British Values.

Pupils at Watermill School are taught a wide range of values including those such as;

• The importance of the rule of law.
• Understanding what a democracy is.
• What liberty and freedom of speech are and why they are important.
• Why mutual respect between people of all beliefs and faiths are important.

Collectively, these values form the basis of what are often called "British values" and are an important part of the life of the school.

At Watermill School, we promote British values in a wide variety of ways, including, but not limited to;

• Curriculum subjects, such as Religious Education, Personal Social and Health Education (PSHE) and in Physical Education where pupils learn the importance of following rules.
• Assemblies: Assemblies are planned to reflect themes which are chosen to coincide with UN National observances, world events, topical news stories or anniversaries of important historical significance. See our assembly calendar below.
• Pupil voice: Pupils nominate class representatives to the school council and, where appropriate, vote for their preferred candidate. The school council meet regularly and influence what happens in the school. The school council also regularly review and amend our school rules.
• Head Girl/Boy elections: Any member of Year11 is invited to run for the position of Head Boy or Head Girl. This process involves preparing and delivering an election speech to an assembly. The successful pupils, and their deputies represent the school at important events.
• Visits to the Council Chambers and chances to meet Local Councillors, Mayors and MP’s.
• Mentoring: In order to develop the skills of respecting others, pupils work with their mentors to discuss opinions and beliefs in a safe but challenging setting. In addition, pupils are helped to develop their self-respect and self-esteem, their understanding of what constitutes acceptable behaviour and what steps they can take to appropriately address concerns they may have.
• Community projects: Fund raising activities and community projects such as food donations to the food bank or Children in Need fundraising, alongside awareness of the issues involved or the work of the charity. Pupils also visit local elderly care provision and invite residents to attend school based activities.
• Eco Schools Award: Thanks to the hard work of our class eco reps and Mrs Taylor, Watermill school has achieved the bronze eco schools award and is working towards the silver. This involves developing understanding of environmental issues and campaigning for more considerate use of resources.
• Anti-discrimination: Pupils work with school staff and visiting agencies to consider the impact of discrimination in all of its forms. Pupils are taught to be proud of who they are and respectful of others.
• Celebrations: At Watermill School we actively celebrate a wide range of events including, for example, Jubilee Year, Christmas, Easter and Chinese New Year.
• Our ethos and the values of our staff,

"All the staff of Watermill school are unanimous in the value they give to promoting the philosophy of the school. We strive to provide an environment where there is mutual respect between staff and pupils ensuring that everyone values each other and themselves." – Watermill School Behaviour Management Policy.

Equality and Diversity Statement and Policy 2026-2029

 

Purpose of the Document

The overall objective of the Watermill School Equality and Diversity statement and policy is to provide a framework for the school to pursue its equality duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment; promote equality of opportunity; and promote good relations and positive attitudes between people of diverse backgrounds in all its activities.

The principles of this policy and statement apply to all members of the extended school community – pupils, staff, governors, parents and community members. Partners and contractors are also expected to abide by the policy.

Our objectives link strongly to our Orchard Community Trust values of:

Courage, Equity and Unity

 

1. Policy statement

Throughout this policy, Watermill School seeks to ensure that no member of the school community, or any person through their contact with the school, receives less favourable treatment on any grounds which cannot be shown to be justified.

This covers race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, gender, marital status, responsibility for children or other dependents, disability, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, trade union or political activities, socio-economic background, where the person lives, or, spent convictions.

Equality and Diversity is more than just meeting legal obligations, or targets. It makes a difference to the lives of the people we serve, treating all people with dignity and respect, and recognising the value of each individual.

This means an ongoing commitment to ensuring that our services meet the varied and individual needs of children and young people in our school. We will make sure that our employment practices are fair and promote equality. We will actively value the wide variety of lifestyles and cultures, locally and nationally. We will prepare children and young people for living in a diverse society with increasing global connections and

controversial issues. We will ensure that the principles of this policy are reflected in all our policies, practices, procedures and services and are part of everything we do.

At Watermill School we aim to provide a happy, caring environment in which all children can feel confident and able to learn.  We seek to foster an environment of mutual respect and support between all staff, pupils, parent and carers and the wider community.

2.  Statutory requirements

The equality objectives below address our duties under current equality legislation, up to and including the Equality Act 2010

3. Guiding Principles

Principle 1: All learners are of equal value

All learners and potential learners are of equal value and benefit equally from school policies, practices and programmes, whatever their ability, background, gender or cultural identity.

Principle 2: Relevant differences are recognised

Treating people equally can mean treating them differently. Policies, practices and programmes do not discriminate but may be differentiated to take account of differences of life experience, outlook and background, and in the kinds of barrier and disadvantage which people may face.

Principle 3: We foster positive attitudes, relationships and a shared sense of

belonging

Policies and programmes promote positive attitudes and interaction, mutual respect and good relations, an absence of harassment or prejudice-related bullying between people of different ability, background, gender or cultural identity.

Principle 4: Staff recruitment, retention and development

Policies and procedures benefit all employees and potential employees in recruitment, professional development and promotion. Steps are taken to positively promote equality, especially where there is evidence of inequality.

