BRYNNAU PRIMARY SCHOOL
Disability Equality Scheme and Disability Accessibility Plan for Pupils
Date Review Date Coordinator Nominated Governor
20.6.16 Summer 2018 V.McCarthy, C. Roderick J Jenkins, C Parker
We believe this policy relates to the following legislation: Disability Discrimination Act 1995
SEN and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) Children Act 2004 Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 Equality Act 2010 Children and Families Act 2014 Special Educational Needs and Disability (Detained Persons) Regulations 2015 The following documentation is also related to this policy:
Equality Act 2010: Advice for Schools (DfE) Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 Years. Statutory
Guidance for Organisations Who Work With and Support Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (DfE) and (DoH)
Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions: Statutory Guidance for Governing Bodies of Maintained Schools and Proprietors of Academies in England (DfE)
Reasonable Adjustments for Disabled Pupils (2012) (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
Supporting Pupils at School with Medical Conditions (2014) (DfE)
Safeguarding Statement At Brynnau Primary School we respect and value all children and are committed to providing a caring, friendly and safe environment for all our pupils so they can learn, in a relaxed and secure atmosphere. We believe every pupil should be able to participate in all school activities in an enjoyable and safe environment and be protected from harm. This is the responsibility of every adult employed by, or invited to deliver services at Brynnau Primary School. We recognise our responsibility to safeguard all who access school and promote the welfare of all our pupils by protecting them from physical, sexual and emotional abuse, neglect and bullying.
Policy We believe that we work hard to ensure that the culture and ethos of this school are such that, whatever the abilities and needs of members of the school community, everyone is equally valued and treat one another with respect. This school provides pupils with the opportunity to experience understand and value diversity.
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In accordance with the planning duty in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and as amended by the SEN and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) this policy and plan has been devised. It also draws on the guidance set out in “Accessing School: Planning to increase access to schools for disabled pupils” issued by the DFES in July 2002. We welcome children with disabilities and we value the knowledge and views of parents regarding their child's disability and how it affects their ability to carry normal activities. Our definition of disability:
‘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. This means that in general the person must have an impairment that is either physical or mental; the impairment must have adverse effects which are substantial; the substantial adverse effects must be long-term; and the long-term substantial adverse effects must be effects on normal day-to-day activities.’ (Equality Act 2010) We have a duty to promote equality of opportunity, eliminate unlawful discrimination, eliminate disability related harassment, promote positive attitudes towards disabled people and encourage disabled people to participate in school life. We believe it is our duty to prepare and publish a disability equality scheme that will outline accessibility to the school premises and its facilities, accessibility to the curriculum, accessibility of educational services, provision of training for school personnel and pupils which results in improved outcomes for disabled pupils, parents/carers and school personnel in all aspects of school life. We are proud of our ethos of support, collaboration and respect for one another. We strive to create a safe caring environment for all our pupils to experience success, happiness and excellence. All school users will benefit from the school’s disability equality scheme as it will allow them to take full benefit of the opportunities that this school offers. We are committed to providing a fully accessible environment which values and includes all pupils, school personnel, parents and visitors regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are committed to challenging negative attitudes about disability and accessibility and to developing a culture of awareness, tolerance and inclusion.
In response to the Access Audit undertaken by the local authority we have in place an Accessibility Action Plan designed to increase the accessibility of provision for all pupils, staff and visitors to the school, to make improvements in the provision of information and to increase access to the curriculum. The plan is as follows:
Development area
Targets Strategies Outcome and by when Goals achieved
Delivery of the curriculum
Equality of access to all curriculum areas. Full participation in the school community for
Reduction and elimination of barriers to access the curriculum and school community via:
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pupils, prospective pupils and our adult users with a disability. All pupils provided with a broad and balanced curriculum, differentiated and adjusted to meet the needs of pupils preferred learning styles
stakeholder questionnaires, annual review of policy and procedures to ensure compliance
The physical environment of the school
The physical environment of the school is fully accessible to pupils, prospective pupils and adult users
Annual GB accessibility audit. Annual review of policy and procedures Annual GB Health and Safety audit to Identify necessary improvements to the physical environment of the school that will increase the extent to which disabled people can have access to the education and other services that this school offers
Classrooms with external access are accessible by wheel chair users by 2018
The school is fully accessible from the main entrances. The disabled changing facilities are of a very good standard
Provision of information in other formats
Information is available in the full range of formats upon request
Annual review of policy and procedures Information to be available via main office
Braille version of information to be provided as requested School information to be translated via Google into other languages as requested.
Hearing loops currently available.
