At Mount Street Nursery and Infant School we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils and staff; in addition we aim to provide equality for all those receiving services from the school, irrespective of disability, race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership.

These are known as the “protected characteristics”. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which all those connected with the school feel proud of their identity and able to participate fully in all aspects of school life.

The achievement of all pupils is central to our core purpose; this will be monitored and we will use this data to support pupils, raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching. We will tackle any form of discrimination by the positive promotion of equality, challenging bullying and stereotypes and creating an environment which champions respect for all. At Mount street Infants we believe that diversity is a strength which should be respected and celebrated by all those who learn, teach and visit our school.

Our policy is to confront any form of inequality. Any inappropriate views expressed by pupils or adults in the school will not be tolerated and will be challenged by all members of staff.

Where pupils are involved in making inappropriate remarks they will be given simple explanations of acceptable behaviours. We operate equality of opportunity in all our day to day working practices and we aim to provide all our pupils with the opportunity to succeed and to reach the highest level of personal achievement.

We recognise our responsibility to establish equality for all learners, staff, other members of the school community regardless of their race, gender, disability, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership as defined within the Equality Act 2010.

We have developed, in consultation with stakeholders, a Strategic Equality Plan (SEP) the purpose of which is to fulfil the duties to promote equality for people with ‘protected characteristics’ and embed fairness and equality at the heart of our school community and in all aspects of our plans and policies.
The governing body has set out its commitment to equality and diversity within this plan and it will continue to do all it can to ensure that the school is fully inclusive to pupils and responsive to their needs based on the various protected characteristics.

The governing body will:

• Seek to ensure that no individual is discriminated against when applying for jobs at our school.
• Take all reasonable steps to ensure that the school environment gives equal access to people with disabilities.
• Strive to make all communications as inclusive as possible for pupils, parents and carers.
• Ensure that no child is discriminated against whilst in our school.