Equality Objectives and Information
De Aston School recognises that the public sector equality duty has three aims and they are:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct under the Equality
Act;
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who
do not;
3. Foster good relations between people who have a shared characteristic and those who do not.
The Leadership Team and Governors at De Aston School review how well we achieve these aims with regard
to the protected groups under the Equality Act (race, disability, gender, gender re-assignment, age, pregnancy
and maternity, marital status, sexual orientation, religion and belief, and sexual orientation).
School Equality Objectives December 2014 – December 2015
 Reducing gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement by the end of Y11; (SIP 4ii)
As nationally, our boys do less well than our girls. We want to reduce the gap between the genders, by
improving the achievement of our boys, in order to enhance their life chances. We are working to
ensure that Best 8 value-added scores for both groups are above the national (1000) by 2015 and the
attainment of boys improves by a minimum of 2% on all key threshold measures by 2015.
 Further reduce the gap in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and those who are not and
between those who have special educational needs and those who do not; (SIP AI 5)
The school has been very successful in reducing the gaps in achievement between these national priority
groups and others. A disproportionate number of students in both groups have protected characteristics,
including disabilities. We want to reduce the gap between the target groups and others to ensure that
Best 8 value-added scores for all groups are above the national (1000) by 2016.
 Further increase attendance, with particular emphasis on:
o Improving girls’ attendance overall;
o Closing the gaps in attendance between some pupils with special educational needs and
those who do not have special educational needs and those who are disadvantaged and
those who are not (SIP AI 17 b & c)
Although attendance for all groups in the school is above the national for those groups, we recognise
that good attendance is a prerequisite of high achievement and we are working towards reducing the
inequalities in attendance patterns between the genders; between those with special educational needs
(some of whom are disabled) and those who do not and between those who are disadvantaged and
those who are not. We seek to reduce the persistent absence of girls by 2%, to 3.4%. We further seek
to reduce the absence level of pupils with special educational needs and those who are disadvantaged
to 5.0% by 2016.
Pupil Related Data
The Census data of January 2015 show that De Aston has 912 pupils. The background of these pupils is:
White British – 811 students – 88.9%
Indian – 1 student – 0.1%
Any Other Asian Background – 2 students – 0.2%
Black African – 25 students – 2.7%
Black Caribbean – 1 student – 0.1%
Any Other Black Background – 1 student – 0.1%
Chinese – 12 students – 1.3%
Any Other Mixed Background – 4 students – 0.4%
White & Asian – 9 students – 1.0%
White & Black Caribbean – 2 students – 0.2%
Any Other Ethnic Group – 1 student – 0.1%
White – Irish – 4 students – 0.4%
Any Other White Background – 37 students – 4.1%
Refused – 2 students – 0.2%
Current FSM – 106 students – 11.6%
Last 6 years FSM – 217 students – 23.8%
Educational, Health and Care Plans – 22 students – 2.4%
SEN Support – 159 students – 17.4%
The great majority of these students have a White British background, but 11.1% come from other
backgrounds, these are mainly boarders. The number of boys and girls in the school is more or less even. The
number of students who take free school meals is low (11.6%) set against national levels (15.7%). The
percentage of children at SEN Support (17.4%) is above the national statistics (12.4%), as is the number of
students with Educational, Health and Care Plans (2.4%) (National 1.8%).
