Mellor St Mary CE Primary School

Accessibility Plan

 At Mellor St Mary CE Primary School we believe that each and every one of us are special because we are made in the image of God and we must avoid at all cost diminishing the dignity of any individual to a stereo type or a problem.

Our teaching and learning ethos is underpinned by the scripture ‘ For with God nothing shall be impossible’ (Luke 1:37) and we believe that every child has the right to reach their full potential, no matter what their starting point in life may be. This policy has been created to ensure that all our pupils are able to reach their full potential by living life in all its fullness.

Introduction

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:

(a) He or she has a physical or mental impairment, and

(b) 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 must be reviewed every year and approved by the Governing Board. The review process can be delegated to a committee of the Governing Board, an individual or the Head.

Mellor St Mary Primary 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. They are committed to taking positive action in the spirit of the Equality Act 2010 with regard to disability and to developing a culture of inclusion, support and awareness within the school.

Mellor St Mary Primary has adopted this accessibility plan in line with the school’s special educational needs policy with the aim to ensure that their school is socially and academically inclusive, that all pupils have access to a full curriculum, and that all pupils are appropriately challenged. This plan is created in response to the recommendations made in our school’s last access audit which took place in November 2019 and should be read in conjunction with the Access Audit. This Audit was completed by an outside agency - EA Audits.

Our special educational needs policy outlines the provision that our school has in place to support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and the school’s publication of equality information and objectives explains how we ensure equal opportunities for all our students. Increased access to the curriculum, physical access to the school, and access to information are particular to students with SEND, and this accessibility plan provides an outline of how the school will manage this part of the SEND provision.

Under the remit of the Equality Act 2010, provision should be made for all pupils with disabilities and ensure that they are not discriminated against. The need for specialist support and educational provision should be clearly identified and used effectively, to the full benefit of the pupil’s development. Under SEND all schools have a duty to audit access to the curriculum, information, buildings and facilities and develop an Accessibility strategy or plan which is reviewed annually.

 Through implementation of the Accessibility Plan we aim to:

• Increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum
• Improve the physical environment of the school for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of the education and benefits and services provided by or offered by the school
• Improve the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled.

Pupils with SEND will be given access to the curriculum supported by the school’s specialist SEND provision and in line with the wishes of their parents and the needs of the individual.

The school curriculum is regularly reviewed by the Head teacher to ensure that it is accessible to pupils of all levels and abilities, and supports the learning and progress of all pupils as individuals. This includes learning outside the classroom.

It is our aim to ensure that all resources and SEND provisions are being used effectively and efficiently within the school setting in order to support the taught curriculum and enable pupils to reach their full potential. The school does this by: 

• keeping staff fully informed of the special educational needs of any pupils in their charge including sharing progress reports, medical reports and teacher feedback
• providing regular training and learning opportunities for staff in all departments on the subject of SEND and SEND teaching; school staff should be up to date with teaching methods that will aid the progress of all pupils including those with SEND
• making use of all class facilities and space
• using in-class provisions and support effectively to ensure that the curriculum is differentiated where necessary
• making sure that individual or group tuition is available where it is felt that pupils would benefit from this provision
• any decision to provide group teaching outside the classroom will involve the SENCO in providing a rationale and focus on flexible teaching. Parents will be made aware of any circumstances in which changes have been made
• setting appropriate individual targets that motivate pupils to do their best, and celebrating achievements at all levels
• listening to pupils’ views and taking them into account in all aspects of school life.

2. Sensory and physical needs

The school has some of the following adaptations in place to meet sensory and physical needs and those not yet present are being planned for the future:

• appropriate seating, acoustic conditioning and lighting
• adaptations to the physical environment of the school
• adaptations to school policies and procedures
• access to alternative or augmented forms of communication
• provision of tactile and kinaesthetic materials 
• access to low vision aids
• access to specialist aids, equipment or furniture
• regular and frequent access to specialist support

3. Reasonable adjustments

The school will also make reasonable adjustments for individual students who need extra provision than that which is already in place to make sure that all students are involved in every aspect of school life, and that all barriers to learning are removed.

These may fall under the following headings: 

The building and grounds:

• audio-visual fire alarms
• assistance with guiding

Teaching and learning:

• a piece of equipment
• extra staff assistance
• an electronic or manual note-taking service
• readers for pupils with visual impairments

Methods of communication:

• a piece of equipment
• the provision of a sign language interpreter, lip-speaker or deaf-blind communicator
• induction loop or infrared broadcast system
• videophones
• readers for pupils with visual impairments.
• This accessibility plan will be evaluated every 3 years to monitor its effectiveness and ensure that it covers all areas of accessibility that are needed in the school

REVIEW :

The plan will be reviewed every three years by  the SEND Governor and external consultant EA Audits. 

Signed: J.Embley-Peers (Head teacher and SENCO)

Signed:  P.Skupski (Chair of Governors)