We wish to work closely with the School Council and to hear their views and opinions as we acknowledge and support Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that children should be encouraged to form and to express their views. We as a school community have a commitment to promote equality. Therefore, an equality impact assessment has been undertaken and we believe this policy is in line with the Equality Act 2010.
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We believe it is essential that this policy clearly identifies and outlines the roles and responsibilities of all those involved in the procedures and arrangements that is connected with this policy.
Aim
To ensure that all school personnel with disabilities are treated fairly in regard to recruitment, performance management, promotion, staff development, teaching environment and access to the school premises.
To reduce and eliminate barriers to access the curriculum and to have full participation in the school community for pupils, prospective pupils and our adult users with a disability.
To ensure compliance with all relevant legislation connected to this policy.
To work with other schools and the local authority to share good practice in order to improve this policy.
Responsibility for the Policy and Procedure Role of the Governing Body The Governing Body has: appointed a member of staff to be responsible for special educational needs and
disabilities (SENCo); delegated powers and responsibilities to the Equal Opportunities Committee; delegated powers and responsibilities to the Headteacher to ensure all school personnel
and stakeholders are aware of and comply with this policy; a duty to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and with the Disability Rights
Commission Code of Practice (2002); a duty under the DDA (as amended by the SENDA) to publish an Accessibility Plan but not
to:
discriminate against disabled pupils in our admissions and exclusions, and provision of education and associated services
treat disabled pupils less favourably take reasonable steps to avoid putting disables pupils at a substantial disadvantage
the responsibility to work with parents to ensure the full needs of each individual child are
met as we value parents’ knowledge of their child’s disability and its effect on their ability to carry out normal activities;
a duty respect the child’s and parents right to confidentiality; the responsibility of providing all pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum which is
differentiated and adjusted to meet the needs of individual pupils and their preferred learning styles;
the responsibility endorse the key principles in the National Curriculum 2000 framework which underpins the development of a more inclusive curriculum by:
setting suitable learning challenges responding to pupil’s diverse learning needs
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overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individual and groups of pupils
responsibility for ensuring that the school complies with all equalities legislation; nominated a designated Equalities governor to ensure that appropriate action will be
taken to deal with all prejudice related incidents or incidents which are a breach of this policy;
responsibility for ensuring funding is in place to support this policy; responsibility for ensuring this policy and all policies are maintained and updated
regularly; make effective use of relevant research and information to improve this policy; responsibility for ensuring all policies are made available to parents; the responsibility of involving the School Council in the development, approval,
implementation and review of this policy; nominated a link governor to visit the school regularly, to liaise with the Headteacher and
the coordinator and to report back to the Governing Body; responsibility for the effective implementation, monitoring and evaluation of this policy.
Role of the Headteacher The Headteacher will: work closely with the Equal Opportunities Committee; work closely with the link governor and coordinator; in conjunction with the Governing Body devise a new plan every three years; oversee the implementation of the policy, Scheme and Plan;
annually review and adjust the Accessibility Action Plan; organise ongoing awareness raising and training for school personnel and governors in the
matter of disability discrimination; ensure all school personnel, pupils and parents are aware of and comply with this
policy; report to the Governing Body on the procedures in place for school personnel with
disabilities; inform the Governing Body on the training programme for school personnel; provide leadership and vision in respect of equality; make effective use of relevant research and information to improve this policy; provide guidance, support and training to all staff; monitor the effectiveness of this policy by monitoring the:
physical environment of the school provision of information delivery of the curriculum by:
monitoring learning and teaching through observing lessons monitoring planning and assessment speaking with pupils, school personnel, parents and governors
annually report to the Governing Body on the success and development of this policy.
