If You Require This Information Summarised in Other Languages Or Formats, Such As Braille

Accessibility

Strategy

2011 - 2015

March 2011

Accessibility Strategy/P / - - / January 2003

If you require this information summarised in other languages or formats, such as Braille or talking tapes, please contact: (0191) 383 3139

0191 383 3139

0191 383 3139

0191 383 3139

0191 383 3139

0191 383 3139

0191 383 3139

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 2 - / March 2011

Contents

PAGE
Introduction and Corporate priorities / 4
The Durham Context / 5
Vision for Special Educational Needs and Disability / 6
Aims and Objectives / 6
What we have done / 6
What we will do - Key Activities / 8
Monitoring and Evaluation / 9
Consultation Arrangements / 9
Appendix 1: Audit of Needs: Number of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities / 11
Appendix 2: Provisions for children and young people with a particular need / 13
Appendix 3: Types of schools and provision / 29
Appendix 4: Sources of Funding for improvements to the physical environment in mainstream schools / 31
Appendix 5: Key documents / 32
Accessibility Development Plan / Separate document and available on request
Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 3 - / March 2011

Introduction

The SEN and Disability Act 2001 places a legal duty on all Local Authorities (LA) to prepare accessibility strategies for the schools for which they are responsible. The Act places a duty on the school’s responsible body to produce their own accessibility plans. This Accessibility Strategy is the third version, the first was implemented in April 2003.

Corporate Priorities

The Council’s priorities are grouped by the following themes:

·  Altogether wealthier – to regenerate the County and develop our economy.

·  Altogether better for children and young people – to help achieve their aspirations.

·  Altogether healthier – to improve health and well-being.

·  Altogether safer – to improve safety and the sense of safety in the County.

·  Altogether greener – to provide an attractive and livable environment.

·  Altogether Better Council – ensuring corporate improvements are achieved against the five priority themes.

The vision of Children and Young People’s Services is to “improve the quality of life by helping County Durham’s children and young people believe, achieve and succeed". The Accessibility Strategy supports that vision as well as the underpinning themes in our SEN Strategy.

From an Asset Management point of view and in line with our Capital Strategies we are very much aware that the physical environment in our schools contributes significantly to both teaching and learning outcomes. Equally as important is that our property strategies support positive social interaction, promote health and well-being, along with dignity and respect in order for us to create pleasant comfortable spaces for all.

Significant improvements have been made to improve access for children and young people with a disability in our schools, through the development of provisions and services and by improving access to the curriculum and the physical environment in schools through the allocation of funds from the School Access Initiative Fund and devolved capital.

Improving access to the curriculum, physical environment and information for children and young people with a disability is a continuous process and this Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015 builds on the progress made to date. This makes it difficult to set specific timescales for the completion of some activities within the Accessibility Development Plan.

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 4 - / March 2011

The Accessibility Strategy covers the period 2011-2015 and will be reviewed over this period in order to take into consideration:

·  statutory obligations including any changes arising from the Green Paper, which was published in March 2011;

·  corporate priorities and objectives;

·  developments relating to Integrated Services, Extended Services and other priority projects in the Service Asset management Plan (SAMP);

·  other strategic plans, including the Single Equality Scheme and the Joint Disability Strategy;

·  School Disability Equality Schemes and Access Plans;

·  existing and future needs of individual pupils;

·  future resources; and

·  any representations submitted during this period.

The statistical data relating to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (Appendix 1) helps to inform the developments detailed in the Accessibility Strategy.

The Context of County Durham

County Durham is a large, rural area and children growing up here are more likely than other children to attend smaller schools and to travel greater distances than children in other parts of the country. This factor has a bearing on our approach to making inclusive provision for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disability within neighbourhood schools wherever possible, particularly for primary aged children, who may be too young to travel long distances to specialist settings.

The County has high levels of socio-economic deprivation and this possibly contributes to the comparatively high numbers of children and young people with special educational needs in comparison with similar Local Authorities. However, not all children with Special Educational Needs will have a disability.

In January 2009 the pupil population in Durham’s 287 schools was around 73,000. Although this figure has been declining in recent years we are now seeing and increase in births along with an increase in the numbers of children with severe and complex needs. This will put pressure on future school rolls and recent estimates indicate a possible increase in pupil numbers of 6400 over the period 2008-2021 which will have to be built into our long-term plans and capital programmes.

County Durham provides a wide range of educational provision and given the requirements of the Education and Inspections Act (2006) it also promotes a greater diversity and choice of schools for parents ensuring that we continue to achieve high standards and also for the first time, the fulfilment of every child’s educational potential. As well as this and our statutory obligation to provide education for children aged 5 to 16, the Council also offers nursery education to the vast majority of pre-school children, Post-16 provision and a thriving Education in the Community Service.

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 5 - / March 2011

Our vision for special educational needs and disability is detailed below.

Our Vision
There are clear educational, social and moral benefits to all, by providing an inclusive education system which values the diversity that learners bring. We will ensure that high quality educational provision in County Durham is flexible and responsive to individual needs.

Aims and Objectives of the Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015

The aims and objectives of the Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015 support the vision for special educational needs and disability.

