Disabled Access

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

From September 2002, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 outlaws discrimination by schools and LEA's 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, 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. This means 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). It involves improving the environment of the school to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services. This includes seeking to make improvements to the physical environment of the school and to employ aids to help with access to education. It also involves improving delivery of learning to disabled pupils. For example, information which is provided in writing for pupils may be adapted to suit the needs of pupils with disabilities or additional needs.

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 timeframe. Westbury Infant 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 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.

Contextual Information

The school is a one storey building which has some disabled facilities and toilets. There is a fully equipped disabled toilet, with a changing bench, and an electric ceiling-mounted hoist.

Ramped wheelchair access is available into most classrooms in the main building. Access to the learning centre is via the front of the building. The playgrounds, field, Tom’s Garden and the outdoor classroom are all accessible to wheelchair users. There is a dedicated disabled parking space.