Public Sector Equality Duty

At Navigation we are committed to equal opportunities for all our pupils, staff, parents, governors and all those in our community. We are committed to treating people equally because it is the right thing to do and reflects our school values. We also have a legal obligation under the Public Sector Equality Duty and the information below outlines some more information about this. Our equality objectives can be found at the bottom of the page.

What is the Public Sector Equality Duty?

The single Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) came into effect in April 2011 as a result of the Equality Act 2010. It requires public bodies to promote equality and replaced three pre-existing duties relating to disability, race and gender equality. The PSED applies to all maintained and independent schools, including academies, and maintained and non-maintained special schools.

Protected Characteristics

The Department for Education (DfE) has published non-statutory advice that sets out schools' obligations under the PSED. Paragraph 5.1 explains that the PSED extends to the following protected characteristics:

• Race, disability, sex, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment  

These are derived from section 4 of the Equality Act 2010 and are protected by law. 

Three Main Elements

Paragraph 5.1 of the DfE guidance explains that the PSED has three main elements. In carrying out their functions, public bodies are required to have due regard to the need to: 

• Eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Foster good relations across all characteristics, and between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it

Due Regard

Paragraph 5.4 of the DfE's advice says that 'due regard' has been defined in case law and means giving "relevant and proportionate consideration to the duty". For schools, this means:

• Decision makers must be aware of the duty to have due regard when making a decision or taking an action, and must assess whether it may have implications for people with particular protected characteristics
• Schools should consider equality implications before and at the time that they develop policy and take decisions, not as an afterthought, and they need to keep them under review on a continuing basis
• The PSED has to be integrated into the carrying out of the school’s functions and the analysis necessary to comply with the duty has to be carried out seriously, rigorously and with an open mind

Specific Duties

The PSED introduces secondary legislation in the form of specific duties. The duties require schools to: 

• Publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the PSED. This information must include, in particular, information relating to people who share a protected characteristic
• Prepare and publish equality objectives

Schools are required to update this published information at least annually and to publish objectives at least once every four years. These can be found in a separate document at the bottom of the page. 

What does our school do to eliminate discrimination?

We have set a clear vision and values which expect all our staff to act in a non-discriminating manner and be mindful to avoid actions that will be deemed as such to the public and our wider community. We have up-to-date and ratified policies, which set out a clear message that discrimination is not tolerated: staff code of conduct, behaviour, anti-bullying, safeguarding and child protection. We understand that it is unlawful to fail to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability and one of our equalities objectives addresses this. The governing body and school leaders involved in recruitment will avoid unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion, opportunities for training, pay and benefits, discipline and selection for redundancy. We try to include examples of diversity throughout our curriculum. Through a structured PSHE curriculum offer, assemblies, workshops and visits, equalities will be discussed with and taught to the children, exemplifying the British Values and school values that we believe in. 

Here is a non-exhaustive list, which outlines some of the ways in which we meet the public sector equality duty:

• Information is collected on EAL, disability and gender with regards to pupils’ achievement, attendance and exclusions. We look for trends or patterns in the data that may require additional action and action is taken to address these when required. This information is also used often used to inform the policies, plans and strategies, lessons, additional support, training and activities the school provides.
• Staff have received training on unconscious bias.
• Our Equality Plan has been influenced by the views, input and involvement of staff, parents and pupils.
• The curriculum includes opportunities to understand the issues related to race, disability and gender. We are looking to expand the opportunities further over time.
• All pupils are encouraged to participate in school life. Pupils who make a positive contribution are reflective of the school's diversity e.g. through class assemblies, performances, the school council etc.
• Our displays are reflective of the diversity our school community. We are working on deepening this representation and are considering the ways in which we may improve the inclusion of minority ethnic, disabled and both male and female role models promoted positively in lessons, displays and discussions.
• The school takes part in annual events such as Black History Month and Neurodiversity Week to raise awareness of issues around race, disability and gender.
• Assemblies feature a variety of stories, events and celebrations which feature many people from different backgrounds that are reflective of our community, including those people with protected characteristics.  
• The school environment as accessible as possible to pupils, staff and visitors to the school. Open evenings and other events which parents, carers and the community attend are held in an accessible part of the school.
• Issues such as language barriers are considered, as we have access to translators where required and our website has a translation feature so that information can be translated into many different languages.
• Our procedures for the election of parent governors are open to candidates and voters who are disabled.
• We take proactive actions via our assemblies and PHSE (Skills for Life) lessons to promote inclusion and mutual respect via the promotion of our British Values and Navigation Values.
• We also monitor the behaviour of the children and track discriminatory behaviours e.g. bullying, racist or homophobic language etc. We address incidents of poor behaviour with a consequence, but also with educational approaches to improve the understand of the children so that they can improve their behaviours. These incidents are also reported to the governors.
• We have formulated an accessibility plan to ensure inclusion for all.

Updated 30/09/25

Below you can find our Equality Objectives, which outline some targets we are working on to become even more inclusive. 

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