Equality & Accessibility
Equality Information and Objectives
Public Sector Equality Duty
Public Sector Equality Duty
The Equality Act 2010 requires us to publish information that demonstrates that we have due regard for the need to:
• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
Flintham Primary School is an inclusive school where we focus on the well-being and progress of every child and where all members of our community are of equal worth.
We believe that the Equality Act provides a framework to support our commitment to valuing diversity, tackling discrimination, promoting equality and fostering good relationships between people. It also ensures that we continue to tackle issues of disadvantage and underachievement of different groups.
Our approach to equality is based on the following key principles:
1. All learners are of equal value
2. We recognise and respect difference
3. We foster positive attitudes and relationships and a shared sense of cohesion and belonging.
4. We observe good equalities practice in staff recruitment, retention and development.
5. We aim to reduce and remove inequalities and barriers that already exist.
6. We have the highest expectations of all our children.
Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
We advance equality of opportunity by:
• Using the information we gather to identify underachieving groups or individuals and plan targeted intervention
• Ensuring participation of parents/carers and pupils in school development
• Listening to parents/carers
• Listening to pupils at all times
Fostering good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it
We foster good relations by:
• Ensuring that Flintham Primary is seen as a community school within our local community
• Ensuring that equality and diversity are embedded in the curriculum and in collective worship.
Equality Objectives
At Flintham Primary School, we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all pupils, staff, parents and carers, irrespective of race, gender, disability, belief, religion or socio-economic background.
FPS Equality objectives 2021-23 |
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Objective |
Action Steps |
Success criteria |
Resources |
Timescale |
Monitoring |
To ensure that pupils with SEND, Looked After Children and those in receipt of Pupil Premium funding are given support to reach outcomes at least as good as National. |
Plan support using Pupil Premium Funding & SEN funding.
Liaison with outside agencies for supporting children with disabilities, SEN and medical conditions. |
Pupils meet individual, end of year targets. |
External funding
Leadership time for SENCO |
Ongoing – termly basis |
Termly monitoring of progress data. Class Teachers SENCO Headteacher |
To ensure staff are aware of what is and isn’t a prejudice-based incident. |
Staff awareness of protected characteristics. Staff training based on scenarios and agreement on what would an appropriate response be. |
All staff clear on what is a prejudice-based incident and the next steps they should take. |
Staff meeting time
Scenarios |
October INSET |
Repeat at subsequent staff meeting – are staff able to correctly identify prejudice-based incidents? |
To ensure children are aware of what is and isn’t a prejudice-based incident (use school values of inclusivity and empathy)
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Assemblies around the values of inclusivity and empathy. Making children aware that they should speak up and report. |
Pupils have reported incidents if they have happened. |
Assemblies |
Autumn 2 assemblies. |
Pupils are able to correctly identify prejudice -based incidents and how to respond and report. |
To ensure staff are aware of the school’s procedure for dealing with prejudice-based incidents. |
Procedures for adding PBI on CPOMS are shared with staff and are reminded during briefing notes and staff meetings. CPD provided as issues arise. Lunchtime staff who do not have access to CPOMS are aware to report any PBI. These will be added to CPOMS by a DSL. Staff clear of their responsibilities relating to prejudice-based incidents Any recorded incident of PBI will be followed up with an action. |
All staff clear on their duty and responsibilities. |
CPOMS
CPD and training. |
Full reminder at yearly INSET day. Ongoing updates in staff meetings. |
Reported back to LGB via HT report |
To ensure adequate staff members are up to date in terms of Coping with Risky Behaviours (CRB) training to enable us to meet the needs of all pupils most effectively. |
Book refresher training for GP and GK |
Key staff are trained and feel confident to work with/support pupils with handling needs.
Handling policies are in place for relevant pupils and are being applied consistently. |
NCC training programme
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Ongoing – annual refresher training |
Headteacher/ SENco/ office manager
Link Governor for Behaviour. |
To celebrate cultural diversity and increase pupil awareness and understanding. |
Ensure these themes are woven into curriculum provision across different subjects. SCARF PSHE ensures discrete coverage of difference and diversity Participate in the EQT diversity project. Make links with local community religious leaders. Other assemblies mapped out to ensure cultural diversity. |
Children’s understanding of the local and global community is broadened. Children are respectful of cultural diversity and celebrate difference. |
Staff CPD linked to curriculum planning SCARF (pshe) annual subscription Trust Diversity project |
Ongoing - annual basis |
Headteacher/DHT
LGB - curriculum reports, HT report Link governor for Curriculum RE/ PSHE |
To embed RSHE curriculum – (through SCARF) ensuring we are guided by the principles of equality. This includes content related to same sex relationships and lifestyle choices. |
Ensure all resources are available to staff responsible for delivering the RSHE curriculum. |
Curriculum is in place and being effectively delivered. Parents and carers aware of school policy regarding RSHE and able to support their child’s learning. Children better equipped to make and maintain relationships with others and to feel good about themselves and the choices they make. This involves helping children to gain knowledge, develop skills and form positive beliefs and attitudes. |
RSHE policy
Parent forums
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Annual review – summer term |
Work scrutiny Planning scrutiny PSHE subject leader/ headteacher
Link governor for Curriculum |
Accessibility Information and Objectives 2022-2025
Accessibility 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.