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Role of the Coordinator The coordinator will: lead the development of this policy throughout the school; liaise with school personnel to discuss what changes are needed to the physical
environment of the school, to the provision of information and to the delivery of the curriculum;
work closely with the Headteacher and the nominated governor; provide guidance and support to all staff; provide training for all staff on induction and when the need arises; keep up to date with new developments and resources; undertake risk assessments when required; review and monitor; annually report to the Governing Body on the success and development of this policy Role of the Nominated Governor The Nominated Governor will: work closely with the Headteacher and the coordinator; ensure this policy and other linked policies are up to date; ensure that everyone connected with the school is aware of this policy; attend training related to this policy; report to the Governing Body every term; annually report to the Governing Body on the success and development of this policy. Role of the Equal Opportunities Committee The Equal Opportunities Committee will fully integrate disabled people into this school by: undertaking a needs analysis that will identify what improvements to the school building
plus other issues that need to be taken into account; identifying what needs to be done to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can
fully participate in the curriculum that the school provides; identifying what needs to be done to improve the physical environment of the school that
will increase the extent to which disabled people can have access to the education and other services that this school offers;
identifying what needs to be done to improve communicating written information to disabled people;
helping pupils to recognise, understand and learn how to treat people with disabilities by: identifying different kinds of disabilities visualizing what it might feel like to be disabled supporting and interacting with disabled people empathising
ensuring good lines of communication are in place with parents namely:
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newsletters weekly information letters school website annual pupil reports termly parent-teacher consultations curriculum evenings PTA events
identifying what needs to be done to improve our programme of extra-curricular activities
that will be to the benefit of our disabled pupils; identifying what needs to be done to improve our provision of courses for adults and
families who have particular needs in the community; identifying the training needs of school personnel; annually review this policy and the Disability Accessibility Plan Role of School Personnel School personnel will: comply with all aspects of this policy; implement the school’s equalities policy and schemes; liaise with the SENCo to discuss what changes are needed to the physical environment
of the school, to the provision of information and to the delivery of the curriculum; report and deal with all incidents of discrimination; attend appropriate training sessions on equality; report any concerns they have on any aspect of the school community; be aware of all other linked policies; maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour within and outside school and not to
undermine fundamental British values; work in partnership parents and carers keeping them up to date with their child's
progress and behaviour at school. Role of Pupils Pupils will: be aware of and comply with this policy; be encouraged to work in partnership with the school by making decisions and
exercising choice in relation to their educational programme; liaise with the school council; take part in questionnaires and surveys. Role of the School Council The School Council will be involved in:
determining this policy with the Governing Body; discussing improvements to this policy during the school year; organise surveys to gauge the thoughts of all pupils;
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reviewing the effectiveness of this policy with the Governing Body Role of Parents/Carers Parents/carers will: be aware of and comply with this policy; inform the school of their child's disability; share their knowledge of their child's disability and how it affects the normal activities of
their child; be asked to take part periodic surveys conducted by the school; support the school Code of Conduct and guidance necessary to ensure smooth running
of the school Raising Awareness of this Policy We will raise awareness of this policy via: the School Prospectus the school website the Staff Handbook meetings with parents such as introductory, transition, parent-teacher consultations and
periodic curriculum workshops school events meetings with school personnel communications with home such as weekly newsletters and of end of half term
newsletters reports such annual report to parents and Headteacher reports to the Governing Body information displays in the main school entrance Training All school personnel: have equal chances of training, career development and promotion receive training on induction which specifically covers:
All aspects of this policy Disability Equality Scheme and Disability Accessibility Plan for Pupils Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Disabled Access
Equal opportunities Inclusion
receive periodic training so that they are kept up to date with new information receive equal opportunities training on induction in order to improve their understanding
of the Equality Act 2010 and its implications.
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Equality Impact Assessment Under the Equality Act 2010 we have a duty not to discriminate against people on the basis of their age, disability, gender, gender identity, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation. This policy has been equality impact assessed and we believe that it is in line with the Equality Act 2010 as it is fair, it does not prioritise or disadvantage any pupil and it helps to promote equality at this school. Monitoring the Implementation and Effectiveness of the Policy The practical application of this policy will be reviewed annually or when the need arises by the coordinator, the Headteacher and the nominated governor. A statement of the policy's effectiveness and the necessary recommendations for improvement will be presented to the Governing Body for further discussion and endorsement. (See Policy Evaluation)
Method Frequency
Daily Weekly Term Annually
1 2 3 4 5 6
Reports from Subject Leaders
Learning walks
Scrutiny of planning
Work trawls
Lesson observations
Discussions with teachers
Discussions with pupils
Discussions with governors
Discussions with parents
Monitoring Action Plan See form Linked Policies
Disability Equality Scheme and Disability Accessibility Plan for Pupils Equalities
Disabled Access Inclusion
Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Curriculum
Teaching and Learning
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Headteacher:
Date: May 2016
Chair of Governing Body:
Date: May 2016
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Initial Equality Impact Assessment
Please complete an initial equality impact assessment once this policy has been customised to suit your purposes.
Policy Title The aim(s) of this policy Existing policy ()
New/Proposed Policy ()
Updated Policy ()
Disability Equality Scheme and Disability Accessibility Plan for
Pupils
To ensure that all school personnel with disabilities are treated fairly in regard to recruitment, performance management, promotion, staff development, teaching environment and access to the school premises.
To reduce and eliminate barriers to access the curriculum and to have full participation in the school community for pupils, prospective pupils and our adult users with a disability.
To ensure compliance with all relevant legislation connected to this policy.
This policy affects or is likely to affect the following members of the school community ()
Pupils
School Personnel Parents/carers Governors School Volunteers School Visitors Wider School Community
Question Equality Groups Conclusion
Does or could this policy have a negative impact on any of the following?