In particular, the Accessibility Strategy will:

·  promote awareness and positive cultures for the inclusion of children and young people with disabilities;

·  promote access, opportunity and inclusion in order to raise standards;

·  ensure that with the right training, strategies, resourcing and support most children with special educational needs/a disability in County Durham can be successfully included in mainstream education, taking a full part in the life of the school;

·  promote partnership working with parents/carers, schools and other agencies to support greater accessibility;

·  promote on-going dialogue with children and young people to involve them in further developments with the Strategy;

·  support schools in ensuring that children and young people with disabilities have access to the curriculum, physical environment and information;

·  ensure that children and young people with disabilities are identified as early as possible in order to ease transition, through improved sharing of information across agencies;

·  actively seek to remove barriers to learning and participation;

·  plan and provide for a range of disabilities across the County.

What We Have Done

Following the publication of the Accessibility Strategy 2006-10, we have:

·  completed a comprehensive audit of school accommodation;

·  introduced Speech Link and Language Link into primary schools to help staff meet the needs of children with speech and language difficulties. This was funded by Communities of Learning and implemented with the full support of the Speech and Language Therapy Services;

·  continued to provide training opportunities, advice and support for Head Teachers and School Governors about their responsibilities in relation to disability equality duties and accessibility plans;

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 6 - / March 2011

·  devolved significant sums of capital funds to Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools for building related work. The LA will continue to provide high standards of advice and guidance in order for schools to make the best use of this funding and comply with their statutory requirements;

·  continued to work with our partner agencies to identify children with special educational needs/disability at an early stage, in order that appropriate provision can be planned and reasonable steps can be taken to ensure that the child has access to the curriculum, environment and information;

·  continued to allocate resources from the School Access Initiative Fund, Minor Improvements Fund and Specialist Equipment budget to improve access to the curriculum, environment and information for individual children and young people;

·  raised capacity in schools via the use of School Access Initiative Funds by improving facilities in mainstream schools and specialist provision;

·  appointed a full-time Occupational Therapist to advise schools on the inclusion of children and young people with physical difficulties;

·  secured and used funding for communication aids for children and young people. We have also developed a joint funding agreement with Therapy services;

·  developed, in discussions with partners in Health, more integrated planning for improving access and provision of specialist equipment;

·  active involvement with the Disability Trust implementing Every Disabled Child Matters across the County;

·  continued to increase access to early years education and care provision for children, including those with disabilities via our growing network of children’s centres;

·  reviewed the previous strategy, in accordance with the County Council’s Equality and Diversity policy and have produced information in different formats and languages, through the use of the Interpreting Translation Line and other services.

2006-10 Examples of Access Initiative Projects

·  Improving the facilities for young people with ASD at a number of secondary schools.

·  Contributing towards the costs of building a Student Support Centre at a secondary school in order to meet the needs of young people with significant physical disabilities. This includes an accessible physiotherapy and changing room facility.

·  Funding adaptations at secondary schools and Resourced Base provision for young people with physical disabilities. This includes platform lifts, ramps, and toilet improvements.

·  Substantial adaptations at a number of Primary Schools to improve access for individual pupils with specific needs.

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 7 - / March 2011

2006-10 Capital Programmes to include Primary Strategy for Change and Building Schools for the Future.

Funding initiatives have supported a number of new build and refurbishment projects across the County (see some examples overleaf) and we are still very much committed to promoting accessibility in all our capital projects as identified in the Service Asset Management Plan (SAMP).

e.g. Seascape Primary, Durham Johnston, Seaham Trinity Primary just 3 of our new builds

What We Will Do - Key Activities

We will ensure that:

·  resources from the Capital Funding allocation are allocated to projects that directly link to our strategic priorities;

·  schools and design services are provided with guidance on access for disabled children and young people as part of any capital project;

·  access projects make the best possible use of all available resources including devolved capital and LA capital;

·  Capital Funding will continue to be allocated to improve access to the curriculum, physical environment and information at Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools, for the identified needs of current and prospective pupils;

·  children and young people who may have difficulties in accessing schools, the curriculum or information are identified as early as possible through multi-agency co-operation and identification routes;

·  information on the nature of the disabled pupil population is collected, through the School Census, in order to plan actions, improve outcomes and ensure that their needs are tracked and met;

·  training is provided to school staff and Governors on Disability Equality duties, Disability Discrimination, Accessibility Planning and Special Educational Needs.

Accessibility Strategy 2011-2015/P / - 8 - / March 2011

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Accessibility Strategy is a key activity within the SEN priority of the Children and Young People’s Plan. Therefore, progress will be monitored on a quarterly basis. It is the responsibility of the Lead Officer for the Accessibility Strategy to ensure that the actions identified in the Accessibility Development Plan are carried out.

The allocation of funding from the School Access Initiative is decided by a cross- service team, involving representatives from:

SEN Placement and Provision Service

Learning Support Service

School Organisation and Capital Projects

Corporate Services

Occupational Therapy Services

Sure Start County Durham.

Consultation Arrangements

The previous Accessibility Strategy was circulated to schools, Diocesan Authorities, and other organisations. We also sought the views of parents and disabled children and young people. The aims of this strategy remain unchanged.

In May 2010 we sought the views of parents of disabled children and young people at the Making Changes Together Conference. We specifically asked for their views in relation to the barriers for improving access to the curriculum, environment and information. Parents were also asked, at their Conference in November, about their views on the SEN Strategy. Their views about access for disabled children and young people are: