Glastonbury Thorn School aims to provide high quality education that is effective, efficient and fair. Fundamental to this aim is a belief in equality of opportunity for all children and staff working within the school. We believe that there should be no discrimination on the grounds of race, sex or disability. Our school operates on the principle that there is only one race: the human race. The provision of equality of opportunity within our school is a shared responsibility. Everyone working in, or in partnership with Glastonbury Thorn School, must be aware of its importance, expected to work towards this goal and consider how they will contribute.

Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:

1. All learners are of equal value.

2. We recognise and respect 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.

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

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

We advance equality of opportunity by:

• Using the information we gather to identify underachieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention
• Ensuring participation of parents/carers and pupils in school development
• Listening to parents/carers
• Listening to pupils at all times

Fostering good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

We foster good relations by:

• Ensuring that our school is seen as a community school within our local community
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum

At GTS, 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.

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 parental and pupil engagement in learning and school life, across all activities to ensure equity and fairness in access and engagement.

(September 2024)