A new Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010. The Act requires schools to demonstrate that they are taking action on equality in policymaking, the delivery of services and public sector employment.  The Act  establishes the following nine protected characteristics:

• Age (The protected characteristic applies to schools as employers, but not with regard to the treatment of pupils and prospective pupils)
• Disability
• Gender reassignement
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion and belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

From our school’s perspective, the Act covers all aspects of school life which are to do with how we treat our pupils and prospective pupils, and their parent and carers; how we treat our employees; and how we treat members of the local community. As a result, our school has a general duty and certain specific duties.

General Duty

Since 6th April 2011 Lakeside Primary School has been bound by a clause in the Equality Act 2010 which is known as the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). It has three components which we must have ‘due regard’ to the need to:

a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act

b) advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

c) foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

Specific Duties

In order to fulfil the three aims of the general duty, we have two sets of specific duties:

1. To publish information which demonstrates their compliance with the duty to have due regard for the three aims of the general duty

2. To prepare and publish specific and measurable objectives which they will pursue over the coming years to achieve the three aims

Further detail is provided in our Equality Duty & Action Plan Policy which can be found on the Policies page of our website.