Drighlington Primary School

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities 

At Drighlington Primary School we are committed to establishing equality for all children, their parents / carers, staff and other users of the school. We comply with Section 69 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice. If you would like additional information about our Core Offer for children with SEND, please go to our Policies page where you will find this document.

This is reflected in our school vision and core values:

• have high expectations of all
• have excellent inclusive teaching
• develop positive and trusting relationships
• ensure that all children have the basic skills of literacy, numeracy and computing
• promote and support personal development, well being, mutual respect and citizenship
• provide a safe, stimulating and challenging learning environment
• provide a broad, balance, relevant and exciting curriculum
• promote a positive attitude to learning and behaviour
• promote working independently, co-operatively and as part of a team
• recognise and celebrate achievement and diversity

Our SENDCo is a qualified teacher who has been accredited with the relevant, recognised qualification to carry out this role in our school. Her name is Miss Wright and can be contacted via the school office.

,Our school is exceptionally well designed to support the needs of children who have SEND. To list just a few examples, we: are all on one level - there are no steps to tackle; have designated parking spaces close to the school entrance; lovely wide doorways and corridors; two disabled access toilets both with height adjustable changing benches and one with a hoist. If you would like to come and visit to see our school to see our facilities before deciding whether to apply, please contact the school office and arrange to meet the Headteacher.

Drighlington Primary School values the contribution that every child can make and welcomes the diversity of culture, religion and intellectual style. We are committed to offering an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all of our pupils, whatever their needs and abilities. The school seeks to raise achievement, remove barriers to learning and increase physical and curricular access to all. All children with SEND are valued, respected and equal members of the school.    

Equality of Opportunity

This school does not discriminate against children on the grounds of race, gender or ability. We seek to enable all children to have reasonable access to the curriculum. 

It is the responsibility of the whole school community to implement this scheme in a manner which promotes the inclusive ethos of our school.

The Children and Families Act was passed in March 2014 and makes wide ranging reforms to services for children and young people, including services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Act must be implemented from September 2014. A new code of practice has also been drafted to provide guidance to local authorities and their partners, including schools. The Local Offer is one of the new requirements of this Act.

In brief, the Act aims to achieve a new joint, multi-agency approach to statutory assessment and care planning, with existing statements of SEN replaced with joint multi-agency Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC Plans). This will streamline services and ensure families do not have to ‘tell their stories’ multiple times. It will also be quicker, with only 20 weeks for the new process, instead of the current 26 weeks.

The EHCPs allow for more personalisation of services, including personal budgets. Families with the new EHCPs will have more input into decisions about the services they access and how the budget associated with their EHCP is spent. This could include families choosing to receive and manage the budget themselves.

The Leeds SEND Local Offer

Better information about what services are available and how families can access them, published in a ‘Local Offer’ of information. This will empower families to know what they are entitled to access and make choices to meet their individual needs.

This guidance focuses on the Local Offer. Families can email bpteam@leeds.gov.uk for factsheets for schools on EHC Plans and personal budgets.

Click here for Local Authority SEND Core Offer https://leedslocaloffer.org.uk/#!/directory

Single Equality and Accessibility 

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.

We believe that our Single Equality and Accessibility Plan is compliant with current legislation and requirements as specified in Schedule 10, relating to Disability, of the Equality Act 2010. The Governing Body is accountable for ensuring the implementation, review and reporting on progress of the Single Equality and Accessibility Plan over a prescribed period.

Our Single Equality and Accessibility Plan is structured to complement and support the school's objectives. At Drighlington Primary School we do not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their sex, race, colour, religion, nationality, ethnic or national origins. We promote the principles of fairness and justice for all through the education that we provide in our school.

We ensure that all pupils have equal access to the full range of educational opportunities provided by the school. We constantly strive to remove any forms of indirect discrimination that may form barriers to learning. We ensure that all recruitment, employment, promotion and training systems are fair to all, and provide opportunities for everyone to achieve. We challenge stereotyping and prejudice whenever it occurs. We celebrate the cultural diversity of our community and show respect for all minority groups. We are aware that prejudice and stereotyping is caused by low self-image and ignorance. Through positive educational experiences and support for each individual’s point of view, we aim to promote positive social attitudes and respect for all.

