The Protected Characteristics

The Equality Act became law in 2010. It covers everyone in Britain and protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. It is against the law to discriminate against anyone because of:

• Age
• Gender reassignment
• Being married or in a civil partnership
• Being pregnant or on maternity leave
• Disability
• Race inc colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

These are called the Protected Characteristics.

No form of discrimination is tolerated at school and the whole school community must show respect for those who share the protected characteristics.

At Billinghay Church of England Primary School we actively promote the Protected Characteristics in our curriculum and work to embed them in our ethos.

They are reflected in our Vision Statement:

"Working together to raise aspirations, empowering a community of hope. We seek to develop resilient, curious and creative minds, inspiring everyone to shine bright and be positive members within our church school community."

Our vision is rooted through Christian values, which is inspired by Jesus’ apostle, St Thomas. Like him we are on a journey with our values supporting us as we travel. He also had the courage to challenge his friends when they told him that Jesus had resurrected. St Thomas empowers us to learn from past and current events to be able to shine bright with hope and raise our aspirations to go out and change the world. 

‘Ask and it shall be given, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened.’ Matthew 7.7

For our community this simply means that with God’s help we can open doors to a brighter future. We aim to give everyone the confidence to ask questions, be curious, resilient and ambitious, knocking on the door to opportunity and it will be opened.

Our vision statement is rooted in the 4 pillars of what is a Christian world view. It incorporates the 4 basic elements which permeate the Church of England vision for education: wisdom, hope, community and dignity.

• Pillar of wisdom: Have the capacity to reason, be curious and to question. Wisdom is how we act on knowledge.
• Pillar of hope: Raise aspirations and empower all to go out and change the world.
• Pillar of community: We show how we unite in shared community beliefs and values but recognise unique beliefs and values of people.
• Pillar of dignity: All humans are valued and treated with dignity and respect.

The 9 Protected Characteristics are actively promoted in school through:

• Our school vision statement and core values.
• Conscious role modelling by all adults in the school community.
• Collective Worship.
• PSHE and RE sessions.
• Discussion within curriculum subjects.
• STEM (Sex - challenging gender stereotypes in Careers Education).
• Promoting articulation by building appropriate language and a coherent vocabulary.
• Pupil voice.
• Educational visits.
• Extra curricular activities inc charity work and work within the local community.

We do not teach about all the Protected Characteristics in every year group. The curriculum is planned and delivered so that our pupils develop age appropriate knowledge and understanding during their time at our school.