Protected characteristics

At Morley Victoria we take every possible opportunity to celebrate and promote equality and diversity in our ever changing world. We firmly believe that in order for children to grow up and be respectful towards each and every person they meet in life, this must be taught in school and be promoted amongst the wider community. Everyone who comes into contact with our school has the right to do so, feeling that they are a welcome addition to our family and that they will receive the respect that they deserve. Everyone who comes into our school talks about its special 'feel' - this is as a result of the strong ethos that all stakeholders share and believe in. At Morley Victoria - everyone is welcome!

As a school we have decided to work towards the Cultural Cohension Quality Mark as we feel that this part of our school ethos is so vitally important.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act of 2010 requires us to publish information that demonstrates that we have due regard for the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010. As a school we pride ourselves in being able to:

• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
• Consult with a wide variety of stakeholders regarding the decisions that we make to promote equality and eliminate discrimination; including families, pupils, staff and members of the local community.

We understand the principle of the Act and the work needed to ensure that those with protected characteristics are not discriminated against and are given equality of opportunity.  We also actively promote Character Education across the curriculum and in every aspect of school life.

A protected characteristic under the act covers the groups listed below:

• age 
• disability
• race
• gender
• gender reassignment
• maternity and pregnancy
• religion and belief
• sexual orientation
• Marriage and Civil Partnership 

Morley Victoria Primary School is an inclusive school where we focus on the well-being and progress of every child and where all members of our community are of equal worth.  The children and all key stakeholders are at the heart of everything we do.  The protected characteristics are weaved through our PSHE curriculum  and the day to day routines of life at Morley Victoria and also link to our work on British Values.  The work we are undertaking towards achieving the Cultural Cohesion Quality Mark also directly links to this area too.

We believe that the Equality Act provides a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people. It also ensures that we continue to tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups.

Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles - these help us to eliminate discrimination:

1. All learners are of equal value.

2. We recognise, respect and celebrate difference.

3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.

4. We observe good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development. There is no gender pay gap at Morley Victoria.

5. We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist.

6. We have the highest expectations of all our children.

Equality Objectives

We are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background. Should anyone feel any effects of inequality at Morley Victoria, we will seek to obtain the person's views and make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the feeling of inequality is eliminated.

In order to further support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching, we have set the following objectives:

Objective 1: To monitor and analyse pupil achievement by race, gender and disability; and act on any trends or patterns in the data that require additional support for pupils.

Objective 2: To raise levels of attainment in core subjects for vulnerable learners.

Objective 3: To review levels of family and pupil engagement in learning and school life, across all activities to ensure equity and fairness in access and engagement.

All of the above information is also discussed as part of staff induction to our school as it sits at the heart of everything we do.  Equal opportunities for all is always discussed at safeguarding, inclusion and governors meetings too.  If you would like discuss anything to do with Equality and Diversity with us, please book an appointment to come in and see us. You will be able to find our Equality and Diversity Policy in the Policies section of the website. Click here for a quick link.

Reading and Diversity

As you will know, reading is the 'Master Skill' at Morley Victoria and we aim to find exciting and engaging texts for every area of the curriculum. We have selected a range of texts for each year group that celebrates diversity. Please see the photographs to the left. For more information, please contact your child's class teacher.