The Equality Act provides a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equity and fostering good relationships between people. It also ensures that we continue to tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups. At SMA we strive to support and promote diversity, equity and inclusion in everything we do.

The following are protected characteristics outlined in the 2010 Equality Act:

• age
• disability
• sex
• race
• sexual orientation
• religion or belief

What is:

Diversity -

Diversity is the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations.

Equity -

Equity is recognising that we do not all start from the same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to imbalances.

Inclusion -

Inclusion is ensuring everybody is involved and able to take part within our school community, enabling them to achieve their full potential.

 

In June 2020, an ‘Equality and Diversity Working Group’, later renamed the ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Group’, was established to support this important work. Over the years, it has grown significantly in scope and scale and now works with everyone at SMA to celebrate and support all things DEI.