• Review and strengthen recruitment processes to ensure gender-neutral practices and attract diverse applicant pools in both staffing, volunteers and governors 
• Develop clear career progression pathways, particularly for support staff (e.g. TA to teacher, leadership development routes). 
• Monitor gender distribution annually across roles and pay quartiles to identify gaps and trends. 

• Improved gender balance in applicant pools, appointments, and leadership roles. 
• Increased number of support staff progressing into higher-paid or leadership positions. 
• Reduction in gender disparities across pay quartiles year-on-year. 

• Promote flexible working options across all roles without limiting career progression. 
• Review part-time working patterns and expand opportunities for job-sharing and redesigned roles. 
• Encourage uptake of flexible arrangements by all genders, especially in teaching and leadership roles. 

• Increased uptake of flexible and part-time working by both men and women. 
• Improved retention rates, particularly for staff with caring responsibilities. 
• Greater gender balance in part-time and leadership roles, with no negative impact on career progression. 

• Embed guidance on respectful and inclusive language within staff codes of conduct and equality policies. 
• Ensure senior leaders consistently model appropriate language and challenge issues constructively. 
• Provide training and guidance to staff, volunteers and governors on appropriate language use, using real-life examples or case studies 
• Encourage staff to respectfully call out or question language use without fear of conflict. 
• Build expectations around language and inclusivity into onboarding for new staff. 

• Reduction in incidents relating to inappropriate or misinterpreted language (e.g. recorded concerns, complaints, or HR issues). 
• Training completion rates and participation in relevant CPD sessions. 
• Leadership observations and informal monitoring indicating improved practice in day-to-day interactions. 

To strengthen a culture of belonging so that every child and family feels known, valued and connected within the school community. 

• Develop a shared understanding of what belonging means within the school community, rooted in the Trust vision and Christian ethos, ensuring this becomes an explicit and tangible part of school life. 
• Create opportunities for all children and families to develop positive relationships, meaningful participation and a sense of connection through collective worship, pupil leadership, wider opportunities, pastoral support and community engagement.  
• Ensure vulnerable groups and families are proactively identified and supported where there may be barriers to engagement, attendance or belonging. 

• Pupil and parent voice demonstrates increasing levels of belonging, connection and feeling valued within the school community.  
• Attendance rates improve and persistent absence reduces over time.  
• Monitoring of participation demonstrates equitable engagement in wider school opportunities and leadership roles.  
• School monitoring evidences a shared understanding of belonging across school life, relationships and culture. 

• Develop curriculum opportunities, collective worship and wider experiences that build understanding of protected characteristics, world faiths and non-religious world views.  
• Continue to embed approaches such as No Outsiders, RE curriculum developments and wider cultural experiences.  
• Introduce and implement revised Epworth Methodist and spirituality units, supporting children to explore spirituality and understand how this may be expressed and experienced in different ways.  
• Provide opportunities for children to engage with a range of visitors, places of worship and wider experiences that broaden horizons and deepen understanding beyond their local context.  
• Continue engagement with wider programmes such as EduKid to strengthen global citizenship and understanding of the wider world. 

• Curriculum and worship monitoring evidence planned opportunities across year groups. 
• Pupil voice demonstrates understanding, respect and appreciation of diversity, faith and different world views.  
• School monitoring and pupil voice evidence a culture of inclusion, empathy and positive relationships across the school community.  
• Wider opportunities, visits and visitor programmes reflect increasing breadth and diversity of experiences. 

• Implement and monitor the Infinite Eight entitlement across all schools, ensuring barriers linked to SEND, disadvantage, attendance, finance or other vulnerabilities are identified and addressed.  
• Use vulnerable pupil tracking to monitor participation and provide support to enable access to a breadth of visits, clubs, leadership opportunities and enrichment. 
• Ensure that participation and access are considered proactively so that all children can engage fully in school life and flourish. 

• Annual monitoring of Infinite Eight offer 
• Termly analysis of club and wider opportunity uptake across groups (SEND, disadvantaged, attendance, vulnerable pupils).  
• Vulnerable pupil tracking evidences actions taken to overcome barriers to participation. 
• School monitoring demonstrates breadth and parity of experiences across the school community. 
• Pupil voice evidences access to opportunities.  

• Ensure high-quality first teaching, early identification and targeted support are prioritised through pupil progress processes, interventions and pastoral support to enable children to achieve well.  
• Monitor vulnerable groups through termly reviews.

• Termly pupil progress meetings identify and review vulnerable groups.  
• In-year and end-of-year data demonstrate narrowing gaps from starting points.  
• Attendance and pastoral measures support improved outcomes.