The Royal School
Wolverhampton
Equal Opportunities Policy
Author
Job title
Signed
Date
Version no.
Next review date
Review frequency
Approving body/committee
Date approved
Target audience
Darren Ireland
Head of Boarding
January 2016
January 2017
Annually
HR committee
All stakeholders
THE ROYAL WOLVERHAMPTON SCHOOL
EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES
The Royal School Wolverhampton is committed to promoting equality of opportunity in respect of every aspect of its
provision. School policy and practice will seek to provide an environment that is free from discrimination against
students and staff and to actively support students with particular needs.
The Royal School Wolverhampton will ensure that all students and staff, current or prospective, are treated solely on
the basis of their merits, abilities and potential. The school will seek to prevent any form of unlawful or unfair
discrimination, and will be concerned with the prevention of direct and indirect, overt and covert discrimination on
grounds of race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, religious belief, gender, disability, age, marital status (staff), family
circumstances, citizenship, social and economic status, or any other irrelevant individual differences.
The school is committed to fairness in its practices and in meeting the needs of our diverse student and staff bodies.
Where appropriate and within our means, the school will take positive action to meet these commitments. This
includes provision for students with particular religious, dietary, language or cultural needs.
In order to achieve this aim, The Royal School Wolverhampton will seek to:

Promote good relations between individuals from different groups;

Recognise and develop the diversity of background, skills and talent within its current and potential
student and staff body;

Foster a culture based on trust and mutual respect;

Collect and monitor data to assist in the identification and removal of barriers to the equality of
opportunity;

Communicate to staff, students and others the promotion of equal opportunities and the schools
procedures to sustain it;

Deal with breaches of policies and procedures in accordance with the student or staff disciplinary process;

Ensure that the particular needs of students are recognised and provided for.
This statement applies to all students and staff of The Royal Wolverhampton School and to all activities associated
with the school, whether or not on school property.
Race Equality Policy
One very significant aspect of the equal opportunities act is race equality, and this is addressed in recent legislation.
The Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000) requires all schools, to
promote good race relations. The general duty has three parts:
1.
Eliminating unlawful race discrimination
2.
Promoting equality of opportunity
3.
Promoting good relations between people from different racial groups
The Act lays down specific duties for schools.
Schools must:

Prepare and publish a race equality policy

Monitor and assess how their policies affect ethnic minority pupils, staff and parents; the emphasis here is
on pupils achievements
We are proud of our record in widening participation, situated in the heart of a multicultural conurbation with an
international mission, we attract students from a wide variety of social and cultural backgrounds. Many of our
students are from ethnic minorities, including those from within the local community.
In conjunction with The Royal School Wolverhampton’s Equal Opportunity Statement the aims of the Race Equality
Policy are to:

Ensure that all students and staff are encouraged and supported to achieve their full potential;

Assist in the identification of possible barriers to equality of opportunity for students and staff and to ensure
that these barriers are addressed where possible;

Achieve a workforce that reflects the ethnic diversity of the relevant wider population and of the
communities we serve;

Prevent direct and indirect, overt and covert discrimination on grounds of race;

Provide an environment which respects and values diversity and shows consideration for the traditions,
cultures and religious practices of people from different racial groups;

Reinforce the centrality of the Race Equality Policy to the schools processes for strategic planning and policy
development and implementation;

Ensure that where necessary the schools regulations and procedures are used to challenge and deal
appropriately with racial discrimination, racist behaviour, racist language or harassment;

Continue to develop systems and procedures for the collection and use of monitoring data about staff and
students and to use this information to develop our services for students and staff;

To identify the functions, and the activities which contribute to the delivery of those functions, which are
most relevant to the achievement of our duties under the Act and to set out priorities for assessing and
monitoring the delivery of these functions;

Review progress against the action plan together with the results of the monitoring and to report on the
outcomes of this process annually;

Amend institutional policies and procedures where impact assessments, the outcomes of monitoring or
other information identify a need for change to avoid racial discrimination or potentially discriminatory
practice or adverse impact;

Develop additional guidance for governors, and training for staff and student representatives in order to
support the implementation of the Race Equality Policy, to promote best practice and to ensure
understanding of The Royal Wolverhampton School’s legal obligations under the Act.