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Education

8.2 Development of School Accessibility Plans

Contents

The sequence of steps outlined below will assist a school in the preparation of the schools accessibility plan. It is important when considering the best method of improving access that widespread consultation takes place. Quite frequently, barriers exist to a disabled person and are not immediately obvious and that are inexpensive and easy to overcome.

Set up a planning group

The school should make best use of available expertise to obtain a variety of perspectives. This should include:

• Disabled pupils and their parents
• Specialist teachers
• Local voluntary and disability organisations.
  

Carry out an access audit and review of current activities

The school should assess current accessibility and identify barriers to inclusion. A review of access should include:

• The physical environment
• The provision of auxiliary aids and services
• Teaching and Learning Strategies
• The Curriculum
• Staff Training
• The culture and ethics of the school
• The provision of written information.
  

Action Planning

The next step will be for schools to devise actions to begin to plan to eliminate the barriers identified. Examples of action planning include:

• Discuss collecting good practice on curriculum differentiation with curriculum advisors
• Carry out an access audit to identify potential barriers to access in all areas of school life together with recommended improvements
• Aim to provide appropriate training for staff and governors
• Review and improve the school's arrangements for accessible information
• Use the routine refurbishment and maintenance/equipment budgets to improve the physical environment of the school.
  

Consultation

Schools may consider consulting with their staff, and more widely with parents, pupils and other bodies.

Publicise the plan

Maintained schools have a duty to publish information about their accessibility plans in their Governors' report to parents. The DfES recommend that schools reproduce the full accessibility plan in the Governors' report to parents. Schools should be prepared to provide their plans in alternative formats.

Implementation and Review

When the plan is produced, the school has a statutory duty within the strategic policy of the LEA to implement the plan and to allocate adequate resources to it. Schools are also required to keep the accessibility plan under review and revise it as necessary.

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