Policies

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES POLICY

The Primary Catholic Partnership inspired by the teachings of the Catholic Church, is fully committed to the pursuit of equality of educational opportunity for and the avoidance of discrimination against all members of the Partnership including its trainees, tutors and staff and children within the Partnership schools.

The Primary Catholic Partnership confirms its commitment to the avoidance of unlawful discrimination and a comprehensive policy of equal opportunities in employment and for trainees, in which individuals are selected and treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities and are given equal opportunities within the Partnership. The aim of the policy is to ensure that no job applicant, employee, prospective trainee, or trainee, should receive more or less favourable treatment on any grounds which are not relevant to good employment practice for staff or to academic ability and attainment for trainees. The Partnership is committed to a programme of action to make the policy fully effective.

Assuming that potential employees and trainees meet the job description criteria or entry selection requirements, then all will be treated equally irrespective of differences.

Police checking:

Due to the nature of the course and the fact that trainees will have substantial access to working with children, procedures are in place to ensure that all trainees, who are offered a place, are Criminal Record Bureau checked, this will be an enhanced disclosure. This is to ensure that they do not have a criminal background, which might prevent them from working with children or young persons and that they have not previously been excluded from working with children.

The policy will be made known to all members of the Primary Catholic Partnership and to trainees in the Programme Guidelines. It is the responsibility of all members of the Partnership, but it is recognized, that it must be particularly attended to, by those with responsibility for recruitment selection.

The policy and practices of the Primary Catholic Partnership will be kept under regular review by the Administrative Committee to ensure that the policy is being upheld. Where monitoring reveals possible inequality of treatment, appropriate remedial action will be taken.

October 2004

RACE EQUALITY POLICY

(to be read in conjunction with the Equal Opportunities policy above)

In accordance with its commitment to Equal Opportunities the Primary Catholic Partnership is committed to preventing racial discrimination and to promoting both equality of opportunity and good race relations between staff, trainees, schools and the wider community.

This commitment means that all staff, trainees and visitors to the Partnership should receive fair and equitable treatment that is not dependent on their race.

Responsibilities:

The Primary Catholic Partnership Executive Board and the Programme Director shall have overall responsibility for implementation of this policy as follows:
The Executive Board is responsible for

• making sure the Partnership stays within the Race Relations Act and meets all its duties, ensuring that the policy and procedures are followed.

The Programme Director is responsible for

• giving a consistent and high profile lead on race equality issues, promoting the race equality policy inside and outside the Partnership.
• ensuring that all staff are able to provide a culturally sensitive curriculum appropriate for a multi - ethnic society and that appropriate changes are made to the curriculum as needed.
• ensuring that recruitment procedures for both staff and trainees are in line with the race equality policy.

Monitoring

The monitoring of the Primary Catholic Partnership's racial equality policy will be undertaken by the Administrative committee, reporting their findings to the Executive Board.
The monitoring will comprise the advertising, applications, appointments and admission for posts or places within the Partnership by ethnicity.
The results will be published in the Chair of the Executive and Management Boards annual report.

Grievance procedures

The Partnership will give a proper hearing to the complaints of any employee or trainee who alleges that he or she has been unfairly discriminated against.
Any breach of the race equality policy by a member of staff will be dealt with as a serious matter and may well lead to disciplinary procedures being invoked.

October 2004