Vision Statement
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:
- He or she has a physical or mental impairment, and
- 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. At Flintham Primary School the Plan will be monitored by the Head teacher and evaluated by the Governing Body. The current Plan will be appended to this document.
At Flintham Primary School we are committed to working together to provide an inspirational and exciting learning environment where all children can develop an enthusiasm for life-long learning. We believe that children should feel happy, safe and valued so that they gain a respectful, caring attitude towards each other and the environment both locally and globally.
Aims:
Our Aims are:
- 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.
- The Accessibility Plan 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 should be read alongside the school’s Equality Information and Objectives (2023–2027), with both documents working together to reduce barriers and improve outcomes for pupils with disabilities and other protected characteristics. Both of these documents will be published on our 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 published on the school website. The Accessibility Plan will be monitored through the Local Governing Body meetings. The school will work in partnership with Equals Trust 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. Particular attention is given to pupils with disabilities as defined under the Equality Act 2010, ensuring that barriers to access are identified and reduced through reasonable adjustments and inclusive practice.
- Flintham Primary 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.
The Flintham Primary School 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.
- 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.
- This Accessibility Plan should be read in conjunction with the following school policies, strategies and documents:
- Health & Safety Policy
- Special Educational Needs Policy
- Medical Needs Policy
- Off site visits and journeys guidance
- 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.
- 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.
The priorities within this plan are informed by ongoing analysis of pupil needs and equality information.
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 – Disabled pupils participate in extra-curricular activities. Some aspects of extracurricular activities present particular challenges, for example lunch and break times for pupils with social/interaction impairments, afterschool 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 need, 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 a one storey building. All entrances to the school are either flat or ramped and all have wide doors fitted. The main entrance features a secure lobby and is fully accessible to wheelchair users. The school does not have any dedicated visitor parking, although a disabled parking space is in our school car park. Visitors to the school use on-street parking. There are disabled toilet facilities and a disabled shower available in the foyer of the main building. 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 will consult closely with Equals Trust.
- 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 SEND Springboard 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 Headteacher. The SEND governor or Chair of Governors may be involved if the complaint is not resolved satisfactorily.