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 is structured to complement and support the school’s Equality Objectives, and will similarly be published on the 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.
- 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:
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- 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:
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- Health & Safety Policy
- Special Educational Needs Policy
- Medical Needs Policy
- Off site visits and journeys guidance
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- 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.
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.
Action Plan
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Aim 1: To increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum. |
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Targets |
Strategies |
Timescales |
Responsibilities |
Success Criteria |
To liaise with parents to prepare for the new intake of children into Early Years and Foundation Stage each year |
To identify pupils who may need adapted or additional provision |
Termly for Early Years Spring-Summer for reception intake |
EYFS Team and SENCo |
Provision set in place ready for when the child/ren start school
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To liaise with educational establishments to prepare for the intake of new children who transfer within year |
To identify pupils who may need adapted or additional provision |
Ongoing as need rises |
HT and SENCo |
Provision set in place ready for when the child/ren start school |
To review policies to ensure that they reflect inclusive practice and procedure |
To comply with the Equality Act 2010 |
On going |
SLT and Governors |
All policies clearly reflect inclusive practice and procedure |
To establish and maintain close liaison with parents |
To ensure collaboration and information sharing between school and families. |
Ongoing |
SLT and all teaching staff |
Clear collaborative working approaches through regular meetings, risk assessment reviews, provision reviews and action planning |
To establish and maintain close liaison with outside agencies for pupils with additional needs |
To ensure collaboration between all key personnel. |
Ongoing |
SLT/SEND lead, all teaching staff and outside professionals |
Clear collaborative working approaches through regular meetings, risk assessment reviews, provision reviews and action planning |
To include pupils with a disability, medical condition or other access needs as fully as possible in the wider curriculum including trips and residential visits as well as extra-curricular provision. Create personalised risk assessment for individuals. |
Ongoing assessments and access plans for individual children. Liaise with external agencies, identifying training needs and implementing training where needed. Ensure that actions, including emergency evacuation procedures, are clear and that staff are capable of carrying them out. |
Ongoing |
SLT, SENCo and all , teaching staff and extra-curricular service providers, educational visits settings
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Evidence that appropriate considerations and reasonable adjustments have been made |
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Aim 2: To improve the physical environment of the school to increase the extent to which pupils with a disability, medical condition or other access needs can access education and associated services. |
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To keep all children safe within the boundaries of the school and eliminate the possibility of pupils leaving the school unsupervised Security measures in place:
Monitor perimeter fencing to ensure children are secure. |
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ongoing |
Head Teacher and Business Manager
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Adaptions to perimeter fencing and gates ensure all children have no access out of school expect for recognised entrances and exits
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To improve the physical school environment |
The school will take account of the needs of pupils with physical difficulties and sensory impairments when planning and undertaking future improvements and refurbishments of the site and access, lighting and colour schemes, clear signage and more accessible facilities and fittings. |
On going |
SLT, Cleaner in charge, Governors |
As full as possible inclusion for all pupils. Safe evacuation in an emergency.
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Ensure that reasonable adjustments are made for pupils with a disability, medical condition or other access needs
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Create personalised risk assessments and access plans for individual pupils. Liaise with external agencies, identifying training needs and implementing training where needed. Ensure that actions, including emergency evacuation procedures, are clear and that staff are capable of carrying them out. |
On going |
SLT, SENCo, all teaching staff and cleaner in charge |
As full as possible inclusion for all pupils. Safe evacuation in an emergency.
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Aim 3: Improve the delivery of information to pupils, staff, parents/carers and other members of the school community |
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To enable improved access to written information for pupils, parents and visitors |
Create and offer information in alternative formats Access arrangements are considered and put into place for statutory testing |
On going |
SLT, teachers, admin team, SENCo |
Evidence that appropriate considerations and reasonable adjustments have been made |
Ensure that reasonable adjustments are made for parents with a disability, medical condition or other access needs so as they can fully support their child's education. |
Adopt a proactive approach to identifying the access requirements of parents and make reasonable adjustments where possible |
On going |
Whole school team |
Evidence that appropriate considerations and reasonable adjustments have been made so that parents can fully support their time in education |