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Accessibility Plan
Aims
Schools are required under the Equality Act 2010 to have an accessibility plan. The purpose of the plan is to:
- Increase the extent to which disabled (this includes physical disabilities as well as Emotional Well-Being(EWB) and Mental Health (MH) issues) pupils can participate in the curriculum
- Improve the physical environment of the school to enable disabled pupils and those with EWB and MH difficulties to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided
- Improve the availability of accessible information to disabled pupils and those with EWB and MH difficulties.
Our school aims to treat all its pupils fairly and with respect. This involves providing access and opportunities for all pupils without discrimination of any kind.
Our purpose is to promote independent, confident, self-disciplined children with enquiring minds and the skills to maximise their full learning potential. We strongly believe that all children have a right to access a broad and balanced curriculum, relevant and differentiated to their needs
The plan will be made available online on the school website, and paper copies are available upon request.
Our school is also committed to ensuring staff are trained in equality issues with reference to the Equality Act 2010, including understanding disability and EWB and MH issues.
The school supports any available partnerships to develop and implement the plan. This includes working closely with outside agencies such as Speech and Language therapists, Emotional, Mental Health and Wellbeing service, Specialist teachers, Essex Young Carers and other professionals such as paediatricians as and when required.
Our school’s complaints procedure covers the Accessibility Plan. If you have any concerns relating to accessibility in school, this procedure sets out the process for raising these concerns.
We have included a range of stakeholders in the development of this accessibility plan, including pupils, parents, staff and governors of the school.
Legislation and guidance
This document meets the requirements of schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and the Department for Education (DfE) guidance for schools on the Equality Act 2010. The Equality Act 2010 defines an individual as disabled if he or she has a physical or mental impairment that has a ‘substantial’ and ‘long-term’ adverse effect on his or her ability to undertake normal day to day activities.
Under the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice, ‘long-term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. The definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.
Schools are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for pupils with disabilities under the Equality Act 2010, to alleviate any substantial disadvantage that a disabled pupil faces in comparison with non-disabled pupils. This can include, for example, the provision of an auxiliary aid or adjustments to premises.
Action plan
This action plan sets out the aims of our accessibility plan in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.
Access to the Curriculum | ||||
Objective | Strategies | Outcome | Person responsible | Date to complete actions by |
Raise awareness of disabilities and equality through our curriculum including EWB and MH difficulties and young carers | Curriculum resources include examples of people with disabilities. This is promoted through
| Whole school awareness of disability and EWB and MH and Young Carers and linked issues to be increased | Whole staff and to be led by SLT | Ongoing throughout the year. |
| Ensure the curriculum is tailored to the specific need of any pupil with disability or EWB and MH issue and Young Carers |
| Personalised curriculum to be in place for any pupil with disability or suffering with an EWB or mental health difficulty and for young carers. | Whole staff and to be led by SLT | Ongoing throughout the year. |
Ensure all staff are aware of disabled pupils access requirements |
| All staff to be aware of individuals needs | SENCo | Ongoing throughout the year |
Ensure appropriate training for all staff working with pupils with specific needs is available including those with EWB and MH difficulties and Young Carers |
| Increased confidence and ability in all staff supporting any pupil with disability and Young Carers | HT, DH and SENCo | Ongoing throughout the year |
Ensure that all school trips and residential visits are accessible for pupils with learning / physical / EWB / MH difficulties / disabilities and for Young Carers | Planning for all pupils needs
| All pupils on the school role will have access to all educational visits and take part in a range of activities to enhance their learning experiences | EVC All teaching staff | Ongoing throughout the year |
Physical Environment of the School Buildings and Grounds | ||||
Objective | Strategies | Outcome | Person responsible | Date to complete actions by |
Improve and maintain access to the physical environment | Termly Site Survey to review accessibility and ensure that:
| All pupils will be able to fully access all areas of the school building and the outside areas of the school grounds | Site Manager | Ongoing throughout the year |
Ensure all pupils can be evacuated safely |
| All pupils will be able to evacuate the building the case of an emergency safely and all staff will be confident in how to achieve this | Site Manager and HT | Ongoing throughout the year |
Ensure that after – school clubs and breakfast club provision and facilities are fully accessible for all pupils with learning / physical / EWB / MH difficulties / disabilities and young carers |
| All pupils are able to access all before and after school provision | All teachers, HT | Ongoing throughout the year |
Provision of Information for Disabled Pupils and their Families | ||||
Objective | Strategies | Outcome | Person responsible | Date to complete actions by |
Review of information to parents / carers to ensure it is accessible |
| All stakeholders of the school will be able to fully access all information from the school as and when required | Office Staff and SLT | Ongoing throughout the year |
Improve the delivery of written information in writing using the appropriate font and size as required |
| All stakeholders receive information in a form that they can easily access | Office Staff and SLT | Ongoing throughout the year |
Monitoring arrangements
This document will be reviewed every 3 years, but may be reviewed and updated more frequently if necessary.
It will be approved by the Chair of Governors and the Head Teacher.
Links with other policies
This accessibility plan is linked to the following policies and documents:
- Risk assessment policy
- Health and safety policy
- Equality information and objectives (public sector equality duty) statement for publication
- Special educational needs (SEN) information report
- Supporting pupils with medical conditions policy
- Educational Visits Policy
- SEND Policy
Reviewed: Spring 2021
Next Review: Spring 2024