Inclusion and Equality Information
For information on Hampshire's services for young people with special educational needs and disability, advice and support service, please click below:
We hope you will find all the information you are looking for on our site, including our Inclusion Policy which can be found here and our SEND information report, attached at the bottom of this page. However, please do not hesitate to contact the office should you have any further questions.
Public Sector Equality Duty
What is the Public Sector Equality Duty?
The single Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) came into effect in April 2011 as a result of the Equality Act. It requires public bodies to promote equality and replaced three pre-existing duties relating to disability, race and gender equality.
The PSED applies to all maintained and independent schools, including academies, and maintained and non-maintained special schools.
Protected Characteristics
The Department for Education (DfE) has published non-statutory advice that sets out schools' obligations under the PSED.
Paragraph 5.1 explains that the PSED extends to the following protected characteristics:
- Race, disability, sex, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment
Paragraph 5.1 of the document explains that the PSED has three main elements. In carrying out their functions, public bodies are required to have due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
- Foster good relations across all characteristics, and between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
Due Regard
Paragraph 5.4 of the DfE's advice says that 'due regard' has been defined in case law and means giving "relevant and proportionate consideration to the duty".
For schools, this means:
- Decision makers must be aware of the duty to have due regard when making a decision or taking an action, and must assess whether it may have implications for people with particular protected characteristics
- Schools should consider equality implications before and at the time that they develop policy and take decisions, not as an afterthought, and they need to keep them under review on a continuing basis
- The PSED has to be integrated into the carrying out of the school’s functions, and the analysis necessary to comply with the duty has to be carried out seriously, rigorously and with an open mind
What does our school do to eliminate discrimination ?
We have set a clear vision and values which expect all our staff to act in a non-discriminating manner and be mindful to avoid actions that will be deemed as such to the public and our wider community.
We have up-to-date and ratified policies which set out a clear message that discrimination is not tolerated. This includes the staff code of conduct, rights respecting behaviour, anti-bullying, safeguarding and child protection policies.
We understand that it is unlawful to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability.
The governing body and school leaders involved in recruitment will avoid unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion, opportunities for training, pay and benefits, discipline and selection for redundancy.
Through a structured PSHE curriculum offer (including SCARF curriculum), assemblies, workshops and visits, equalities are discussed with and taught to the children, exemplifying the British Values and school values that we believe in. Planning across all areas of the curriculum uses resources and case-studies which reflect diversity and challenge stereotypes.
School display space is used to promote awareness of protected characteristics and our EARA (Equality and Rights Advocates) group work with other local schools to promote and develop an inclusive ethos for the school; this is shared through their position on School Parliament and initiatives such as leading assemblies.
Our Rights Respecting ethos recognises (Article 2 and 23 in particular) that all children have rights set out in the UNCRC, and individual children and young people shouldn’t be discriminated against when these rights are realised.
Promoting diversity through the protected characteristics
We have adopted these symbols, from Picture News, to use across the school whenever one of the characteristics is referenced. Our EARA group have been busy creating a new display space, where these are more prominently displayed alongside books which feature characters representing them. In our Infant classrooms, these stories are shared under the umbrella term of 'celebrating difference'; this becomes more refined in the Junior classes where individual characteristics are referenced. Each class has a set text per half term to share as part of their PHSE provision. These are carefully mapped to link with their learning and experiences so all protected characteristics are understood within a context by the end of Year 6.
Equality Tree October 2024
In our school library, our EARA group produced our new equality tree filled with equality-driven books, covering all the protected characteristics. The tree is designed to promote equality-driven choices when visiting the library.
Protected Characteristics' Assembly, December 2022
Hampshire Governors Conference, October 2022
This month, we were invited to speak at the Hampshire Governor conference by Minnie Moore, Hampshire’s Advisor on Equality and Diversity Education. A selection of our more senior members of the School parliament worked with Year 6 to put together a presentation which reflected how Pupil Voice is in action at Langrish and the impact this has. The children then gave their presentation to representatives from approximately 50 schools across the county, sharing their message about the importance and power of Pupil Voice and participation. Not only did the pupils enjoy the opportunity to have their voices heard on a bigger stage but they were also inspired by the work of secondary pupils who were presenting alongside them; the confidence with which they spoke and the range of pupil groups speaking on behalf of their peers for direct change by children just a few years older than them was truly motivational.