LACEWOOD PRIMARY SCHOOL DISABILITY EQUALITY SCHEME

Agreed by the full Governing Body of Lacewood Primary 10.03.11

          THE DUTY TO PROMOTE DISABILITY EQUALITY IN SCHOOLS

The Disability Discrimination Amendment Act (2005) introduces a new positive duty on the public sector to promote disability equality. This new legal duty means that, alongside their existing duties, schools will have to take proactive steps to promote disability equality for pupils, employees, and service users. The duty is central to improving the experiences and outcomes of disabled people in the education system.  The prime responsibility for making sure the duty is met lies with schools governing bodies.

SUMMARY OF MAIN POINTS

General Duty

We must have due regard to the following six areas in the operation of our organisation:

·     promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled people;

·     eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;

·     eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their impairments;

·        promote positive attitudes towards disabled people;

·        encourage participation by disabled people in public life; and

·        take steps to take account of a disabled person’s impairments, even where that involves treating the disabled person more favourably than other people.

The duties apply to disabled pupils, staff, parents and members of the public who may use the school’s facilities. Schools will need to identify pupils, parents and staff likely to be considered disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Areas to be covered in a School Scheme are:

·        achievement of pupils;

·        disability in the curriculum;

·        teaching and learning;

·        developing a voice for disabled pupils, staff and parents;

·        removing barriers –  curriculum, physical and communication;

·        lettings and use by the community;

·        eliminating harassment and bullying;

·        employing, promoting and training disabled staff;

·        monitoring;

·        assessment;

·        governance and relations with parents;

·        breaks, lunchtime, after school activities and trips;

·        how the school involved disabled people;

Implementing this Duty to Promote Disability Equality can draw on existing good practice in making reasonable adjustments and school accessibility plans.

Introduction

Lacewood Primary School welcomes its general responsibilities under Part 5 of the Disability Discrimination Act (Disability Equality Duty) to have due regard to the need to:

·        promote equality of opportunity between disabled and non-disabled people;

·        eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA);

·        eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their impairments;

·        promote positive attitudes towards disabled people;

·        encourage participation by disabled people in public life; and

·        take steps to take account of a disabled person’s impairments, even where that involves treating the disabled person more favourably than other people.

This Scheme and the accompanying action plans set out how the governing body will promote equality of opportunity for disabled people.

School Ethos, Vision & Values

At Lacewood Primary School  we are committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for disabled pupils, staff and all those receiving services from the school. We aim to develop a culture of inclusion and diversity in which people feel free to disclose their disability and to participate fully in school life. Our admissions policy does not discriminate against disabled pupils.  The achievement of disabled pupils will be monitored and we will use this data to raise standards and ensure inclusive teaching. We will make reasonable adjustments to ensure that the school environment is as accessible as possible. We will not tolerate harassment of disabled people with any form of impairment. This school uses the “social model” of disability, as the basis for its work to improve equality for and tackle discrimination against disabled people. This model says that it is the world and society that creates barriers that limit or prevent disabled people from enjoying the same opportunities as people who are not disabled.

This policy needs to be read in conjunction with our equal opportunity/equality and diversity policy.

Definition of Disability

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 defines a disabled person as someone who has a “physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”

·        A physical or mental impairment includes sensory impairments;   impairments relating to mental functioning, including learning disabilities; and long term health conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy, HIV infection, cancer or multiple sclerosis.

·        Substantial means more than minor or trivial.

·        Long-term means an impairment that has lasted at least 12 months, or is likely to last 12 months or for the rest of the person’s life.

·        Normal day-to-day activities cover the following categories: mobility; manual dexterity; physical coordination; continence; ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objects; speech; hearing or eyesight; memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand; perception of the risk of physical danger.

Someone with an impairment may be receiving medical or other treatment which alleviates or removes the effects of that impairment (but not the impairment itself). In such cases the treatment should be disregarded and the impairment is taken to have the effect it would have had without the treatment.

Some people are automatically deemed to have a disability covered by the Act – those with HIV, cancer, MS and severe disfigurements.

(Disability Equality in Education (DEE) recommends that all pupils with SEN and those with long term medical needs be treated as disabled for the purposes of the Act and for equality. This is in addition to all pupils with long-term impairments, which have a significant impact on their day-to-day activities.) 

STAGE 1 – Consultation/engagement with disabled people:

Lacewood Primary School recognises the importance of involving disabled people fully in the development of our Disability Equality Scheme. We have involved disabled people in the following ways: 

Disabled pupils, parents and staff have been involved in Ø      In identifying priorities Ø      In identifying barriers ·         What methods have you used to access views and ascertain priorities? For example, Ø      Organised formal meetings and surveys Ø      Planned PSHE lessons We have ensured that alternative communication methods are available for those who need them to give their views.

Disabled pupils:

We have identified our disabled pupils

We have held surveys for disabled children to ensure that we listen to their views in informal settings.

We have surveyed their parents.

Key issues identified by our pupils were:

The Lacewood  Team responded as follows:

Positive areas:

1. Easy access for children due to school layout.
2. Induction loop was a useful addition though not needed at the moment.
3. High levels of natural lighting in teaching areas

2. Negative points raised:

·        Facilities for children with toileting difficulties

3. Suggested improvements:

Bench to be provided with lifting facilities

Disabled staff:

We have asked all staff to identify any barriers that affect them and how we can plan to overcome them.

We have held a staff meeting and reviewed the audit.

Key issues identified by our staff were:

Lifting and working with children who require toileting facilities – it has been suggested that a changing bench is fitted.

Disabled parents/carers:

We have given all parents/carers a questionnaire to identify any barriers and how we can improve the way we meet their needs.

Key issues identified by our disabled parents/carers were:

PARENTS:   

1. They all seemed positive about what was working well for them in the school at present, particularly small class numbers.

2. Areas commented on that they felt didn’t work well for their child was the following:

• Other children trying to control their actions
• Cloakroom areas

3. How could we make things work better?

Enhance communication strategies between groups of staff and ensure all parents are aware of procedures for Behaviour Management.

Offer rewards for tidier cloakrooms. Ensure children are aware of this as a safety priority and as a personal responsibility to themselves and their possessions.

Disabled members of the local community:

We have given a questionnaire to groups which make use of our facilities, asking them to identify any barriers and suggest reasonable adjustments.

Key issues identified by members of the local community were:

Asking us to ensure that school clubs were accessible to all – eg having raised flower beds for wheelchair users.

Stage 2 – Assessing the impact of current policies and practices on disabled people:

Name	Staff member / Pupil / Parent / Community Member
MRS J.CHALKLEY	HEADTEACHER
MRS J.STRATTON	DEPUTY HEADTEACHER / INCO
CLLR S.BROOK	CHAIR OF THE GOVERNING BODY
MR A.GEORGE	HEALTH AND SAFETY GOVERNOR
PUPILS	MEMBERS OF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL
PARENTS	BUSINESS MANAGER

We recognise that our policies and practices may impact on disabled people and in particular on:

·        the recruitment, development and retention of disabled employees;

·         the educational opportunities available to and the achievements of disabled pupils.

We acknowledge that information gathered from a wide range of sources will be required in order to identify the actions which we need to take to promote disability equality. We will ensure that information is gathered in relation to both employment and the delivery of our services.  

Educational opportunities available to and the achievements of, disabled pupils

Discussions with particular pupils or groups of pupils regarding their thoughts on accessibility to all school facilities and activities will take place during Summer Term 2011and will be viewed in conjunction with our survey information from parents of SEN children. The children noted below will also work as a focus group.

Disabled parents, carers and other users of the school

·        Short surveys are completed annually to ascertain the parents’ views on a number of issues through school and we will be ensuring that views on accessibility are sought from all parents in our Summer Term Survey – Your views on our school 2011

Stage 4 - Assessing the impact of future policies and procedures upon disabled people:

We recognise that all our school’s policies may have an impact on the participation and outcomes for disabled pupils, parents/carers, staff and members of the local community. We have agreed a programme to review the impact of policies and this is contained in our action plan.

·         Our system for reviewing policies and practices to ensure that they promote equality of opportunity for disabled people and do not inadvertently disadvantage them will continue as part of our role as an inclusive school. ·         Our PE policy is currently under review but our timescales involve all policies. ·        To assess the impact of current policies, we take into consideration the issues identified through the involvement of disabled pupils, staff and parents, and the information the school holds on disabled pupils, staff and parents.

Our Action Plan

We have produced a disability equality action plan to ensure that we fulfil our general and specific duties under the Disability Equality Duty. This also supports compliance with the ‘Conducting the Inspection’ OfSTED inspections guidance to schools (September 2009), pages 38 to 40.

Our existing accessibility plan (separate)outlines the steps we are taking to improve:

·        curriculum access

·        provision of information to disabled pupils

·        physical access

Our Accessibility Plan will be maintained as a separate document and we will ensure that the actions in the plan fit in with the actions and arrangements in our Disability Equality Scheme.

