreed national and local procedures in terms of equality, safeguardingof children and the recruitment of staff.
  • All posts are advertised with a clear job description. Deadlines are followed and reference taken up for all short listed candidates. The Person Specification is made available to all applicants and is used by governors to make decisions about short listing. All candidates are asked same/similar questions at interview. References are read after the interview to assist in the final decision process. All unsuccessful candidates are informed by telephone (where possible) with an opportunity to receive feedback. And every applicant, as well as short listed candidates, receives a reply in writing after the successful candidate has accepted the post.

Review of Policy /
  • All policies are routinely reviewed by Governors as part of the Annual Cycle. Policy statements and practice would be checked for accuracy, changes in practice/provision and in terms of the potential to disadvantage pupils or adults in the school community.
  • Both the Equality Policy and this Equality Audit are available on the Statutory Section of school web site – see link below:

Targeted Finance /
  • The governing Body has clear and transparent systems in place to show how Pupil Premium and SEN funding is used in the school as well as the impact upon – see below:

  • “Governors understand the school’s performance data well and direct funds to where it is most needed. A good example is the way that pupil premium funding was directed after governors and leaders saw that a gap would open in 2014. The gap is on track to close in 2015, due to careful targeting of resources.”
Ofsted 2015 (page 4)

01.04.16

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