Becket Keys Church of England School seeks to foster a supportive, welcoming and respectful culture, based on our Christian values, which allows us all to question and challenge discrimination and inequality, resolve conflicts peacefully, promote equality and work and learn in a safe environment.
‘I appointed you to bear fruit, fruit that will last.’ (John 15:16)
Equality Information and objectives
1. Contextual information
Our school opened in September 2012. We have 150 students in each year group with six tutor groups of 25 students. There is a fairly even split of boys and girls in the school. The largest group of students is those of a white British background with the rest representing a range of other ethnic groups. A small number of students speak English as an additional language (two or three per year group). The proportion of students known to be eligible for free school meals is below the national average. We have a lower than the national average number of students who have educational health care plans. We are aware that there will be students in our school community who are homosexual and others who are uncertain about their sexuality. We have some students who are experiencing gender dysphoria and others who may simply not want to conform to gender stereotypes. We also know that everyone belongs to at least one of the protected groups.
2. Fostering good relations information
In our school we take pride in the range of work we do to foster good relations and this is regularly reflected in parent surveys (see https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk/parent-view-results/survey/result/125180/1).
You can read more about our approach to fostering good relations in the following policies: Equal Opportunities and Safeguarding & Child Protection Policy and Procedure.
We aim to foster good relations by:
- Providing regular staff training on aspects of equality and
- Ensuring the whole school environment and curriculum reflects the diverse community within which we We aim for all students / students in our school to see themselves reflected in the stories we read, the assemblies we hold and in our displays and curriculum.
- Giving clear messages about expectations as part of British society and as part of our school values
- Constantly reviewing and developing the PSHE Education curriculum so that it provides opportunities to explore values and attitudes, understand similarities and differences and builds understanding of different groups and our own
- The charity work that is led by staff and students also helps to foster good
Fostering good relations objective(s)
- Provide further staff training on enabling positive open discussions about protected characteristics and dealing with issues of indirect discrimination especially where protected characteristics intersect.
3. Eliminating discrimination
We work in partnership with parents and carers, students and students and the whole school community to prevent all forms of bullying and prejudiced based behaviour and you can read more about our approach to bullying and eliminating discrimination in our Anti- Bullying Policy, Equal Opportunities Policy and our Relationship and Sex Education Policy.
Any bullying, racism and homophobic incidents are recorded and logged for tracking purposes. We record all incidences of discrimination or harassment.
These records are used to inform the tutorial and collective worship programme and the PSHE education curriculum and to support and track individual students / students. Incidents are discussed during pastoral meetings and reported governors’ and our expert sponsor The Russell Education Trust (RET).
Our surveys show that parents feel we deal with bullying well. Students tell us through our focus groups that they also feel this way.
The results from the student focus groups provide evidence that the vast majority of students feel safe at school. The reported rate of bullying is extremely low. Students are encouraged to report any concerns in the early stages. They have undertaken this seriously and let us know of any concerns they have about themselves or other individuals. Older students actively engage with younger students and play a leading role in irradicating all forms of prejudice and disrespectful character. Older students are involved mentoring, perfecting and the induction younger students.
Our understanding of how discrimination could affect groups of our students / students is further informed by national research and guidance.
There are very few incidents of bullying of any kind. Any reported incidents are dealt with in a personal manner so that students are able to talk through incidents and are involved in deciding what action should be taken. Students are taught the difference between bullying and unkindness and react to the latter promptly to stop things escalating into the former.
We actively encourage parents and carers to help report incidents of unkindness to us so we can intervene quickly. We are pleased to say that we have received very few complaints from parents and carers about how we are dealing with bullying and discrimination.
Eliminating discrimination objective(s)
- To continually engage in consultation with the whole school community through the school council and with a variety of protected groups of students to always hold a clear picture of the students’ lived experience in school.
- Continually raise even higher our expectations of character as students progress through the school encouraging greater levels of responsibility and service to the school community.
4. Advance equality of opportunity information
We monitor individual student progress regularly with notable check points at the midyear stage and end of year. We monitor progress of key learner groups and compare their progress with the rest of the school population (and similar groups in our RET schools). These reports are presented to the Governing Body and RET. We are proud to confirm that most members of these groups are performing in line with (or above) the rest of the school population. Where there is underachievement, we have put in place intervention/booster classes after school, at lunchtime or before school. The aim of these groups is to enable students to reduce the gap with the rest of the school population.
The SEND Policy, SEND Information Report, Pupil Premium report and our approach for Gifted and Talented students can be found on our website.
Advance equality of opportunity objective(s)
- Continue to respond actively to any indications of underperformance with groups of students.
Our Accessibility Plan includes actions in place to support equality of access.