ACCESSIBILITY PLAN 

Background

This Accessibility Plan is compliant with current legislation and requirements as specified in Schedule 10, relating to Disability, of the Equality Act 2010. School Governors are accountable for ensuring the implementation, review and reporting on progress of the Accessibility Plan over a prescribed period. This accessibility plan ensures that we continue to improve all aspects of the physical environment of the school site, the curriculum and written information so that all students with a disability can take full advantage of the education and associated opportunities provided by Barnby Road Academy.

In order to compile our original disability equality scheme and accessibility plan the first time round we consulted with a group of people drawn from pupils on the school council, parents through a questionnaire, community and governors within a working party and staff within a staff meeting.  Since the PSED (Public Sector Equality Duty) came into place this document has been updated to include only the accessibility plan.
 

This scheme incorporates the school’s plans to increase access to education for disabled pupils, staff, parents and visitors.

Definition (Equality Act 2010)

“A person has a disability 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 carry out normal day to day activities” Physical or mental impairment includes sensory impairments and also hidden impairments. In the DDA ‘substantial’ means ‘more than minor or trivial’. ‘Long-term’ means has lasted or is likely to last more than 12 months.

The definition is broad and includes children with a wide range of impairments, including learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, speech and language impairments, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), diabetes or epilepsy, where the effect of the impairment on the pupil’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities is adverse, substantial and long-term. All those with cancer or surviving cancer; HIV or Multiple Sclerosis are now included from the point of diagnosis. A significant number of pupils are therefore included in the definition.

Normal day-to-day activity

The test of whether the impairment affects normal day-to-day activity is whether it affects one or more of the following:

• mobility;

• manual dexterity;

• physical co-ordination;

• continence;

• ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects;

• speech, hearing or eyesight;

• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand;

• perception of risk of physical danger.

Statement

The school recognises and accepts the need to make all reasonable provisions for the admission of any prospective pupils who are disabled, any staff who are appointed, parents or any visitors to school. The school has or has had pupils who have Asperger’s Syndrome, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dyspraxia, Down’s Syndrome, Attention Deficit Disorder, Oppositional Defiance disorder and food allergies as well as those who have impairments in hearing, speech, sight and physical movement.  Provision for these pupils has been made in terms of medication, resources, specialist support, teaching support, the physical environment, policy development, risk assessment, the allowance of extra time in examinations, and, where required, by the use of such aids as laptop computers and specific software and resources. We have had children, parents and staff using crutches and staff with temporary disabilities. Adjustments have been made to the school environment to include these people. The school cooperates with parents in the administration of medication to those children with permanent medical conditions, such as asthma, whose education would be severely disrupted if it was not available at school. We have specialist trained staff in the use of the epi-pen for anaphylaxis, furthermore, the school is willing to discuss the administration of medication to pupils who may require it from time to time e.g. after illness (please see separate policy). 

Provision

The extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum we consider:

• The impact the delivered curriculum has upon pupils with disabilities.

• The effectiveness of short term planning in identifying the range of reasonable adjustments being made.
• The appropriate deployment of adult and peer support and the effective training of adults involved. 
• How the curriculum supports awareness of and positive attitudes towards, disability.
• Effective access to specialist advice and support. 
• Resource development.
• Access for all in our monitoring and review cycle.

In improving the physical environment of the school we consider:

• Improvements to or advice about lighting, signage, colour contrast, the acoustic environment, floor coverings
• Improvements to and provision of toilets, washing and changing facilities.
• The layout of the playground and other common areas.
• The provision of particular furniture and equipment to improve access.
   

 Strategy

As part of the school’s disability equality scheme, the school has adopted the following approach:

• To carry out an audit of the accessibility of the school’s physical environment in order to allow the free movement of disabled pupils around the school. The school will do everything possible within its budgeted resources to provide facilities. The annual audit of the physical environment will include a section on reducing an adverse impact on people with a disability. In addition, we complete risk assessments which will identify interim issues.
• To review the school’s curriculum to ensure that disabled pupils are not disadvantaged in any way and that all subjects and activities are available to them.
• To recognise that making the school’s premises, curriculum and admission procedures more accessible to disabled pupils is not enough in itself. The school must also ensure that the minds of all its staff are accessible to the individual needs of the disabled pupil. Therefore, the school recognises the importance of developing a culture in which both teaching and non-teaching staff conform to the spirit as well as the letter of the Act. Staff are supported by SEND co-ordinator and external advisors to provide reasonable adjustments and we have regular review meetings to evaluate the effectiveness of these adjustments. The school will consider the provision of disability awareness training within staff development programmes.

• In order to consider all the implications of an open access policy with regard to disabled policies, the curriculum committee will review the disability, inclusion, health and safety, SEN, and any other relevant policies as appropriate.

• This scheme will be reviewed regularly by Governors.

• The important content of school documentation complies with dyslexia friendly fonts and formats. We have notified parents that accessibility of text based resources can be provided, in different ways i.e. coloured paper etc. if we are notified.

• This scheme will be published on our website and all parents and community will be notified of its existence and have the opportunity to access a copy online or a paper version through school.

Disability is primarily associated with; P Physical impairment, S Sensory impairment, LD Learning difficulty.  MC Medical condition, MI Mental illness, Spld Dyslexia, ADHD, Dyspraxia, ASD, Tourette’s,  SEBD Social, emotional and behavioural difficulties,  Sp&L Speech and Language Difficulties.

 General targets

 Improving Curriculum access

Improving the Delivery of Written Information

Improving the Physical Access

The Accessibility Plan will be reported upon annually in respect of progress and outcomes, and provide a projected plan for the four year period ahead of the next review date. This plan reflects new statutory requirements for the setting of Equality Objectives.