We are committed to providing an environment which enables full curriculum access which values and includes all pupils, staff, parents and visitors regardless of their education, physical, sensory, social, spiritual, emotional and cultural needs. We are 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.

Our aims include children, staff, governors, parents, carers and all those within our extended school community. We are committed to responding to all diversity related. In accordance with “Public Sector Equality Duty” we have adopted a proactive approach to equality. This means that we will:

• Take positive and proactive steps to identify areas of potential inequality before they have the chance to make an impact
• Make changes to ensure that any areas of potential inequality are eliminated. Potential areas are:
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Race
  • Religion or Belief
  • Gender Sexual Orientation
  • Age

The school acknowledges and welcomes diversity among pupils, staff and visitors. We will not discriminate against anyone, adult or child, on the grounds of gender, race, age, colour, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, physical or mental abilities. We provide the full educational entitlement which meets the individual needs of every child. We provide quality learning experiences and activities which are differentiated to cater for individual needs and celebrate success and achievement to promote positive self-esteem and aspirations. We have high expectations of children’s achievements and behaviour. We develop an environment in school which promotes a sense of community and belonging and where children can exercise personal and social skills of independence, teamwork, self-awareness, self-respect and respect for others.

We are opposed to all forms of racism and xenophobia including those that are directed towards religious groups and communities We respect the religious beliefs and practices of all staff, pupils, parents, carers and visitors, and comply with all reasonable requests to religious observance and practice. We ensure that all recruitment and employment are fair to all and provide opportunities for everyone to succeed. We will make reasonable adjustments, where required, in order to improve access to the school buildings, increase access to the curriculum and to improve delivery of information.

The education of our children is promoted through a partnership in which both the home and the school play their parts to the full in order to raise standards of achievement and develop every child as a successful individual.

Our Single Equality and Accessibility Plan shows how access is to be improved for disabled pupils, staff and visitors to the school in a given timeframe and anticipating the need to make reasonable adjustments to accommodate their needs where practicable. The Single Equality and Accessibility Plan will contain relevant and timely actions to:

• increase access to the curriculum for pupils with a disability, adapting the curriculum as necessary to ensure that pupils with a disability are as, equally, prepared for life as are the pupils without disability;
• improve access to the physical environment of the school, adding specialist facilities where possible – this covers improvements to the physical environment of the school and physical aids to access education within a reasonable timeframe;
• improve the communication of written information to pupils, staff, parents and visitors with disabilities; examples might include letters, timetables, books and information about the school and school events; the information will be made available in various formats within a reasonable timeframe

Key Aim

To increase and ensure for children with a disability that they have:

• total access to our setting’s environment, curriculum and information and full participation in the school community.

Principles

Compliance with the Equality Act is consistent with our setting’s aims and equal opportunities policy and SEN information report. Key principles:

• Our staff recognise their duty under the Equality Act:
• Not to discriminate against disabled children in their admissions and exclusions, and provision of education and associated services
• Not to treat disabled children less favourably
• To take reasonable steps to avoid putting disabled children at a substantial disadvantage
• We will do our upmost to make our school physically accessible for those children who require adjustments - we will work with parents / carers to establish the needs and requirements and do everything possible to be inclusive so that our children with SEND can take advantage of the educational benefits, facilities and services we offer
• To ensure that disabled pupils have equal access to all resources as all other children.
• To publish and regularly review an Accessibility Plan
• In performing their duties, Governors have regard to the Equality Act 2010
• Our setting recognises and values the young person’s knowledge/parents’ knowledge of their child’s disability, the effect their disability has on his/her ability to carry out activities and respects the parents’ and child’s right to confidentiality
• Our setting provides all children with a broad and balanced curriculum that is differentiated, personalised and age appropriate. 

Accessibility Plan

Our Accessibility Plan has been prepared under Paragraph 3 of Schedule 10 to the Equality Act 2010.

Complaints

If you have a compliant that relates to any aspect of our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities provision we would be very grateful to have a conversation with you to enable us to resolve any issues as quickly as possible to benefit all concerned. Please contact the school office to make an appointment to see the SENCo or one of the Senior Leaders. info@drighlingtonprimary.org.uk or call on 0113 2853000. Thank you.