Accessibility Plan

QUEENSBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL ACCESSIBILITY POLICY

Overview

Our commitment to meeting our duty under the provisions of the Disability and Equality Act 2010 will underpin all that we do in this school. No one will be treated less favourably than others.

This school will work hard to meet the individual needs of all, including those with a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. We will make reasonable adjustments for current pupils with SEND and anticipate the needs of prospective pupils with a disability to ensure that their needs are met and enable access to all aspects of the school’s life. All members of the school community will be involved and consulted in the process of implementing our statutory duty.

This Accessibility Policy and plan will be made available online on the school website, and paper copies are available on request.

The aim of the Accessibility Plan is to remove or reduce barriers and increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in school life by

• increasing access to the national curriculum, extra-curricular activities and the wider school curriculum
• improving the physical environment of the school to enable disabled pupils to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided
• improve the availability of readily accessible information to disabled pupils.

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 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’

-‘Substantial’ is defined as ‘more’ than minor ‘ or ’trivial’.

The definition covers sensory impairments, learning disabilities, impairments which may result in mental illness and ‘hidden’ impairments such as Dyslexia and Autism as well as physical disabilities and medical conditions which impact substantially the ability to carry out everyday tasks and activities.

Schools are required to make ’reasonable adjustments’ for pupils with disabilities under the Equality Act 2010, to alleviate any substantial disadvantage that a pupil faces in comparison with non-disabled pupils. This can include, for example, the provision of auxiliary aid or adjustments to premises.

Objectives

• To ensure that all learners receive their entitlement to a broad, balanced and relevant curriculum.
• To ensure that provision for learners with a disability is central to curriculum planning, teaching and learning.
• To recognize, celebrate and record learners’ achievements, progress and successes in order to encourage a positive self-image.
• To ensure that those with management responsibility, and individual staff accept responsibility for planning, organization and delivery of appropriate educational material to pupils’ disability.
• To ensure that learners and parents are fully involved at every stage in the provision made by the school.
• To improve the access and delivery of information to those with the disadvantage that would normally be provided in writing to other members of the school community.
• To promote positive attitudes to disability.
• To eliminate unlawful discrimination.

Strategies

• Monitoring and evaluation carried out by all subject leaders will ensure that procedures and practices within the school give all learners access to the whole curriculum.
• The Special Educational Needs & Disability Coordinator (SENDCo) will be responsible for the identification and assessment of the specific educational needs and procedures will be put into place to ensure effective liaison with appropriate support agencies and outside agencies (See SEND policy).
• The assessment of disability will be diagnostic in nature and constructive in practice, with appropriate involvement of parents, school staff and relevant external agencies.
• A flexible approach will be used, involving a variety of forms of intervention such as in-class support, short- term individual withdrawal, monitoring and production of materials in subject areas, and specific advice to subject staff.
• Active participation of parents in the teaching and learning process will be encouraged.
• The positive achievements of pupils will be recognised and celebrated. .
• Learners with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) will continue to have access to the whole curriculum unless a specific exemption has been discussed and agreed.

OUTCOMES

This policy will play an important part in the educational development of individual pupils. It will ensure that pupils with a disability are treated as favourably as others and that the school will make reasonable adjustments to avoid disadvantaging disabled pupils, disabled family members and the wider community. Pupils with disability will be treated as equal and valued members of the school community.

Action Plan

Action-Plan-to-support-Accessibilty-Plan-2023Download