Protected Characteristics

As a Catholic school we promote the Gospel values of love and forgiveness. We welcome and value everyone in our school, celebrating and valuing our differences, our uniqueness and that we are all equally loved by God.

We aim to ensure that pupils are happy and excited about living and learning in a community full of difference and diversity.

To ensure that our children are taught to live out these values, the school has adopted the 'No Outsiders in Our School' text based approach, through which our children learn about equality and diversity. This is one aspect of how we teach children about equality and diversity through the curriculum. 

The Equality Act 2010 requires schools to fulfil the following general duties:

1. To eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under this act.

2. To advance equality of opportunity between persons who share relevant protected characteristics and persons who do not share it.

3. To foster good relations between persons who share relevant protected characteristics and persons who do not share it.

At St Vincent's, we are committed to ensuring equality of education, opportunity and treatment for all pupils, staff and others particularly those who share relevant protected characteristics. We aim to ensure that those with relevant protected characteristics are not treated less favorably in any procedures or practices whilst also developing a culture of inclusion and diversity in which people feel free to disclose their needs and participate fully in school life.  The achievement of all groups will be monitored and we will use this data to raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching. We will make reasonable adjustments to ensure the school environment is accessible as possible.

At this school we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by those who learn, teach and visit here. We encourage all of our community to 'let their light shine'.

Teachers use ‘No outsiders in our school’ as a resource using a quality text. These beautiful picture books are used to explore themes and further information is given in the Long Term Plan below. This resource will be used to enrich further our PSHE curriculum, where children are taught to recognise and celebrate diversity and difference in their own community and in the wider society. The programme looks at using one picture book per half term, which is used to deliver one aspect of the Equality Act.