Stomping Grounds North East

Who we are

Stomping Grounds North East are a charity who work to connect communities to the outdoors. We are a Forest School Association recognised provider, delivering in Northumberland, Gateshead, Durham and Newcastle. We’re proud of our strong reputation for supporting those with least access to find their place in the world through outdoor adventure.

Our culture and values

https://www.stomping-grounds.org/about-us/mission-and-values

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Introduction

Stomping Grounds North East CIO (SGNE) is an equal opportunities employer.  We ensure that no applicant or member of staff receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be relevant to performance. It seeks also to ensure that no person is victimised or subjected to any form of bullying or harassment.

Stomping Grounds North East CIO (SG) is committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among its workforce and the communities we serve. SG seeks to promote this in all areas of its work and practice. In doing so, we aim to create and maintain an inclusive organisational culture which embraces and values diversity and also provides a healthy environment for everyone to feel safe, valued and treated fairly and with respect.

Stomping Grounds North East CIO is against unlawful discrimination of the public. In implementing this policy, we will work to ensure that we are compliant with both the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act 1998, to ensure we are doing all that we can to eliminate unlawful discrimination in all areas of our work and practices.

We recognise that in order to engage with marginalised and excluded groups our workforce needs to reflect the diversity of communities and individuals we want to support. Accordingly, the more diverse our workforce, the better we are able to respond to and reflect these individuals and communities. By removing barriers to employment and promotion for marginalised groups, we can increase the representation of our workforce and customers, and formally commit ourselves to being an inclusive company, whilst seeking to share best practice and support Stomping Grounds staff,  partners and customers to develop more inclusive practice. This is known as “positive action”.

Purpose of this policy

This policy’s purpose is to: 

1. To ensure our values are embedded within our organisation, and how we treat employees, volunteers, partners and people who use our service.

2. Avoid and where necessary confront all forms of unlawful discrimination

3. Reflect the Equality Act 2010, not unlawfully discriminating due to any protected characteristics such as age, gender, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation, by working to create a fair and respectful environment for employees and service users. 

4. To commit to positive action practices, ensuring a diverse and representative workforce

Policy Replacement:

This policy replaces our previous EDI Policy

Definition

By equity, we mean that everyone should have equitable access to our services regardless of who they are. Equity does not mean treating everyone the same, it means ensuring everyone has their individual needs met in a way that best suits them. This individualised approach means there is no one size fits all way to ensure everyone can access and benefit from forest school, and that different individuals and communities may require different accommodations or support to enable access.

By diversity, we mean the practice of involving people from a wide range of backgrounds. We recognise that humans are diverse in many ways and want to celebrate and represent that.

By inclusion, we mean the practice of providing access to opportunities and resources for people who might be otherwise excluded or marginalised, ensuring all people feel welcome and that differences are valued.

By positive action, we mean the voluntary measures which SGNE commits to, to support individuals from under-represented groups who may be facing disadvantages or barriers in competing for opportunities, both with regards to employees and the communities who use our services.

Actions to deliver this policy 

To take this forward we commit to the following actions:

1. Stomping Grounds mandates the board to take executive responsibility for taking forward and implementing this commitment.

2. Create an environment which is free of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination, promoting respect, dignity and an environment where peoples differences are celebrated, and contributions are recognised and appreciated.

3. Take allegations of bullying, harassment, victimisation and unlawful discrimination seriously, whether made by employees, participants, or someone else. 

4. Stomping Grounds impact statements will report on ethnicity, gender and disability data. This will be compared to regional statistics. An annual report will detail targets for improvement (to mirror the local demographic) and recommendations of how to achieve. These documents will be made publicly available on our website

5. Progress on improvement to Stomping Grounds EDI performance will be a standard item at senior management meetings.

6. All those who contribute to Stomping Grounds activity will receive information about the EDI policy and will be expected to support Stomping Grounds in carrying out its aim of being an inclusive and representative organisation, in how they carry out their day-to-day duties. 

7. Stomping Grounds will use symbols of solidarity with minoritised groups. This will include physical badges which Employees and Volunteers can wear. Beneficiaries can also purchase these badges to show support, with any profits raised being donated to organisations that work with those groups. It will also include digital badges which will be used on web, printed media, social media and email signatures.

8. Gather EDI information from employees and volunteers, comparing with regional averages.

9. Make hiring from diverse backgrounds a priority, so marginalised people are not overlooked for opportunities, by proactively targeting under-represented groups that may not feel comfortable applying and by ensuring our offer is culturally appropriate and shared by key organisations and influencers within the community. 

10. Conduct recruitment and selection in accordance with the best practice standards:

• All job adverts will have a clear Equal Opportunities and Positive about Diversity statement.

• Diversity data from appointments is collected and utilised to help monitor outcomes from recruitment campaigns for different groups.

• Recruitment and selection training will be given to all relevant staff to enhance their professional competencies, confidence and performance.

• Recruitment panels will aim to reflect diversity in respect of, amongst other things, age, gender, race and ethnicity of panel members.

1. Increase representation of diverse groups on social media in order to show the public and potential customers that SG actively pursues EDI with its service users and employees, providing a mirror into the world of the outdoors for historically excluded groups.

2. Maximise opportunities to promote positive key messages around equity, diversity and inclusion within all internal and external communication materials.

3. Ensure communication methods are appropriate and flexible to meet a range of needs, such as disabled audiences, those with English as a second language and those with low literacy levels.

4. Continue to explore accessibility, both in the woods for those with mobility difficulties, and to the woods for those who rely on public transport. 

5. Offers free and subsidised spaces to those who have been historically excluded, through our charitable funding

6. Service planning and delivery

• Use equity impact assessment & analysis in the design and delivery of services, projects and initiatives, to help ensure SG provisions are accessible to and inclusive of all.

• Monitor and analyse access to and take up of all provisions to help ensure that SG is meeting the needs and expectations of its broad stakeholder group.

• Provide guidance around SG values and the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy in all tender information and incorporate in the procurement process.

• include a flexible complaints policy, to help ensure that the handling of issues is fair, transparent and outcome focused.

• Make support and advocacy available to help those individuals who may need it, to express their needs, issues and concerns in a safe environment.