Accessibility

Introduction

We want all children to enjoy school and to be challenged to achieve their very best. We are committed to giving all of our children every opportunity to achieve the highest of standards. We do this by taking account of pupils’ varied life experiences and needs. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum and have high expectations for all children. The achievements, attitudes and well-being of all our children matter.

 

Purpose of Plan

This plan shows how Nevill Road Infant School intends, over time, to increase the accessibility of our school for disabled pupils, staff, parents/carers and visitors.

 

Definition of Disability (Equality Act 2010)

A person has a disability if s/he has a ‘physical or mental impairment which has a long-term and substantial adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’.

To be more specific; ‘long term’ is defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. This definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing and long-term health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.

 

Areas of Planning Responsibility

• Increasing access for disabled pupils to the school curriculum (this includes teaching and learning, the wider curriculum of the school such as participation in after-school clubs, leisure and cultural activities and school visits).
• Improving access to the physical environment of the school.
• Improving the delivery of written information to disabled pupils, parents/carers, staff or visitors. This information should take account of pupils’ disabilities and pupils’ and adults’ preferred formats and be made available within a reasonable timeframe.

 

Contextual Information

Nevill Road Infant School is a single storey building that opened in January 1960 with the later addition of two mobile units. All parts of the school have wheelchair access via ramps. There are disabled toilets in the main building and in the larger mobile unit.

At present we have no wheelchair dependent pupils, parents or members of staff.

 

Current Range of Known Disabilities

The school has some children with a range of specific learning disabilities. We have a child with diabetes and another with epilepsy.

 

Increasing Access for Disabled Pupils to the School Curriculum

Improving teaching and learning lies at the heart of the school’s work. Through self-review and Continuous Professional Development (CPD), we aim to enhance staff knowledge, skills and understanding to promote excellent teaching and learning for all children. We aim to meet every child’s needs within mixed ability, inclusive classes and we do all that we can to ensure that all children are enabled to participate fully in the broader life of the school. All children have access to after-school clubs, leisure and cultural activities and educational visits.

 

Target	Strategies	Time-scale	Responsibility	Success Criteria
Increase confidence of all staff in differentiating the curriculum.	Be aware of staff training needs on curriculum access. Assign CPD for autism, diabetes and epilepsy and any other relevant disabilities. Online learning modules if required.Ensure that staff are aware of local authority support that is available in supporting children with sensory needs.	On-going and as required.	SENCO	Staff will have increased confidence when using strategies for differentiation.Increased pupil engagement.Staff are able to adapt teaching materials and are using suitable support resources.
Ensure that all Teaching Assistants have specific training on disability issues.	Be aware of staff training needs on curriculum access. Assign CPD for autism, diabetes and epilepsy and any other relevant disabilities. Online learning modules if required.	As required.	SENCO	Raised confidence of support staff.
Ensure all staff are aware of disabled children’s curriculum access.	Have individual access plans for disabled children when required.Relevant information to be shared with all agencies.	As required	SENCO	All staff are aware of individuals’ needs.
Use ICT software to support learning.	Ensure that relevant software is installed where needed.	As required	ICT coordinator	Wider use of SEN resources in classrooms.
Educational visits to be accessible to all.	Develop guidance for staff on making trips accessible.Ensure trip venues have been vetted and found to be suitable	As required	HT and staff organising trip.	All pupils able to access all educational visits and take part in a range of activities.
Review PE curriculum to ensure that PE is accessible for all.	Gather information on accessible PE and disability sports.Seek disabled sports people to visit the school	As required	PE coordinator	All pupils have access the PE and attain to the best of their ability.

 

Maintaining and Improving Access to the Physical Environment of the School

The main school buildings at Nevill Road Infant School are all accessible by wheelchair. There are some areas that may need to be adapted; steps into Little Bears, fire exits from some classrooms in main building, door from main corridor onto the key stage one playground. Provision in these cases will be negotiated when a pupil’s specific needs are known. This would also be the case for parents/carers, staff and visitors.

The school has already installed a number of measures to ensure that it is accessible to all. These include yellow painted edges to steps, finger safes on all doors, hearing loops in all classrooms, a designated disabled parking space and handrails along all ramps.

The school has a wide range of equipment and resources available for day to day use. Resource provision is regularly under review and any additional requirements would be assessed and purchased by the SENCO.

Target	Strategies	Time-scale	Responsibility	Success Criteria
The school is aware of the access needs of disabled pupils, staff, governors, parents/carers and visitors.	To create access plans for individual disabled pupils when required.Be aware of staff, governors and parents’ access needs and meet as appropriate.Through questions and discussions find out about the access needs of parents and carers.Consider access needs during the recruitment process.	As requiredAs requiredRegularly/Annually   During recruitment	SENCO / HT   HT	Support plans in place for disabled pupils and all staff aware of needs.All staff and governors feel that their needs are being met.Parents have full access to the school and all activities.Access issues do not influence recruitment and retention process.
Layout of the school allows access to all areas.	Consider needs of disabled pupils, parents/carers or visitors when considering any redesign.	As required	HT, governors, site manager, school surveyor.	Redesigned areas are useable and accessible to all.
Hearing loops in classrooms updated as needed.Hearing loop in the school entrance area to be considered.	Consider needs of disabled pupils, parents/carers or visitors.	As required	HT, site manager	Improved access to information for anyone with hearing impairment.
Ensure that all disabled pupils, staff and visitors can be evacuated safely.	Put in place ‘Personal Evacuation Plans’ for disabled pupils as required.Ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities during any evacuation drills.	As required	SENCO	All pupils, staff and visitors can be evacuated safely.

 

Improving the Delivery of Written Information to Disabled Pupils

This will include planning to make written information that is normally provided by school available to all disabled pupils and families. Examples might include hand outs, letters, information about school events, pupil reports. This written information should take account of pupils’ disabilities and parents’ preferred formats. All written material should be made available within a reasonable timeframe.

As part of this process we need to establish a current level of need and be able to respond to changes in the range of need. The school will identify agencies and sources of such materials to be able to make the provision when required.

Target	Strategies	Time-scale	Responsibility	Success Criteria
Review information to parents/carers to ensure it is accessible.	Provide information and letters in clear print and in ‘simple’ English.School office will support and help parents to access information and complete forms.	On-going	Office staff and SMT	All parents receive information in a form they can access.
Languages other than English to be visible in school	Welcome signs, place signs and labels to be multi-lingual where possible.	On-going	EAL coordinator	All parents/carers confident to access the environment and their child’s education.
Provide information in other languages for pupils or prospective pupils who may have difficulty with hearing or language.	Questionnaire to assess current needs.Letters and information to be translated in relation to parents’ needs.Access to translators, interpreters offered if possible; particularly for parents’ evenings or other significant meetings about an individual child’s needs.	On-going	EAL coordinator, class teachers	All parents/carers confident to access the environment and their child’s education.ParentNew families have a positive experience in relation to accessing information.

 

Responsibilities

The Governing Body

The Governing Body will review and update the Access Plan annually to consider current and future needs and to determine that they are being met.

 

The Head Teacher

The Head Teacher is to ensure that the Plan is put into practice and that all the relevant training is in place.

 

Teachers and other Staff

All staff will ensure that they follow the Plan and that all pupils, employees and visitors have equal access to all aspects of school life.