The Government has recently set out its intentions to bring in an Equality Bill in the next parliamentary session. This Bill will bring clarity to equality legislation by replacing the many existing and seemingly inequitable laws which are currently in place and will make equality legislation more fit for purpose. We also expect Ofsted to further scrutinise the actions schools are taking in respect of equalities and diversity through the inspection framework.

Education has a key role to play in ensuring life opportunities are available to all and where everyone embraces difference. We have seen over recent years the demographics of Norfolk changing and many of our schools have seen these changes reflected in their own populations and communities.

We are further developing our own services in support of headteachers, governing bodies and managers and have appointed Rachel Williams and Debbie Moore to the post of Equalities and Diversity Officer within the Children's Services HR team. This post has been created to ensure employment practices throughout Children's Services demonstrate best practice and compliance with regard to equality and diversity.

Rachel and Debbie have created a self-evaluation equality and diversity profoma to review your own practices, which I urge you to complete and return. This information will enable us to work together to identify common areas where Norfolk schools wish to receive further support and guidance. Please click on the link below to access and complete the proforma, which should take approximately 10 minutes of your time. (A PDF version is also attached if you wish to print the proforma prior to completion).

We hope that you will view this self-evaluation positively so that we can do all that we can to provide appropriate support and guidance to you.

Link to complete equality and diversity proforma: www.surveymonkey.com
Link to pdf version of the equality and diversity proforma: Schools Equality Diversity 2009 - pdf
Link to word version of the equality and diversity proforma: Schools Equality Diversity 2009 - word

Lisa Christensen
Director of Children's Services