Introduction
Jesmond Park Academy is committed to providing premises which are suitable and sufficient for all educational purposes, and which give access to a broad and balanced curriculum for all children and young people, irrespective of special need or disability.
This Accessibility Plan considers provision for disabled pupils as stated in the Equality Act (2010) and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (2014). This Plan operates alongside our SEND Policy and is consistent with it in terms of principles and approaches to resourcing.
Definition of Disability
The Equality Act (2010) states that a person has a disability if:
- They have a physical or mental impairment that has an adverse, substantial, and long-term effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
Physical or mental impairments can include sensory impairments (such as those affecting sight and hearing) and learning difficulties. The definition also covers certain medical conditions when they have a long-term and substantial effect on the everyday lives of children and young people.
Contextual Information
Jesmond Park Academy, built in 2004, is fully compliant internally and externally with the Equality Act 2010. All classrooms are now accessible by disabled or wheelchair users. Jesmond Park Academy’s external areas, which form specialist sports areas, roadways, footpaths and car parks are all accessible to those with disabilities and there are disabled car parking bays. School entrances have step free access and there are accessible toilets. The site has Additionally Resourced Provision for Hearing Impaired children and young people and the site is well-equipped for meeting the needs of hearing-impaired children. We provide all children and young people with a broad and balanced curriculum, differentiated, and adjusted to meet the needs of individuals and their preferred learning styles. We endorse the key principles which underpin the development of a more inclusive curriculum:
- Setting suitable learning challenges
- Responding to the diverse learning needs of children and young people
- Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of children and young people.
Jesmond Park Academy recognises its duty under the Equality Act (2010)
The Equality Act has simplified and strengthened the discrimination laws which protect people from unfair treatment. It is unlawful for an Academy or other education provider to treat a disabled child or young person unfavourably. We commit to taking all reasonable steps to avoid putting disabled children and young people at a substantial disadvantage (the ‘reasonable adjustment’ duty).
The Academy Local Advisory Group has the duty to publish Accessibility Strategies and Plans.
Scope of the Accessibility Plan
This Plan covers all three main strands of the planning duty by:
- Managing and improving the physical environment of Jesmond Park Academy for the purpose of increasing the extent to which disabled children and young people are able to take advantage of education and associated services. We aim to meet the needs of a range of children and young people currently on roll and prospective pupils.
- Ensuring that the curriculum is differentiated, to meet the learning needs of children and young people with SEN and disabilities, and making target setting effective and personalised for these pupils. Written material, usually provided for all pupils, is to be presented, in an appropriate form where necessary, to SEN and disabled children and young people, including in alternative formats. Classroom organisation is planned to maximise learning opportunities and to increase the extent to which disabled children and young people can participate in the curriculum at Jesmond Park Academy.
- Ensuring that appropriate support is given to all students with disabilities and that staff who work with these children are fully aware of their needs. We will seek and follow the advice of LA services, such as specialist teacher advisers and SEN advisers, and appropriate health professionals from the NHS Trusts.
Management
Accessibility action planning forms part of Jesmond Park Academy’s annual development planning. It will be updated to take account of improvements made, future resource availability and changing needs in the target areas. Accessibility action planning aims:
- To review Jesmond Park Academy’s policies, procedures and facilities when they are likely to affect both current and prospective children and young people who are disabled.
- To make decisions with a view to improving the accessibility of education in its many aspects, for current and prospective children and young people with disabilities, by means of reasonable adjustments and to implement, evaluate, and continue to review the effectiveness of any measures taken.
- To continue to review Jesmond Park Academy’s Accessibility Action Plan.
- To continue to review Jesmond Park Academy’s SEND Policy.
Monitoring
Monitoring is essential to ensure that children and young people with SEN and disabilities are fully able to access the curriculum.
We will monitor the following:
- Admissions
- Attainment
- Achievement
- Attendance
- Rewards and Sanctions
- KS4 option choices
- Post-16 destinations
Teaching and Learning Support
As set out in the SEND Policy, Jesmond Park Academy has:
- a Student Support (SEN) team which is equipped to deal with a range of learning difficulties experienced by children and young people. These children and young people can, with support and a range of strategies, access our curriculum.
- a Student Support (SEN) team which is equipped to deal with a range of disabilities experienced by children and young people. These children and young people can, with support and a range of strategies, access our curriculum.
Jesmond Park Academy has procedures for dealing with accessibility in advance of a child or young person’s arrival or, in the case of the emergence of a disability during a child or young person’s time at the Academy, as soon as is reasonably possible, by considering and making available:
- appropriately modified resources and materials
- appropriately modified teaching approaches
- the use of ICT aids where appropriate
- personalised provision and support.
- Changes to the school building such as self-opening doors.
Other related Jesmond Park Academy Policies
Equality for disabled children and young people is included as an explicit aim in all of our policies and this Accessibility Plan is supported by the following documents:
- Equal Opportunities Policy
- Disability Equality Scheme
- Teaching and Learning Policy
- Administration of Medicines Policy
- Admissions Policy
- Behaviour Policy
- Safeguarding and Child Protection Policies
- Academy Improvement Plan
- Policy for Academy visits and excursions
- SEND Policy
- SEN Information