Equality & diversity
Malton School has a duty under the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
- Consult and involve those affected by inequality and eliminate discrimination.
You can find more information on protected characteristics below.
Our values & ethos
At Malton School our aim is to provide a nurturing environment which inspires every individual to flourish. All our work is based around our 3 pillars that build success:
- Support: creating a community and learning environment that enables every individual to reach their full potential.
- Inspire: embedding an ethos of excellence in our teaching and learning to deliver the highest possible outcomes for all students.
- Thrive: equipping every student with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital to allow them to flourish through multiple paths in life and enabling them to make a significantly positive contribution to society.
Underpinning these 3 pillars are our Core Values. We recognise the importance of promoting a strong set of core values that include tolerance and respect, politeness, good manners, a smart appearance, an industrious work ethic and a generosity of spirit. This ensures a purposeful and inclusive learning environment.
For more information as to how our pillars and the Core Values which underpin them are reflected across the teaching in school, please see the introduction to our curriculum here.
Protected characteristics
There are 9 protected characteristics and as a School it is unlawful for us to discriminate against students or staff and to treat them less favourably because of their:
- Sex
- Race, including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins
- Disability
- Religion or Belief
- Gender Reassignment
- Sexual Orientation
- Pregnancy or maternity
- Marriage and Civil Partnerships
- Age
Equality objectives
Given our duties under the Equality Act and our Values and Ethos as a School we have published a series of Equality Objectives, which we are working towards. Our current Equality Objectives are:
- To ensure that a clear and ambitious vision for providing high quality, inclusive education to all students is well understood by all stakeholders.
- To ensure that students are able to form respectful relationships and that peer abuse is not tolerated at Malton School.
- To ensure that the experience of students from identified groups and particularly students exhibiting one or more of the protected characteristics is the same as for students who do not exhibit any of these characteristics.
- Teaching lessons in such a way that all students of all abilities and needs are able to make good progress in the lessons, taking account of Covid-related impacts on learning.
- To ensure high standards of behaviour, whereby students demonstrate respect, tolerance and celebration of diversity.
- Improving attendance across the whole school to maintain at a level above the national benchmark, and to focus on persistent absence (PA) and the attendance of disadvantaged students.
- To review, evaluate and further improve the drive to support individual student mental health and wellbeing.
- To maximise the positive impact of personal development on student confidence and academic progress; whilst increasing the range of opportunities and inclusivity of engagement through developments to the wider world provision and to the house system.
- To ensure that the curriculum and wider provision supports student resilience, confidence and independence along with the development of a healthy and active lifestyle so that all students know how to maintain their physical and mental health.
- To actively promote equality and opportunity and the celebration of diversity.
Accessibility
Closely linked to our equality work is our work on accessibility which includes our Accessibility Plan. This plan aims to increase the extent to which pupils with a disability can participate in the curriculum, improve the physical environment of the school to enable disabled students to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided and improve the availability of accessibility information for disabled students and parents. A copy of our latest Accessibility Plan can be found here.
Red award
As part of our commitment to Equality & Diversity we are delighted to say that we have been awarded The Red Kite Alliance RED Award in recognition of our work to embed a culture of mutual respect, to champion equality and celebrate diversity. To achieve the Award we had to submit evidence which demonstrated:
- School-wide engagement
- Actions to eliminate discrimination
- Actions to advance equality of opportunity
- Actions to foster good relations
When assessing the evidence we had provided, the assessors commented:
- It is clear that ‘respect’ and ‘tolerance’ (part of your stated school values) play an important role in your work as a school, together with the notion of ‘generosity of spirit’.
- It is evident that the school prioritises building a strong sense of community with a nurturing environment, underpinned by your three pillars – Support, Inspire, Thrive.
- You strive to engage all members of your school community in supporting E&D. A noteworthy example is the inclusion of a regular E&D agenda item at your Student Council meetings as well as the launch of a student PRIDE Club.
- All teaching staff have attended training on misogyny, hate speech and unconscious bias.
- Enhanced transition events for students requiring additional support and your gender-neutral school uniform and Sixth Form dress code promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
- The provision of a Multi-faith Prayer & Reflection Room helps to ensure the needs of all members of your school are being met.
- You clearly prioritise opportunities for students to learn about and engage with the local and wider community including through fundraising, food bank collections, careers events and partnership work with organisations such as the Camphill Village Trust and Ryedale Special Families.
The Red Kite Alliance RED Award also supports schools to meet their statutory duties, including those which fall under The Equality Act 2010. You can find out more about the RED Award here.
Belonging Effect have produced a toolkit for parents and carers to support you in:
- Empowering your children to understand and feel confident in their own identities
- Introducing, and helping your children to learn about identities other than their own
- Having important conversations around diversity, equality, inclusion and belonging with young children
- Educating yourself about parenting in a way that models inclusion and belonging
You can access the toolkit here.