Date Adopted
Committee
Review Date
Summer 2014
Education
Summer 2015
Disability Equality (Students)
1.
Statutory
Policy Ref -
SCHOOL ETHOS, VISION AND VALUES
Gordano School is committed to ensuring equal treatment of all its employees,
pupils and any others involved in the school community, with any form of disability
and will strive to ensure that disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more
favourable treatment, are met, and they are not treated less favourably in any
procedures, practices and service delivery. 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. The achievement of disabled pupils and students
will be monitored and we will use this data to raise standards and to ensure
inclusive teaching. We will do everything possible to make sure that the school
environment is as accessible as possible. At Gordano School, we believe that
diversity is a strength, which should be respected and celebrated by those who
learn, teach and visit here. We will not tolerate harassment of disabled people
with any form of impairment and this includes pupils who are carers of disabled
parents (Ref: Equal Opportunities Policy).
2.
COMPLIANCE WITH THE SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY
DISCRIMINATION ACT 2001 (SENDA)
The Special Educational Needs and Discrimination Act 2001 (SENDA) amended the
Disability Discrimination Act 1995. In addition to creating new rights for disabled
pupils in schools, it created a duty for all schools to produce a Buildings
Accessibility Policy and Equal Opportunities Policy to demonstrate how the needs
of disabled children would be met. Accordingly, Gordano School’s Disability
Equality Policy should be read in conjunction with its Accessibility Policy which
reflects how the physical and learning needs of our pupils are currently being
addressed and how their needs will continue to be part of our School Improvement
Plan. Gordano School’s Accessibility Policy is compliant with SENDA, the Schools
Code of Practice 2001 and Government guidance.
3.
COMPLIANCE WITH THE DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION ACT 2005
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA 2005) did not create any new rights for
disabled people. It built on those rights established in the Disability Discrimination
Act 1995 and SENDA. It established the ‘Disability Equality Duty’ creating an
obligation on schools to take a more proactive approach to promoting disability
equality and eliminating discrimination in respect of all disabled people at the
school, including its pupils, staff, parents and visitors. Accordingly, this policy
aims to reflect this duty.
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4.
DEFINITION OF DISABILITY
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone
who has ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial or long-term
adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The DDA 2005 has also extended the definition of disability as follows:

People with HIV, multiple sclerosis and cancer (although not all cancers) are
deemed disabled before they experience the long-term and substantial
adverse effect on their activities

Section 18 has been amended so that individuals with a mental illness no
longer have to demonstrate that it is “clinically well-recognised”, although
the person must still demonstrate a long-term and substantial adverse
effect on his/her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
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.
5.
THE DUTY
The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 places a general duty on schools, who need
to have due regard for the following when carrying out their functions:
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Promoting equality of opportunity between disabled people and other
people;
Eliminating discrimination that is unlawful under the DDA;
Eliminating harassment of disabled people that is related to their disability;
Promoting positive attitudes towards disabled people;
Encouraging participation in public life by disabled people;
Taking steps to meet disabled people’s needs, even if this requires more
favourable treatment.
This is also known as the Disability Equality Duty (DED) and applies to all disabled
pupils, staff and those using services provided by schools.
Gordano School understands that the definition of disability under the Act is
different from the eligibility criteria for special educational needs.
Disabled young people currently experience unequal outcomes in education, e.g.:
 21% of disabled people aged 16-24 have no qualifications whatsoever
compared to 9% of non-disabled people of the same age
 Disabled young people are 40% less likely to go into higher education aged
18 as non-disabled 18 year olds
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Although the number of disabled pupils participating in higher education has
increased year on year the gap has continued to widen as participation by nondisabled people has grown much more rapidly over the same period
Taking into consideration the wider issues facing young disabled people today, low
attainment of qualifications, poor prospects of employment and further study, and
lower life chances across the board in comparison to their non-disabled peers, it is
essential that we monitor aspects of school life to identify whether there is an
adverse impact on children and young people with disabilities
6.