Age
Disability
Gender
Gender identity
Pregnancy or maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Undertake a full EIA if the answer is ‘yes’ or ‘not sure’
Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Yes No
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Does or could this policy help promote equality for any of the following?
Age
Disability
Gender
Gender identity
Pregnancy or maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Undertake a full EIA if the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’
Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Yes No
Does data collected from the equality groups have a positive impact on this policy?
Age
Disability
Gender
Gender identity
Pregnancy or maternity
Race
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation
Undertake a full EIA if the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not sure’
Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Y N NS Yes No
Conclusion We have come to the conclusion that after undertaking an initial equality impact assessment that a full assessment is not required.
Preliminary EIA completed by Date Preliminary EIA approved by Date
V.McCarthy, C Roderick 17.6.16 Governing Body
Policy Evaluation
Points to be considered Yes No N/A Please supply evidence
Policy annually reviewed Annual report review 15/16
Policy in line with current legislation Identified in this revised policy
Coordinator in place Identified within this revised policy
Nominated governor in place Identified within this revised policy
Coordinator carries out role effectively Performance management documents (confidential)
Headteacher, coordinator and nominated governor work closely Review meeting documents
Policy endorsed by governing body GB committee minutes 20/6/16
Policy regularly discussed at meetings of the governing body GB minutes Summer term 2016
School personnel aware of this policy Staff briefing documents
School personnel comply with this policy
Pupils aware of this policy
Parents aware of this policy Brynnauprimary.co.uk
Visitors aware of this policy Information provided on visitor badge Local community aware of this policy Brynnauprimary.co.uk
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Funding in place GB finance minutes
Policy complies with the Equality Act Identified in policy
Equality Impact Assessment undertaken Included above
Policy referred to the School Prospectus Referred to in current prospectus
Policy available from the school office Upon request for photocopy
Policy available from the school website brynnauprimary.co.uk
School Council involved with policy development School Council records
All stakeholders take part in questionnaires and surveys Annual provision surveys and summaries
All associated training in place Training log
All outlined procedures complied with H&S audit reports 15/16
Linked policies in place and up to date GB statutory policy file
Associated policies in place and up to date School policy files
A statement outlining the overall effectiveness of this policy
It is our belief that this policy and the procedures for monitoring its implementation are effective mechanisms for achieving our aims.
Policy Approval Form
Policy Title: Disability equality Scheme and Disability Accessibility Plan for Pupils Date when written: 17.6.16
Policy written by:
V. McCarthy, C. Roderick New Policy (or x)
Revised Policy (or x)
Stakeholders consulted in policy production: (or x)
Governors Senior Leadership
Team
Teaching Personnel
Support Personnel
Administrative Personnel
Parents Pupils Local Community
x
Date when approved by Governors:
20.6.16 Date when presented to stakeholders:
21.6.16
Date when
implemented:
21.6.16
Published on: (or x)
School Website School Prospectus Staff Handbook
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Monitoring Implementation and Policy Effectiveness Action Plan
Method/Actions Success
Criteria/Intended Outcomes
Who is responsible
Who is involved Start/finish dates Costs Evaluation
against success criteria
Reports from Subject Leaders
Annual review of policy
C Roderick, V McCarthy
SLT June annually Nil Policy revised as appropriate
Learning walks
Physical environment fully accessible
GB Health & Safety committee,
GB H&S committee
Annually Autumn term
Nil
Necessary amendments made to physical environment
Scrutiny of planning
Planning is differentiated to meet the needs and preferred learning styles of all learners
V. McCarthy, SLT
All teaching staff Half termly reviews
Nil
All current planning meets the needs and preferred learning styles of all learners
Lesson observations
Equality of access to curriculum areas for all pupils
V. McCarthy SLT
All teaching staff
Within performance management cycle
Nil
Lesson activities cater for the individual needs and preferred learning styles of all pupils
Discussions with teachers
All staff fully aware of and compliant with policy and procedures
V. McCarthy All teaching staff June annual policy review
Nil
Policy and procedures are effectively implemented
Discussions with pupils
Pupils fully aware and compliant with policy and procedures
V. McCarthy, SLT
All teaching staff B Atkin - School Council
June annual policy review
Nil Pupil voice has shaped the revised policy
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Discussions with governors
GB fully aware of and compliant with policy and procedures
V. McCarthy C. Roderick
GB members June annual policy review
Nil GB have ratified the revised policy
Discussions with parents
Parents fully aware of and compliant with policy and procedures
V. McCarthy All parents June annual policy review
Nil
Revised policy reflects amendments made as a consequence of parental voice