Principle 5: Current inequalities and barriers are addressed and reduced

In addition to avoiding or minimizing possible negative impacts of policies and programmes, we take opportunities to maximize positive impacts by addressing, reducing and removing inequalities and barriers that already exist between people of different ability, background, gender or cultural identity.

Principle 6: Policy development involves widespread consultation and involvement

People affected by a policy or programme are consulted and involved in the design of new policies, and in the review of existing ones. Such consultation is both direct and through representative organisations and is based on principles of transparency and accountability. It involves those who in the past have been excluded or disadvantaged, and who continue to face barriers:

Principle 7: Society as a whole benefits

Policies and programmes benefit society as a whole, locally, nationally and internationally, by fostering greater cohesion and greater participation in public life of people of different ability, background, gender or cultural identity.

4.  Community cohesion

At Watermill School all children and young people have an Education Health Care

Plan. At the time of writing, the school consists of  74% males and 26% females and they are predominately white British. There is a small number of African /Caribbean, and a small percentage of pupils from Asian backgrounds and from are from Eastern European backgrounds.

In terms of the local context the proportion of pupils of Asian ethnicity, or indeed of Eastern European families are under represented at Watermill School. Increasingly, because of the cheap housing locally, some London boroughs are choosing to house some families out of area, and in some cases that is Stoke-on-Trent.

Although the school is none denominational, the school follows a generally Christian ethos, but celebrates the diversity and value of other faiths through the curriculum and assemblies.

Stoke-on-Trent is a deprived area. The school reflects this Socio-economic context with the school averaging around 52% of pupils on free school meals. At the time this policy is written there are less than five Looked After Child in school.

There were no permanent exclusions in the twelve month period preceding this document.

5.  Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

Commitment

The Governing Body and management of the school will work with all its partners to be proactive in promoting equal opportunities, fostering good relations and in tackling unlawful discrimination.  They will encourage support and enable all pupils and staff from all protected characteristics to reach the highest standards possible as indicated in the school’s Vision Statement and this Equality Policy.

Governing Body

The Governing Body is responsible for ensuring that the school complies with Equality Legislation and fulfils its legal responsibilities. With assistance from the Headteacher, the Governing Body will ensure that the policy and its related procedures and strategies are implemented. 

Headteacher

The Headteacher is responsible for:

Making sure the Equality Policy is readily available, along with related policies and

• that governors, staff, pupils, parents and guardians know about it.
• Making sure the policy and its procedures are followed.
• Making sure all staff know their responsibilities and receive training and support in carrying these out.
• Taking appropriate action in cases of harassment and discrimination.
• enabling reasonable adjustments to be made, in relation to disability, in regard to

students, staff, parents / carers and visitors to the school.

• Making sure the Equality Policy is regularly monitored and reviewed.
• All staff are responsible for:
  • prmoting equality and community cohesion in their work;
  • aviding unlawful discrimination against anyone;
  • fstering good relations between groups; and
  • dealing with prejudice-related incidents;
  • being able t recognise and tackle bias and stereotyping;
  • taking up training and learning pportunities.

Visitors and contractors are responsible for following relevant school policy.

6.  Staff development

Staff undertake training and development in relation to equality and cohesion in terms of professional responsibilities as well as statutory requirements as and when appropriate. This may take the format of staff meeting updates or full training sessions when needed. All staff are given equal opportunity to take part in staff training and have access to courses appropriate to their professional development and responsibilities as well as statutory requirements.

7.  Publication and review

This Equality Scheme fulfils statutory requirements under the terms of legislation referred to above. As it is a public document, the school governors publish it by making it available on request. The scheme will be kept under regular review for three years and then replaced in September 2029

8.  How we conduct equality impact assessment

As a school we carry out rigorous monitoring and analysis of all pupils and their progress to ensure the appropriate progress is made by all pupils regardless of race, disability, socio-economic background, belief or gender. Through analysis we are aware of any groups or individuals who are not making at least expected progress. Equality objectives identified by this process should be included in the School Development Plan as appropriate.

9.  How we chose our equality objectives

Our equality objective-setting process has involved gathering evidence as follows:

• from the monitoring and analysis of pupil progress in the identified groups.
• from the monitoring and evaluation data evidence files
• from involving relevant people.

Objectives are chosen in order to:

• promote equality of opportunity for members of identified groups
• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and
• foster good relations between different groups in terms of
  • ethnicity,
  • religin or belief,
  • scio-economic background,
  • gender and gender identity,
  • disability,
  • sexual rientation and
  • age.

10. Equality Objectives 2026- 2029

(To be kept under regular review)

 Equality objectives (focused on outcomes rather than processes)

• Ensure that the curriculum reflects the needs of the pupils and the schools religious and ethnic diversity
• Ensure that staff and the governing body are aware of current legislation

surrounding diversity and equality and understands the schools’ responsibility

• Ensure that all pupils make good progress over each academic year, including

meeting EHCP milestones and outcomes.

• To continue to raise engagement and enjoyment throughout the school