Philosophy

At ACE we are committed to promoting equality of opportunity, reducing discrimination and the promotion of community cohesion based on respect, understanding and the celebration and tolerance of difference. As a community we recognise the strengths of individuality but uphold the importance of diversity, tolerance and of respect in all aspects of our work, behaviour and relationships.

At ACE, within our local community and town and across our lives, we all have the right to feel safe, to feel appreciated and to feel listened to and we all, by our own example, through reflection of our choices and actions and through challenge when we encounter wrongdoing, have a responsibility to hold ourselves to this higher standard.

ACE is committed to making all reasonable adjustments to ensure that our buildings, curriculum and work are accessible to all under the Public Sector Equality Duty and Disability Discriminations Acts and all other relevant legislation and / or Local authority requirements.

 

Aims

Through our work, the participation within and the values of ACE we seek:

• Challenge all forms of discrimination, victimization and harassment
• To promote genuine equality of access and opportunity for all (as far as reasonable adjustments allow)
• To support everyone (staff and students) to achieve their full potential within education, career and personal life
• To support students facing challenging circumstance in addressing the barriers to progress and ensuring their ongoing success moving forward
• To treat all as individuals, with their own strengths, aspirations and needs to ensure that in our decisions and actions, the individual is kept at the
• To ensure that all policies, processes and practices of ACE ate informed by and compliant with the provisions of relevant legislation, guidance and best practice.

 

Intent

• To provide staff, students, parent / carers and visitors with a safe, welcoming and supportive environment
• To provide staff with a supportive workplace that allows them to do their jobs successfully, feel recognised and rewarded as individuals and encourages them in achieving their best
• To provide all students with a fresh start, to re-engage and re-motivate students in their learning and through their individualised curriculum, to maximise their opportunity for successful and sustained transition onto the next stage of their educational journey
• To minimise the opportunities for inequality, discrimination and harassment to occur and to effectively challenge and deal with them when and if they do
• The use of appropriate rooming within the building and the flexibility of a wide range of alternative providers to ensure that any physical disabilities can be best catered for

 

Impact

• Staff are empowered within their jobs to work to their best potential; systems and processes are supportive not restrictive and there is space and freedom to innovate
• Students have an individualised curriculum that is relevant and appropriate to their strengths, interests and areas for development and allows all students to make the best possible
• That all students achieve increased levels of attendance, engagement and progress over time
• That Safeguarding and Welfare incidents when occurring are reported and dealt with effectively and that overtime, the number of such incidents is reduced
• To ensure that students with physical disability (short or long term) have the required adjustments (location, timetabling, delivery, exam dispensations) to ensure that they have equality of opportunity and outcome.

 

Implementation

• SLT, via Pupil Progress, and Safeguarding Teams collate, review and evaluate data relating to incidents of discrimination, equal opportunity and harassment and take any required
• That the Management Committee and key stakeholders are kept informed as to the progress ACE is making in the minimisation of such incidents and in the effective dealing of those that do
• That staff training and awareness in relation to this policy is kept updated, reviewed and that internal policies, processes and practices are informed by the standards of this policy and by the relevant legislation that informs the
• ACE considers Equality and Accessibility issues for staff, students, parents and visitors in all decision making

 

Success

• The ACE Equality objectives are understood by all staff and identified actions are in place to ensure that they are met
• The ACE monitoring, tracking and reporting systems inform conversations around Equality and Accessibility issues to ensure compliance with the ACE Policy, legislation and best practice and to ensure there are no disparities between different student’s outcomes
• Issues of Equality are identified and dealt with effectively; the Management Committee have oversight and receive regular
• ACE works hard to celebrate the diversity amongst our staff and students and to ensure that everyone feels valued, safe and able to achieve their best
• Performance data shows equally strong attendance, engagement and progress for all students irrespective of any equality, disability or protected characteristics

ACE as a Physical Site

The nature of the ACE site, comprising of multi-storey and level building, built on a hillside makes accessibility for those with significant physical disabilities challenging.  The measures that are currently in place to help mitigate these are:

• Disabled access ramp from a car parking spot into main reception (by passing all steps)
• Life within the main teaching tower (but with mid corridor steps that have to be overcome before reaching the lift)
• disabled toilets’ on each floor

However, we recognise that many parts of the building remain inaccessible and this opportunity to try and address these are built into refurbishment plans with the Local authority.

Meetings with ACE staff can always be held virtually or at more accessible locations across the town, including at local schools and approved alternative provisions. For students with disability issues, again, this can be taken into account when looking at appropriate provisions, locations and work delivery methods to ensure suitability and accessibility as much as possible.

Policy Document

To access a downloadable copy of the policy, please click on the link below:

Accessibility, Diversity, Equality Policy 2022 – 2025