Accessibility Policy and Plan 2024-2025
Accessibility Policy and Plan
Policy details
Date created - November 2020
Date reviewed and updated - September 2024
Next review date policy - September 2028
Next review date plan - September 2025
Contents
Involvement and Consultation 2
Vision and Values
Co-op Academy Southfield is committed to ensuring equality of education and opportunity for all -
including students, staff and all those involved in the school community. We aim to develop a
culture of inclusion and diversity in which people feel free to disclose their disability, are proud
of their identity and are able to participate fully in school life.
We have high expectations of all our students and aim to offer teaching throughout the
school which enables our students to become as confident, resilient and independent as possible.
Co-op Academy Southfield, we believe that diversity is a strength, which should be respected and
celebrated by all those who learn, work and visit here.
Legislation and guidance
The Equality Act 2010 replaced all existing equality legislation, including the Disability
Discrimination Act. This document meets the requirements of schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 and the Department for Education (DfE) Guidance for schools on the Equality Act 2010.
The Equality Act 2010 defines an individual as disabled 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
undertake normal day to day activities.
Under the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Code of Practice, ‘long-term’ is
defined as ‘a year or more’ and ‘substantial’ is defined as ‘more than minor or trivial’. The
definition includes sensory impairments such as those affecting sight or hearing, and long-term
health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy and cancer.
Schools are required to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for students with disabilities under the
Equality Act 2010, to alleviate any substantial disadvantage that a disabled student faces in
comparison with non-disabled students. This can include, for example, the provision of an
auxiliary aid or adjustments to premises.
Schools are required under the Equality Act 2010 to have an accessibility plan. The purpose of
the plan is to:
- Increase the extent to which disabled students can participate in the curriculum
- Improve the physical environment of the school to enable disabled students to take better
advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided
- Improve the availability of accessible information to disabled students.
Involvement and Consultation
Co-op Academy Southfield works closely with the Local Authority and in partnership with external agencies and support services to ensure that all of our current and future students can access the full range of educational provision that we have to offer.
Where appropriate we will seek specialist advice to inform the planning of reasonable adjustments, but most reasonable adjustments can be resolved within the school setting. We have access to and support from various NHS professional services, with nurses from the Special Needs School Nursing Service on site daily, and other services visiting, including consultants holding clinics within school. This enables the students to attend with minimal disruption to their school day and in a familiar environment.
Feedback from parents/carers and student voice is taken seriously and is welcomed.
Accessibility by design
Co-op Academy Southfield is predominantly housed in a building shared with Co-op Academy Grange, and occupies space which was purpose-built as a special school, and as such was built under building regulations to meet the needs of its special population. It is a PFI school built through the Building Schools for the Future scheme. As a PFI school the maintenance of this building is the responsibility of Amey FM. Any building alterations have to be carried out in line with the mechanisms in the PFI
contract.
All alterations to the non-PFI building are planned with accessibility for all users in mind. The additional teaching space built on that site is also fully accessible and the decoration is appropriate for students with communication and interaction difficulties to enhance the learning experience for them. These are students who would struggle to access the main building space due to their sensory needs.
Accessibility Plan
This Accessibility Plan relates to the key aspects of curriculum, physical environment, and accessible
information.
Curriculum
At Co-op Academy Southfield we value our students and their uniqueness. We will never let anything get in the way of our high aspirations for them.
To make sure that they achieve all that they are capable of, we will ensure that our curriculum is literacy rich and is broad and balanced so that the students have exposure to a curriculum that engages and challenges them regardless of their background.
Our curriculum will be sequenced so that the students are taught firm foundations and that subsequent learning builds upon what the students already know and can do. We want the students to become responsible citizens who can make positive contributions in adulthood and so we ensure that they are fully equipped with the skills and knowledge to thrive in modern Britain.
We will make sure that they are supported in a range of situations external to the school environment too so that we are contributing to their personal development as well as their academic development.
The Co-op Values will be the golden thread running through our endeavours and our approaches.
Physical Environment
At Co-op Academy Southfield we continue to improve and maintain access to the physical environment of the school, adding specialist facilities as necessary – this includes the provision of specialist equipment to enable access to education.
