Accessibility Plan 2019-2022 | Diseworth CofE Primary School

Last Reviewed:	Summer 2019	Next Review:	Summer 2022
Committee Responsibility:	Strategic Committee	Approved on:	Summer 2019
Approved By:	Governing Body

Contents

1. Aims. 2

2. Legislation and guidance. 2

3. Action plan. 3

4. Monitoring arrangements. 5

Appendix 1: Accessibility audit 5

1. 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 pupils can participate in the curriculum
Improve 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 accessible information to disabled pupils

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. We believe that all children learn best when the environment and the ethos supports equality and inclusion of all children and adults.

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 issues.

The school supports any available partnerships such as The Local Authority, to develop and implement the plan. This also includes our BeSkilled group of schools.

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.

2. 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.

3. Action plan

This action plan sets out the aims of our accessibility plan in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.

aim	current good practice Include established practice and practice under development	objectives/ State short, medium and long-term objectives actions to be taken	person responsible	date to complete actions by	success criteria
Increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability	The curriculum is reviewed to ensure it meets the needs of all pupils. We use resources tailored to the needs of pupils who require support to access the curriculum. Curriculum resources are specifically purchased to support children’s additional needs eg IT equipment or sensory equipment.. Curriculum progress is tracked for all pupils, including those with a disability. Targets are set effectively and are appropriate for pupils with additional needs.	Regularly review the curriculum for all children. Plan of purchase of equipment after EHCP review and IEP review Review Pebbles assessments and adapt these to reflect needs of children.	All Staff led by Head teacher	annually – to be completed by July 2020
Improve and maintain access to the physical environment	The environment is adapted to the needs of pupils as required. This includes: Ramps Disabled toilets and changing facilities Improved lighting in all areas of the building	Costed long term plan of works needed for the building to ensure better access within the confines of what is possible from a financial point of view	Health & Safety Governors along with Finance & Personnel	annually – to be completed by July 2025
Improve the delivery of information to pupils with a disability	Our school uses a range of communication methods to ensure information is accessible. This can include: Internal signage Large print resources Pictorial or symbolic representations	Where needed all printed communication can be increased in size Where necessary for specific children pictorial representations can be used throughout school.	SENCO	annually – to be completed and reviewed by July 2020

4. 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 strategic committee

5. 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

Appendix 1: Accessibility audit

feature	description	actions to be taken	person responsible	date to complete actions by
Number of storeys	There is one storey but on different levels, the building can be accessed either from the front or round the back of the building, we have a small ramp that can be moved around to enable wheel chairs to be able to move over a step more easily.	None at present time
Corridor access	The building has one corridor area to access key stage 2 classrooms,	None at present time
Parking bays	School does not have any parking bays as the area at the front of school is not a car park. Staff and visitors can park cars there (reverse parked).	None at present time
Entrances	All main access doors into and out of the building are able to be opened wider to allow wheelchair access if needed	None at present time
Ramps	There is a small portable ramp but no fixed ramps	None at present time
Toilets	There is one disabled toilet off the hall.	None at present time
Reception area	Is quite narrow but constraints of the building mean this cannot be made any wider _ Electrical cupboard is also housed here,	None at present time
Internal signage	All signage is clear around all areas of school.	None at present time
Emergency escape routes	All staff are aware of emergency escape routs out of the building – fire exits are clearly marked.	None at present time