Discovery School Policies and Procedures

Discovery School Policies and Procedures

Accessibility Plan Policy 2014-2017

Contents

Purpose

Definitions (Equality Act 2010)

The physical environment current position

Accessibility considerations include

Physical environment priorities for 2014 - 2017

The curriculum current position

GCSE

Core Subjects

Options Subjects

Curriculum priorities for 2014 - 2017

Written information current position:

Accessibility Plan 2014-2017

Purpose

This Accessibility Plan is compliant with current legislation and requirements as specified in Schedule 10, relating to Disability, of the Equality Act 2010. School Governors are accountable for ensuring the implementation, review and reporting on progress of the Accessibility Plan over a prescribed period.

Discovery School is committed to taking positive action in the spirit of the Equality Act 2010 with regard to disability and to developing a culture of inclusion, support and awareness within the school. Discovery School is committed to providing an environment that enables full curriculum access, which values and includes all pupils, staff, parents/carers and visitors regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs.

Discovery School is defined equally by its academic excellence and by its warmth and inclusivity. The Discovery School accessibility plan therefore, aims to ensure that all students with a disability can take full advantage of the education and associated opportunities the school provides by being able to access all parts of the brand new, state of the art, STEM specialist school’s physical environment, the innovative curriculum and all written information.

The Accessibility Plan is structured to complement and support the school’s Equality Objective.

It is the school’s objective to do all that can be reasonably expected to give equal access to all students to all aspects of the life of Discovery School.

In its early years of opening the Discovery School’s equality objective is purposely broad and will be fine-tuned throughout its early years and beyond in response to identified need and the school’s future accessibility development priorities.

Definitions (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”.

Physical or mental impairment includes sensory impairment, and also hidden impairment. In the DDA ‘substantial' means ‘more than minor or trivial’. ‘Long-term’ means ‘has lasted or is likely to last more than 12 months’.

The definition is broad and includes children with a wide range of impairments including learning disabilities, dyslexia, autism, speech and language impairment, Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) where the effect of the impairment on the pupil’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities is adverse, substantial and long term. A significant number of pupils are therefore included in the definition.

The presence of impairment does not of itself mean that a pupil is disabled. It is the effect on the pupil’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities that has to be considered. The test of whether impairment affects normal day-to-day activity is whether it affects one or more of the following:

• Mobility
• Manual dexterity
• Physical co-ordination
• Continence
• Ability to lift, carry or otherwise move everyday objectives
• Speech, hearing or eyesight
• Memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
• Perception of risk of physical danger.

The physical environment current position

Discovery School has two main buildings – Dukes House and the New Build – which are adjacent to each other and are joined by a three level bridge. Duke’s House is a refurbished building whilst the New Build is a newly built building. Discovery School has been designed in accordance with the guidance and requirements of:

• The Disability Discrimination Act
• Building Bulletin 102 ‘Designing for Disabled Children and Children with Special Educational Needs – Guidance for Mainstream and Special Schools’
• The Building Regulations Approval Document M
• BS8300 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people

The site is well served by public transport links and has a number of nearby bus stops with services from within the local area and also the wider region. The site is also well served by the Tyne and Wear Metro and the main rail line, with both the Metro and rail stations within 500m of the site. Pedestrian approaches to the site are relatively level, and there are pedestrian crossings on the major roads.

Vehicle access to the site is required by private car, refuse and delivery vehicles, emergency vehicles and the occasional coach used for off-site school trips. Car parking access and delivery/emergency access is all from Lord Street and separated from the pedestrian entrances.

Due to the constraints of the existing site levels and the need to tie in with existing boundary levels adjacent to the north and south of the site, it has been necessary to introduce steps to the principle pedestrian access the main entrance from Duke Street. However, an alternative pedestrian route from George Street provides a level access (i.e. 1:21 gradient) from the public footpath to the main building entrance. All building entrances are designed with level thresholds.

The designated principle entrance is the main building entrance. The lead up to it is identified by a change in pavement materials and the principle entrance doors have a level threshold.

There is level access to all secure student areas from the ground floor level of the school.

Two dedicated disabled parking bays are located adjacent to the principle entrance steps, from which the main entrance to the school can be accessed via a level footpath (i.e. 1:21 gradient).

Discovery School is non-traditional in design. This is to facilitate the ethos of ‘coming to work rather than going to school’. The facilities support the School’s strategies for SEN (including those with a physical and or mental disability), social inclusion and behaviour. It has provision for visiting professionals. Two medical rooms and one faith room is included in the accommodation.

Internally the layout has been designed to give clear circulation routes with minimum obstructions, such as corridors and doors. The learning spaces include two large, state of the art and well equipped engineering workshops, two large digital learning studios, a number of well-designed and equipped science laboratories, a number of well-designed and well equipped design technology workshops, learning bases which facilitate the teaching of English, Mathematics, Humanities and MFL which can be opened into large learning spaces if required. In addition, a number of enclosed learning lounges which facilitate small groups and independent learning opportunities are available on every floor throughout the school. The Student Performance Suite is designed to support those students who have specific learning needs whether they are SEN or More Able students.