Exclusions 2015 (latest national data)
All pupils
Male
female
FMS
Non FSM
First Language English
English as an Additional Language
Unclassified
No Identified SEN
SEN support
SEN with a statement or EHC plan
White British
White Irish
Traveller of Irish Heritage
Gypsy/Roma
Any Other White Background
White and Black Caribbean
White and Black African
White and Asian
Any Other Mixed Background
Indian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Any other Asian Background
Black Caribbean
Black African
Any Other Black Background
Chinese
Any Other Ethnic Group
Refused
Information Not Obtained
Fixed term
exclusions as a
percentage of the
pupil group
School National
4.76
6.71
4.45
9.33
5.07
4.06
14.29
16.47
2.49
4.14
4.52
7.07
10.00
4.62
9.81
2.01
3.91
12.90
19.36
25.00
22.31
4.31
6.95
0.00
5.92
49.61
33.54
14.81
5.25
0.00
13.74
33.33
8.23
28.57
5.68
0.00
7.30
0.00
1.42
5.19
3.76
0.00
2.43
0.00
12.20
4.17
6.36
0.00
8.89
0.00
0.70
0.00
5.04
6.83
8.11
% enrolments with
1 or more fixed
term exclusions
School National
2.88
3.68
3.34
5.11
2.42
2.24
6.55
8.34
1.78
2.51
2.55
3.77
10.00
3.18
6.14
2.01
2.42
5.91
9.44
5.00
10.04
2.21
3.62
0.00
3.43
22.20
16.15
14.81
3.28
0.00
7.68
33.33
4.95
28.57
3.34
0.00
4.32
0.00
1.12
3.56
2.73
0.00
1.76
0.00
7.82
4.17
4.68
0.00
5.89
0.00
0.58
0.00
3.44
4.03
4.65
Permanent
exclusions as a
percentage of the
pupil group
School National
0.44
0.13
0.67
0.19
0.22
0.06
0.60
0.34
0.36
0.06
0.35
0.13
2.50
0.09
0.25
0.14
0.06
1.61
0.45
0.00
0.27
0.25
0.12
0.00
0.10
1.45
0.88
3.70
0.10
0.00
0.32
33.33
0.18
0.00
0.14
0.00
0.16
0.00
0.02
0.08
0.07
0.00
0.06
0.00
0.41
0.00
0.15
0.00
0.24
0.00
0.02
0.00
0.09
0.16
0.24
Attendance levels are high. In 2015 the percentage of absence was 4.4% (national average 5.2%) and the
persistent absence figure was 3.8% (below the national average of 5.6%). The attendance of both boys and
girls is better than the national for these groups, however more girls have absence rates of 15% or more and
this is therefore a priority area. Similarly, the attendance of students with special educational needs is better
than the national, but less good than those of those who have no additional needs. Therefore, this is also a
priority.
Overall student levels of achievement are high with RAISEonline data showing us to be in the top 30% of
schools. In addition, we have data across a range of characteristics indicating progress of specific groups is
good. A significant majority of these show achievement above or well above the national average, though
some care has to be taken with this data where the number of pupils is small. We seek further improvements
in the achievement of boys and those with special educational needs.
Generally, fixed term exclusion rates are low when compared to the national for pupils who are on the special
educational needs register or who are of a different ethnicity.
Evidence
RAISEonline
CENSUS
This information is reviewed annually and was last reviewed December 2015. Interim progress is recorded
after Sixth months.
Review December 2015
 Reducing gap between boys’ and girls’ achievement by the end of Y11; (SIP 4ii)
School evaluation is that this object has been achieved and exceeded in all aspects of the success
criteria. This objective has therefore been removed.
 Further reduce the gap in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and those who are not and
between those who have special educational needs and those who do not; (SIP AI 5)
External examination results mean that this remains a priority.
 Further increase attendance, with particular emphasis on:
a. Improving girls’ attendance overall;
b. Closing the gaps in attendance between some pupils with special educational needs and those who
do not have special educational needs (SIP AI 17 b & c)
The gaps between boys and girls attendance have reduced significantly.
We seek to reduce the persistent absence of girls by 2%, to 3.4%. We further seek to reduce the
absence level of pupils with special educational needs to 5.0% by 2016.
As a result of this review our equality objectives for December 2015 – December 2016 are as follows:
 Reduce the gap in achievement between disadvantaged pupils and those who are not and between
those who have special educational needs and those who do not; (SIP 4ii)
A disproportionate number of students in both groups have protected characteristics, including
disabilities. We want to reduce the gap between the target groups and others to ensure that Progress 8
value-added scores for all groups are above the national (0) by summer 2016.
 Further increase attendance, with particular emphasis on:
Closing the gaps in attendance between some pupils with special educational needs and those who
do not have special educational needs and those who are disadvantaged and those who are not
(SIP 3v a & b)
Although attendance for all groups in the school is above the national for those groups, we recognise
that good attendance is a prerequisite of high achievement and we are working towards reducing the
inequalities in attendance patterns between those with special educational needs (some of whom are
disabled) and those who do not and between those who are disadvantaged and those who are not.
We further seek to reduce the absence level of pupils with special educational needs and those who
are disadvantaged to 5.0% by summer 2016.