Trust Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI)

Strategy Statement

Introduction

The Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership (“the Trust”) is committed to supporting each person to live in the freedom God desires for us. We strive to foster a vision of what it means to flourish as a human being, living in relationship with a loving God, growing closer to him throughout life’s journey. We are immensely proud of all the young people in our schools for all they achieve and of our school leaders, staff, and governors. Together we share the
responsibility for forming our young people so that they can not only live and work in the world, but also bring Christ’s compassion, forgiveness, healing, and love to our society.

Our belief as a catholic community of schools is that following Christ requires us to love and respect every single human being as a fellow child of God irrespective of their individual personal characteristics.

The Trust is strongly committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in all aspects of the Trust’s work. As a Catholic Multi-Academy Trust, we value the different contributions and experiences of all who make up our community. While the Equality Act 2010 focuses on preventing discrimination and ensuring equal treatment; to achieve this requires equitable treatment - recognising and valuing the unique needs, backgrounds and circumstances of
every individual. The Trust equality objectives, therefore, seek to recognise and address the diverse needs and circumstances of each individual by providing an environment where everyone has equal opportunity to reach their potential and fully experience a rich, fulfilling, and happy school life.

The Trust aims to be an employer of choice, known for recruiting and developing school leaders, teachers and support staff that reflects the diversity of the local population. The Trust also seeks to equip our children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to ensure that they fulfil their potential, whatever their background or need.

Over the past three years, our Trust has been working towards a number of Trust Equality Objectives. This review outlines the achievements, impact, and key developments in relation to our strategic EDI objectives. Additionally, it sets the direction for future progress with renewed objective

Progress towards current objectives

Looking to the future: Trust EDI Objectives 2025-2029

As our Trust continues to grow and evolve, we recognise the importance of refining and expanding our objectives to ensure a truly inclusive, equitable, and high-achieving environment for all pupils, staff members and the wider Trust community. Guided by Catholic values, our renewed objectives, set out below, seek to deepen our commitment to inclusion, equity, and opportunity for all, ensuring that every pupil—especially those with SEND and from disadvantaged backgrounds— receives the best possible provision to thrive academically, socially, and spiritually.

1. Continue to strengthen and develop our safe, inclusive, and trusting environment by fostering reinforcing a culture of openness, where all individuals feel empowered to report bullying and harassment (including sexual harassment) without fear, ensuring swift and effective resolution.

2. Establish equitable leadership and staff development pathways across the Trust, ensuring diverse representation while actively reducing gender pay disparities through structured development, recruitment, and gender pay audits.

3. To nurture spiritual development, pupil wellbeing, and cultural capital through an integrated approach to PSHE, RE, RSE, safety, and personal growth, ensuring enriching experiences both within and beyond the curriculum.

4. Continue to ensure that Trust and school-based CPD provides equitable opportunities for all colleagues to engage with and apply research-based strategies, strengthening teaching quality and student outcomes

5. Continue advancing a Trust-wide culture of excellence in inclusive practice, by strengthening collaboration among schools, enhancing the sharing of research-based strategies, and further improving high-quality provision for pupils with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities or those pupils with Additional Educational Needs (AEN). Building on established frameworks, the Trust will actively align with and respond to inclusion strands in the latest Ofsted framework to enhance support, accessibility, and educational outcomes.

In addition, we will:
- Track and analyse attainment differences between boys and girls at the end of KS2 and KS4 to identify gender-related barriers to achievement.
- Identify and analyse any different attendance patterns between boys and girls, ensuring targeted interventions to support all pupils equitably
- Maintain strong attainment and progress for pupils with Special Educational Needs or Disabilities (SEND) at KS2 and KS4, ensuring that SEN K and SEN EHCP pupils in KCSP schools achieve progress rates above the national average
- narrow the gap between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils (DFE measure), and ensure that progress rates for Pupil Premium (PP) pupils in KCSP schools are above those of PP pupils nationally