Disabled Access (Accessibility Plan)
Definition of Disability
According to the 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’.
Legal background
Since September 2002, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 outlaws discrimination by schools and LEAs against either current, or prospective disabled pupils in their access to education. It is a requirement that the school’s accessibility plan is resourced, implemented and reviewed and revised as necessary.
This plan sets out the proposals of the Governing Body of the school to increase access to education for disabled pupils in the three areas required by the planning duties in the DDA: increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum (this includes teaching and learning and the wider curriculum of the school such as participation in after school clubs, leisure and cultural activities or school visits); improving the environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services (this includes improvements to the physical environment of the school and physical aids to access education); improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is provided in writing for pupils who are not disabled (this will include planning to make written information that is normally provided by schools to its pupils available to disabled pupils. Examples might include handouts, timetables, textbooks and information about school events etc.) The information should take account of the pupils’ disabilities, the preferred format of pupils and parents, and be made available within a reasonable time frame.
Bratton Primary School aims to treat all stakeholders, including pupils, prospective pupils, staff, governors and other members of the school community favourably and, wherever possible, takes reasonable steps to avoid placing anyone at a substantial disadvantage.
The school aims to work closely with disabled pupils, their families and any relevant Outside Agencies, in order to remove or minimise any potential barriers to learning, which puts them at a disadvantage, but allows them to learn, achieve and participate fully in school life. The school is active in promoting positive attitudes to disabled people in the school and wider community, and in planning to increase access to education for all disabled pupils.
As part of the school’s continued communication with parents, carers and other stakeholders we continually look at ways to improve accessibility through data collection, questionnaires and parental discussions.
