The Public Sector Equality Duty had been in place since 2010.
Here’s a brief reminder of what all schools need to do to be compliant.
- Publish ‘Equality Information’ annually. This is a document that describes how your school ensures that pupils are free from victimisation and harassment, how you foster good relations with people who do or do not share protected characteristics and how you advance equality of opportunity. You don’t need to write a new document each year, but you might have new things to add about how you deal with societal or local issues; supporting groups of people with protected characteristics, or addressing challenges, such as online misogyny or supporting children with disabilities in school.
- Develop and publish at least one equality objective that you will focus on for the 4-year cycle which begins on 1st April 2025 and lasts till 2029.
- You must still produce and publish a current Accessibility Plan as part of your legal duties under the PSED. It runs for a 3 year cycle.
If you have a school improvement SLA package from NCC you are welcome to request support to write or check any of the above, or to have help to explain the context of equalities in the curriculum and your chosen objectives to your governing body. They have ultimate responsibility for the duty being met.
Please email gill.finch@northumberland.gov.uk if you would like to request this support.
There are a number of resources to support Northumberland schools in setting challenging and meaningful objectives and in understanding some of the wider inequalities contexts.
There is the termly Equalities Update on the Northumberland Education web site.On the Padlet you will also find some ideas for potential Equality Objectives.One objective that you may like to consider setting is that staff will develop awareness and use of de-stigmatising and sensitive language when speaking about marginalised people or those with protected characteristics. There is a guide to some useful, trusted resources here.