MONITORING
6.1
General Duties:
We will actively seek to:
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Promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and other
persons;
Eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Act;
Eliminate harassment of disabled persons that is related to their disabilities;
Promote positive attitudes towards disabled persons – This means not
representing people in a demeaning way, and it also means not pretending
they don’t exist and not representing them anywhere at all;
Encourage participation by disabled persons in public life – It is important to
respect the wishes of disabled children in an educational setting so that
they do not feel pushed into activities they do not wish to take part in;
Take steps to take account of disabled persons’ disabilities, even where that
involves treating disabled persons more favourably than other persons (DDA
2005 S.49A)
The production of this Disability Equality Policy makes us aware of the need to
integrate disability equality into all aspects of school life. The Policy demonstrates
how we are seeking to meet the specific duty.
6.2
Specific Duties
6.2.1 Achievement of pupils by disability
In compliance with our Equal Opportunities Policy and Buildings Accessibility
Policy we have created a curriculum that is/can be personalised and
accessible to the particular needs of our pupils and future pupils. This
personalised programme will ensure that the curriculum is available and
appropriate for all children.
6.2.2 Participation and involvement rates of pupils
Disabled pupils are/will be encouraged to participate in all aspects of school
life. Gordano School will endeavour to offer all pupils (disabled and nondisabled) the opportunities, (where appropriate) to participate in extracurricular clubs and school trips.
They are/will be encouraged to
participate fully in the House and School Councils and Student Leadership
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Teams to express their views and opinions in a safe and supportive
environment
6.2.3 Disabled staff
Disabled staff are/will be provided with special resources to enable them to
carry out their role. The provision for disabled staff starts by identification
of specific needs on appointment and these will be monitored and amended
as required throughout the term of employment.
They are/will be
encouraged by their line manager to report any concerns they have in
respect of their disability and how it impacts on their work.
All staff will be encouraged to suggest and implement systems that will
particularly assist disabled colleagues, for example, the creation of disabled
parking spaces, erection of low level notice boards for wheelchair users and
use of large font sizes for email communications for staff with visual
impairments.
6.2.4 Disabled parents
In order to support disabled parents we will ensure that we are fully
informed about our disabled parents, in particular their particular needs and
how we can support them in their role as parents of children at our school.
This may include allocating sufficient parking spaces for known disabled
parents at particular school events, holding events such as Parents Evenings
in venues as close to the Main School Hall as possible, producing visually
enhanced letters/web material and support to dyslexic parents wishing to
support their children with their school work.
6.2.5 Implications for Gordano
6.2.5.1
The role of the school as a service provider
We need to be aware of the additional implications when we hire out
rooms or parts of the building, ensuring that buildings are as accessible
as possible
6.2.5.2
Contact with parents and carers
When providing newsletters and information for parents and carers, we
should make this information available in an accessible format so that
parents or carers who may be, for example, visually impaired, can
access the information
6.2.5.3
Additionally, events for parents and carers such as open evenings,
meetings with teachers, should be held in accessible parts of the
building
6.2.5.4
Hiring transport
School staff will need to be aware of Section 6 of the Act when hiring
transport as it puts new duties on transport providers, including the bus
and coach companies, and the taxi and private hire car trade. The
requirement to provide accessible vehicles is extended to include these
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transport providers. Bus companies will not be able to refuse a job
because, for example, it may take longer to pick up disabled students
6.2.5.5
7.
Election of parent governors
The election of parent governors is not covered by the DDA 2005, and
governors will need to ensure that the procedures for candidates to
stand for election and for parents to vote for candidates are accessible
to disabled people. However, the result of the election is not covered
and disabled candidates will not be able to claim that they were not
elected simply because they were disabled. Once a disabled parent
governor is elected, the school governing body functions in relation to
that parent are covered, and the school must ensure that they can
participate fully in school life.
INVOLVEMENT AND CONSULTATION
Disabled pupils, staff, parents and disabled members of the community who may
use school facilities will be involved in developing this Disability Equality Scheme.