Reporting

We will report annually about the progress we make on promoting equality of opportunity for disabled people and the impact of our actions. Our annual report will include details of:

·        information we have gathered during the year

·        how this information was used

·        action points completed during the year and those that are ongoing

We will ensure that disabled people are involved in this process.

Stage 5 - Reviewing and revising the Scheme

Our scheme will be reviewed and revised after a period of 3 years and disabled people will be involved in the process. A new action plan will be produced, responding to issues identified through our impact assessment and included in our annual reports.

 Review Date September 2012

Senior Member of Staff Responsible  - Mrs J.Chalkley / Mrs J.Stratton

Designated Member of Staff – as above

Governor Responsible – Mr Alan George

Objective What is to be achieved and by when?	Action What needs to be done to reach the objective and by whom?	Performance criteria How will we know when we’ve got there?	Monitoring / Evidence collection / Evaluation of impact What will be our evidence? By whom and when will the evidence be scrutinised? By whom, when and how will impact be evaluated?
A range of interventions available to help with children’s emotional and behavioural difficulties - ongoing	Circle Time CPD for all staff.	Completion of CPD. Feedback from TAMHS team	28.06.10
Individual risk assessments for disabled pupils – ongoing but current group by July 2011	Audit current SEN register Complete risk assessments as required. Review for changing circumstances eg trips/visits	Completed risk assessments	SENCO June 2011 / ongoing
Monitoring of accidents for impairment/disability – July 2011	Analyse current monitoring with reference to monitoring/disability.	Completed monitoring with break down.	Analysis by HT & SENCO and report to Governors. July 2011
Peer mediation to be trialled working along side playleaders.	Peer mediator training for pupils Summer Term 2 2010 following Circle Time training for playleaders.	Children working alongside peers to improve playtime behaviour.	Analysis of incidents / survey July 2011
Review of Equal Opportunities Policy	Check each strand of the policy	Completed review	Policy reviewed with Governors by Autumn Term meeting 2011
Ensure all policies comply with SEN / DDA and make reference to promoting disability equality.	As each policy comes up for review check for this element.	Completed review of policies.	By Autumn Term Meeting 2011
Mechanisms for consultation with disabled members of staff, pupils, parents, local community.	Extend SEN parents survey to include pupils and amend Your Views on our school to include question on accessibility.   Survey staff, governors and parents.   Survey other building users and find out if they have a disability or impairment or accessibility issues. This would have to be an anonymous, voluntary survey in order to be non- intrusive.	June/July 2011     June/July 2011   June/July 2011	SENCO     Head   Head / Admin Team
Analyse progress data by each vulnerable group and within SEN by impairment/disability group.	Vulnerable group analysis on School Tracking System – Establish whether we can break this down further.	July 2011	Assessment Co-ordinator / Admin Asst.
Sex Education Policy to take account of the needs of disabled children.	Review policy and ensure procedures in place for children with SEN, especially vulnerable children. (Currently this is a Y6 only issue)	July 2011	Completed as part of staff training on the new Barnsley Puberty Education Scheme. Implementation to take place academic year 2011 – 2012.
Complaints procedure to be accessible to all.	Extend the accessibility of the policy. Current morning greeting system ensures that many queries are dealt with as they arise and open door policy ensures prompt reactions, however we will review possibilities for accessibility of policy as part of our survey.	July 2011	Head / Admin Team
Governor Awareness of the Disability Equality Scheme and statutory responsibilities.	Ensure all governors are aware of their statutory responsibility to promote disability equality and produce a scheme prior to survey.   Set up a monitoring timetable for issues concerning disability other than current data for performance and outcomes of SEN pupils.	July 2011	Head / SENCO
Displays	Ensure all aspects of display we are involved with are inclusive and celebrate achievements of disabled people.	Ongoing	All staff
Staff to be aware of the National Inclusion Statement to set suitable learning challenges, respond to pupils’ diverse needs and overcome potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups.	Review Teaching & Learning Policy / Feedback Policy to ensure that all understand that whilst these aims are included in our school policy they are in fact part of the aims of the National Curriculum and our responsibility to deliver.	July 2011	Head / TLR team
Teacher / support staff liaison	Ensure all staff have planned opportunities to meet to discuss programmes of work and review progress to ensure success of provision.	This is ongoing and monitored by SENCO. We will review this process and ensure all parties feel it is effective.	All staff
Facilities for all clubs to be accessible to all.	Ensure all new initiatives take the needs of disabled users into consideration.eg Gardening activity to ensure beds are raised for wheelchair users or those with limited mobility.	June 2011	Head / SBM