Any proposed change to the physical environment has regard for building accessibility, furniture, signage and resources, including ICT.
We also:
- Ensure that facilities are available for students with sensory impairments, e.g. certain internal signage uses Braille, symbols and objects of reference.
- Provide sufficient disabled parking near the main entrance.
- Provide hygiene rooms with facilities including hoist, changing table, shower and sluice.
- Equip our school minibuses to enable all students to participate in off-site activities, including wheelchair users.
- Strive to ensure that no student is excluded from school due to their disability or difficulties.
- Have effective emergency and evacuation procedures in place, including fire lifts and evacuation chairs.
Access to information
We also aim to improve the availability of accessible information to students, staff, parents and visitors with disabilities by;
- Having an admissions policy which gives equal rights to all potential applications regardless of
- ability or disability.
- Focusing on using appropriate communication that meets individual needs with students and parents.
- Celebrating and promoting key events such as the annual Barry Holden Memorial Games.
- Circulating Education, Health & Care Plans and other plans to all appropriate staff members.
- Maintaining close links between agencies in order to receive advice and support our students and their families.
- Having an accessible website.
Priority areas 2024-2025 | ||
Curriculum - Ensure all students with SEND can access the curriculum appropriately | ||
Identified issue: The curriculum will be refined to ensure it contains sufficiently detailed information to equip classroom leads with knowledge to deliver engaging and inspiring lessons to all students. | Staff will have the knowledge, skills and understanding of how to plan lessons that are appropriate for SEND learners, and implement a clearly sequenced curriculum. | This will be implemented through the CPLD programme and QA processes. |
Physical environment - Improve the physical environment of the school to enable students with physical disabilities to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided and to increase their independence where appropriate | ||
Identified issue: as part of our Total Communication approach, we will have inclusive signage around the school, with symbols and objects of reference available. | Students will be encouraged to use these tools to navigate their way around the building. | The intervention team will ensure the signage and OOR is in place. |
Accessibility of information - Improve the processes for ensuring that pupil voice is an embedded feature of our work so that those pupils with SEND can have their voices heard in a wider context than the academy | ||
Identified issue: our students do not have good access to respond to Trust surveys asking for student voice. | Ensure our students are able to complete these surveys in an appropriate way. | Senior leaders are part of a working party across the special schools within the Trust, to develop a consistent and accessible process for gathering student voice from students with SEND. |
This plan should be read in conjunction with our Equality Objectives Statement and Action Plan 2023-2024 and Co-op Academy Southfield Local Offer.
Review of 2023-2024 plan | ||
Curriculum - Increase the extent to which pupils with SEND can access the curriculum | ||
Identified issue: a change in the complexity of student needs requires further specialisation than was in the curriculum offer for some students. | Develop the curriculum further to support the year group structure. | Focused short-term curriculum development project to be put in place - due for completion Easter 2024 |
Outcome/impact: The short-term curriculum development project was completed, and the work done integrated into the curriculum development work. | ||
Physical environment - Improve the physical environment of the school to enable students with physical disabilities to take better advantage of education, benefits, facilities and services provided | ||
Identified issue: growing student numbers where students have higher needs require increased safety measures. | Review which doors need maglock access control. | Ensure the review is actioned and updated at least annually. |
Outcome/impact: This review was undertaken as part of a more detailed process during the planning of the class groupings for the 2024-2025 school year, taking into account additional student safety and support plans which had been written during the 2023-2024 school year. Student safety is one of the needs that is considered when a new student is placed within a class grouping. | ||
Accessibility of information - Improve the processes for ensuring that pupil voice is an embedded feature of our work so that those pupils with SEND can have their voices heard | ||
Identified issue: it is not yet the case that we have a fully embedded system for the gathering of student voice. | Ensure a consistent feedback mechanism from Student Council to SLT. | Strategic Participation Lead to ensure minutes from student council meetings are forwarded to SLT for action. |
Outcome/impact: The student council was fully re-introduced, and any matters requiring SLT action were passed to SLT for action. |
Accessibility Policy and Plan 2024-2025 |