Accessibility considerations include

• A physical environment which has been specifically designed to be safe, inclusive and welcoming for students, staff, parents/carers, visitors and other stakeholders
• Large, open learning spaces which are not restricted by corridors
• Specialist lighting which is sensitive to movement and makes effective use of natural light
• Both Dukes House and the New Building are wheelchair accessible. Dukes House has a lift which facilities movement between the floors and also facilitates movement across the ‘bridge’ to the New Build at all levels  Accessible toilet facilities are available on all floors throughout the school
• A wet room/hygiene room/changing room is available for those who require this facility
• Learning spaces and classrooms are accessible and can be adapted to meet the needs of those with a physical disability e.g. a height adjustable workshop bench in Design Technology
• Clear visual signage throughout the building
• Hand rails on all stairs
• Lockers available for students to store bags and equipment
• Non-slip floor and floor coverings
• Acoustic baffles in all areas of the school
• A respite facility in the Student Performance Suite for students with identified needs managed by the Department Team Leader for Student Performance (SENDCo)
• All students are given or have access to a hand held device which is both a tablet and note book and has a detachable key board
• Devices are charged overnight in ‘battery charge’ lockers
• Disabled parking
• Ramped entrance to the buildings main entrance
• Accessibility to all outdoor spaces including an easy access path from the school building to the MUGA (multi use games area)
• Open plan dining area to facilitate easy movement for those with a disability
• Large open plan activities space on the ground floor of the New Build #
• A ‘transport’ bursary secured from the Reece Foundation could be used to support those with a disability to enable them to access Discovery School. This will be determined on a case by case basis
• Emergency evacuation plans in place to enable the safe evacuation of disabled students/staff/visitors etc from the building

Physical environment priorities for 2014 - 2017

• When the school was handed over on the 25th August a full physical environment audit was carried out and priorities for 2014 and beyond were determined.
• Specific needs for student joining Discovery School will be identified through the induction and transfer process. These may include: ADHD (Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder), ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty), Dyslexia, CLN (Cognitive Learning Needs), Dyscalculia, BESD (Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties).

The curriculum current position

Discovery School provides a traditional academic curriculum based on GCSE/AS/A2 qualifications with a specific focus on the STEM subjects. The teaching and learning however, is where not traditional and where appropriate is based on, ‘hands on’ learning thus allowing students to apply knowledge in open plan, STEM focussed learning bases, workshops, studios and laboratories.

GCSE

Students joining the school in Year 10 will be able to access the following GCSE subjects at Grades A*-G:

Core Subjects

Core Subjects: Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Biology (Triple Science), and Engineering.

Options Subjects

Students chose two of the following: Computer Science, Product Design, Electronics, History, Geography, MFL

Therefore, GCSE students study for 9 GCSE subjects in total. The range of subjects allows access to the EBacc for those who chose a humanities and MFL subject.

AS/A Level

Students joining the school in Year 12 will be able to access the following AS/A Level subjects at Grades A*-E:

Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Computing, Product Design, Engineering*, Geography and English.

*From September 2016, AS/A Level Engineering will no longer be available nationally. Discovery School has considered the alternatives and has chosen to introduce BTEC Level 3 National Diploma in Engineering. This is already recognised nationally as a qualification accepted by universities as an entry qualification and also by employers offering higher level apprenticeships.

Due regard will be given to adapting the physical environment and access to specialist equipment and resources to enable fair and equal access to the whole curriculum provision for students with a disability at GCSE, AS/A Level and BTEC. Off-site curriculum activities will be assessed to ensure those with a disability can access the facilities and the activities.

Enrichment, enhancement, extension time (Mon, Tue, Thu and Fri 3.20pm to 4.20pm each week) will be planned to ensure all students can access that which is on offer on site and can reasonably access that which is on offer off-site.

Curriculum priorities for 2014 - 2017

• The curriculum will be ‘made’ accessible to those students who have the following disability – ADHD (Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder), ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder), SpLD (Specific Learning Difficulty), Dyslexia, CLN (Cognitive Learning Needs), Dyscalculia, BESD (Behaviour, Emotional & Social Difficulties).
• Those students with a disability will have an individual learning plan, where appropriate. This will include appropriate and tiered intervention where appropriate. This will be managed by the Department Team Leader for Student Performance (SENDCo) with his team and in liaison with other Heads of Department.
• All students, including those with a disability, will undergo diagnostic testing on entry. This data, along with data gathered from feeder schools, will be used to set appropriate targets at GCSE, AS/A Level and BTEC.
• All students, including those with a disability, will take part in an induction programme which will include a number of interactive practical activities which will determine students’ practical capabilities. This is essential in a school where a great emphasis is put on ‘hands on’ learning.
• Those students with a statement will have an Individual Education and Health Care Plan.
• All planned trips and visits, including those to our industry partners and local universities, will be planned to ensure those students with a disability can fully access that which is on offer.
• We will ensure access arrangements are made for all external examinations i.e. extra time, readers, scribes where appropriate.
• A range of teaching and learning methods will be used to engage all students, including those with a disability, in the learning process.
• Appropriate CPD for colleagues to effectively support the needs of those with a disability. For example, supporting students who are on the autistic spectrum.
• Development of mutual support and understanding between colleagues in working with pupils with a disability.
• An annual audit is carried out to review the curriculum offer and to identify accessibility priorities over the next two to three years. This is the responsibility of the Department Team Leader for Student Performance (SENDCo) with the Vice Principal Curriculum.

Written information current position:

• Discovery School will continue to consider those with a disability who may require written information provided in a different format including students, staff, parents/carers and visitors with disabilities. For example:
• Large print
• Audio and visual
• Mind maps
• Modifying written technical instruction manuals
• Translators and interpreters are used with parents/carers where required
• Signers used for parents/carers if required
• Information provided in different languages

Access to private spaces when providing confidential information to parents, for example The accessibility plan will be reviewed, evaluated and modified as and when required but at least annually to take account of the needs of those with a disability including students, staff, parents/carers, visitors and other stakeholders.

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