Policy details

• Date created - 03/11/2023
• Next review date - 02/11/2025
• Policy owner - Emma Vasey

1. Introduction
2. Aims
3. Current Good Practice
4. Physical Environment
5. Curriculum
6. Information
7. Access Audit
8. Management, Coordination and Implementation & Review
9. Complaints
10. Action Plan

Introduction

Under the Equality Act 2010 schools should have an Accessibility Plan. The Equality Act 2010 replaced all existing equality legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act.  The effect of the law is the same as in the past, meaning that “schools cannot unlawfully discriminate against pupils because of sex, race, disability, religion or belief and sexual orientation”.

According to the Equality Act 2010 a person has a disability if:

(a) He or she has a physical or mental impairment, and

(b) The impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.  

The Accessibility Plan is listed as a statutory document of the Department for Education’s guidance on statutory policies for schools. The Plan will be reviewed every 3 years or where operational needs dictate and approved by the Governing Body. The review process can be delegated to a committee of the Governing Body, an individual or the Head.

Aims

• Increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability, medical condition or other access needs

• To improve the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which pupils, staff and other members of the school community with a disability, medical condition or other access needs can access education and associated services.  

• Improve the delivery of information to pupils, staff, parents/carers and other members of the school community

1) The Accessibility Plan has been developed and drawn up based upon information supplied by the Local Authority, and consultations with pupils, parents, staff and governors of the school. The document will be used to advise other school planning documents and policies and will be reported upon annually in respect of progress and outcomes.

The Accessibility Plan is structured to complement and support the school’s Equality Objectives, and will similarly be published on the school website. We understand that the Local Authority will monitor the school’s activity under the Equality Act 2010 (and in particular Schedule 10 regarding Accessibility) and will advise upon the compliance with that duty. The Accessibility Plan will be monitored through the Governor Finance and Premises Committee. The school will work in partnership with the Local Authority in developing and implementing this Accessibility Plan. The Accessibility Plan may be monitored by Ofsted during inspection processes in relation to Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010.

2) The school is committed to providing an environment that enables full curriculum access that values and includes all pupils, staff, parents and visitors regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are committed to adhering to the principles of the Equality Act 2010 with regard to disability and to developing a culture of inclusion, support and awareness within the school.  

 3) The school’s Accessibility Plan shows how access is to be improved for disabled pupils, staff and visitors to the school within a given timeframe and anticipates the need to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate their needs where practicable.  

The school’s Accessibility Plan relates to the key aspects of physical environment, curriculum and written information:

• Increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability, adapting the curriculum as necessary.  This includes teaching and learning and the wider curriculum of the school such as participation in after-school clubs, leisure and cultural activities or schools visits – it also covers the provision of specialist or auxiliary aids and equipment, which may assist these pupils in accessing the curriculum within a reasonable timeframe (If a school fails to do this they are in breach of their duties under the Equalities Act 2010).
• Improve and maintain access to the physical environment of the school, adding specialist facilities as necessary – this covers improvements to the physical environment of the school and physical aids to access education within a reasonable timeframe;
• Where needed, adapt the delivery of written information to pupils, staff, parents and visitors with disabilities; examples might include adaptations to hand-outs, timetables, textbooks and information about the school and school events; the information should be made available in various preferred formats within a reasonable timeframe.  

4) Whole school training will recognise the need to continue raising awareness for staff and governors on equality issues with reference to the Equality Act 2010.  

5) This Accessibility Plan should be read in conjunction with the following school policies, strategies and documents:

• Health & Safety Policy

• Special Educational Needs Policy

• Supporting Children with Medical Conditions and Administration of Medicines Policy

• Behaviour Policy

• Dignity at Work Policy

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

6) The Accessibility Plan for physical accessibility relates to the Access Audit of the School, which remains the responsibility of the governing body. It may not be feasible to undertake all of the works during the life of this accessibility plan and therefore some items will roll forward into subsequent plans. An accessibility audit will be completed by the school prior to the end of each period covering this plan in order to inform the development of a new Accessibility Plan for the ongoing period.

7) Equality Impact Assessments will be undertaken as and when school policies are reviewed. The terms of reference for all governors’ committees will include the need to consider Equality and Diversity issues as required by the Equality Act 2010.

Current good practice  

We gather information about any disability or health condition in early communications with parents and carers of children who are new to school. For parents and carers of children already at the school, we ask parents to keep the school informed of any changes to the information they have provided.   

Physical Environment  

The building is set on three floors with no lift facility, this means the first floor is inaccessible for wheelchair users at present. There are no areas of the school to which other disabled pupils have limited or no access at the moment. Disabled pupils participate in extracurricular activities. Some aspects of extra-curricular activities present particular challenges, for example lunch and break times for pupils with social/interaction impairments, after-school clubs for pupils with physical impairments and school trips for pupils with medical needs, however all reasonable adjustments are made to support as full an involvement as possible.  

Curriculum

Through planning for individual needs, we aim to provide as inclusive an approach as practically possible. Some areas of the curriculum present particular challenges, for example: PE for pupils with a physical impairment, however all reasonable adjustments are made to support as full an involvement as possible.  We seek advice and support from the relevant professionals in order to ensure that we have made adequate and reasonable adjustments.  

 Information  

Different forms of communication are made available as needs are identified to enable all disabled pupils to express their views and to hear the views of others. Access to information is provided in a range of different formats available for disabled pupils, parents and staff as needed.

Access Audit  

The school is housed in 1 three storey building.  The side entrance to the school has a low step which would benefit from a small ramp. The main entrance features a secure lobby and has been fitted with a reception desk at two levels, to be accessible to wheelchair users.  Whilst we acknowledge that the number of floors to the building could potentially present challenges when moving around, we make reasonable adjustments as the need arises.  The school has dedicated visitor parking which is secured with a barrier. Suitable arrangements for disabled visitors are made when appropriate.  There are disabled toilet facilities available on the ground floor of our buildings.  These are fitted with a handrail and a pull emergency cord.  The school has internal emergency signage and escape routes are clearly marked.  Personalised evacuation plans are put in place as required.

  Management, coordination and implementation and review

• We consult with other professionals and services when new situations regarding pupils with disabilities are experienced.  

• The Governors and Senior Leadership Team work closely with the Local Authority.  

• We work closely with parents to consider their children’s needs.

• The policy is reviewed annually and/or as children’s needs change.

• The annual review is then shared with staff.

• We make links with other schools to share best practice through regular SENDCo network meetings and other communications as needed.

 Complaints

The school works, wherever possible, in partnership with parents to ensure a collaborative approach to meeting pupils’ needs. If there are any complaints relating to the provision for pupils with access needs these will be dealt with in the first instance by the Head teacher. The SEND governor or chair of governors may be involved if the complaint is not resolved satisfactorily.

Action Plan

Aim 1: To increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum

Our key objective is to reduce and eliminate barriers to access to the curriculum and to ensure full participation in the school community for pupils, and prospective pupils, with a disability, medical condition or other access needs.  Provision may include:  Liaison with specialists, CPD for staff, a differentiated curriculum, specialist resources to support learning and access to the curriculum, a range of support staff including trained teaching assistants and access arrangements in place for statutory testing.

Aim 2: To improve the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which pupils, staff and other members of the school community with a disability, medical condition or other access needs can access education and associated services.  

 Aim 3: Improve the delivery of information to pupils, staff, parents/carers and other members of the school community