We will consult with these groups to determine their priorities for the school with
regards to disability equality over the next three years via:
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Focus Groups
Questionnaires
Feedback slips
Drop-in sessions
We will use the feedback from these groups to make appropriate adjustments to
our current practice, where at all possible.
8.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
We will assess the impact of new and existing policies at regular intervals (12
months). We will use:
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9.
Pupil Voice;
Parent Satisfaction surveys to do this;
Participation rates in out of school activities;
Behaviour 4 Learning statistics;
Attendance Rates;
Uptake on GCSE course; and
Examination results
Staff Survey
REVIEW/MONITORING
Information gathered and action plans will be reported on at the Governors’
Education Committee on an annual cycle.
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Training needs will be built into the annual training plans for teaching and support
staff
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ASPECT
Involvement in
Extra Curricular
Trips & School
Visits
Development of
voice
for
disabled pupils,
staff,
parents/carers
Equal
Opportunity
Accessibility
ISSUE BEING ADDRESSED
HOW WILL IMPACT BE
WHO?
MONITORED
Are there appropriate Analyse
extra-curricular Disabled/ non-disabled School visits:
Katie Watts
opportunities for disabled participation figures and participation
rates
Extra-Curricular
pupils to participate in school visit applications
monitored
Activities:
extra-curricular activities
All Staff
and school visits?
Encouragement
of Disabled people to be Analysis of participation HLMs
disabled
people
to positively encouraged to rates
Governors
participate in public life
join House and School
Council, GSPA, Governing
Body, etc.
Elimination of harassment
Student Surveys
HLMs
 Promote in
of bullying
assemblies
 Analysis of data
collected (bully
register, school life
survey, etc)
Identify outside agencies Gaynor Hastings (GH) to GH to report back to GH
who book facilities and monitor
Governor
Community
gather data on number of
Committee
disabled users
START
(each year)
Sept each year
Areas of school that Surveys to be carried out
disabled people are unable
to access
July
Exam Results + Underachievement
Destination
disabled pupils
Figures
Post 16 Routes
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
-
CS
by Analyse results of pupils Check
progress
& MCJ + HLMs
identified as disabled
achievement
using
results
attained
by
individual pupils
Analyse Option Choices at Comparison with non- Connexions
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Sept
May
Sept
Sept
Sept
COMPLETE
14, 16
Awareness
Raising
disabled pupils
+
School
Careers staff March
Connexions
to
analyse Are any courses not SJR/JMF +
destination figures
accessible?
ie
not TWI
inclusive
Ensure all staff working in Information to be presented Staff feedback sheets
RB
Jan
the school are aware of the at staff meeting and future
Disability Equality Duty Induction Meetings
(DED)
Identification of disabled Under Common Assessment Overall statistics to be The Centre Jan
people at Gordano
Framework
(CAF)
all analysed and discussed staff
and
disabled pupils to be placed at joint meetings of MCJ
on Stage 3 or 4 of “The HLMs and Centre Staff
Centre” databank
and SEN Staff
Identify pupils who have HLMs to gather information
(a) disabled parent(s)
Statistics
to
be HLMs
presented
at
HLM
meeting and analysed
under Pastoral SelfEvaluation Gardener’s
Calendar
Readmission Into Admissions/Transitions/Exc Analyse exclusion (fixed Comparison
SB/RB
School
lusions
term & permanent exclusion disabled/non-disabled
Are
children
with figures)
exclusion figures
disabilities
overrepresented in exclusion
figures
Employing,
Are
there
equal Analyse appointments and
TP
promoting and opportunities for disabled training opportunities
training disabled staff?
staff
Working Group
Involve children and adults Set up cross year/staff Recommendations to be Student
in prioritising the action working group
written into 3 year DED Leadership
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Jan
Jan
Sept
Sept
Ongoing
the school wishes to take
and the outcomes after 3
years
Action Plan
Policy adopted
……………………………………………….
Chair of Committee
……………………………………
Headteacher
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Teams