Surbiton Children's Centre Nursery Disability Equality Plan

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• Surbiton Children's Centre Nursery Disability Equality Plan

This plan sets out how Surbiton Children’s Centre Nursery will work to address the general duty to promote disability equality.  A person is 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 carry out normal day to day activities.

This plan addresses our specific duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005.  It forms part of our general Equality Scheme and also relates to our Accessibility Plan.

The Head Teacher wrote the scheme in consultation with staff and the Governing Body.  Disabled people were involved in its formulation; parents of disabled children and a disabled member of the community who uses school facilities were consulted.  The Senior Leadership Team and Governing Body used their increased awareness and knowledge of the issues relating to disability in formulation of the scheme.

A planned programme of policy review is in place.   All school policies and plans have been assessed with regard to the general duties under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and the special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001.   All policies provide for children with disabilities and embrace the school’s inclusive ethos.  See: Equalities Scheme, Race Equality plan, Gender equality plan, SEN policy, Admission Policy, Teaching and Learning Policy.

	Action	By Whom	Timescales	Evidence that it is completed
1. Promote equality of opportunity between disabled persons and other persons	Positively welcome applications to staff and Governing Body and promote representation of disabled people in the school	Head Teacher/Governing Body	Ongoing	Recruitment procedures ensure that applications from disabled people are welcomed and that disabled people are not treated less favourably
2. Eliminate unlawful discrimination	Review all policy and practice; maintain training programme  to raise awareness of all staff on disability issues and implications for provision and practice	Head Teacher	Ongoing	Staff awareness of disability issues is raised. Practice and all policies provide for children with disabilities. Disabled people are not treated less favourably in procedure, policy and service delivery.
3. Eliminate harrassment related to disabilities	Address, report and monitor incidents	Head Teacher/Governing Body	Ongoing	Records of any incidents related to disability and actions taken are maintained
4. Promote positive attitudes to disability	Actively maintain an ethos throughout the school community (staff, parents, carers and children) of care and consideration for others.  Ensure that positive images of disability are displayed; prepare displays of inclusive practice; promote inclusion with children, families and the community	Inclusion Manager	Ongoing	The school maintains an inclusive ethos
5. Encourage participation by disabled people	Positively welcome disabled people’s involvement in the daily life of the school including visits from children, community members	Senior Leadershp Team and all staff	Ongoing	Disabled people take an active involvement in the life of the school
6. Take steps to take account of disabled people’s disabilities	Check the suitability of all areas for disabled people including wheelchair users and if necessary prepare a personal management plan to enable access to and evacuation from all areas of the site	Head Teacher	Ongoing	Disabled children and families have access to all areas

	Action	By Whom	Timescales	Evidence that it is completed
1. Improvements in access to the curriculum	Further development of strategies to support curriculum access including signage, visual timetables and cues, and ongoing staff training and training of new staff eg makaton, use of individual learning plans, etc.  Identify and manage accessibility needs (including health issues) sensitively and on an individual basis	Inclusion manager and all staff	Ongoing	Children have fuller and more independent access to the curriculum. All staff are confident to use a range of strategies in response to individual need.
2. Physical improvements to increase access to education and associated services	Improve the physical environment to increase access for disabled members of the school community :- Raise awareness of possible limitations of equipment in the garden and positioning of classroom furniture Plan Increased availability of sensory resources in response to individual needs	All staff	Ongoing	Disabled children have access to appropriate equipment and resources across all areas of the provision to meet their needs.
3. Improvements in the provision of information in a range of formats for disabled pupils	Inclusion manager to continue to develop strategies across the school to support children with a range of impairments in response to individual needs eg PECS, Makaton, TEACCH	Inclusion Manager	Ongoing	School has knowledge and skills to support children with communication difficulties
4. Other actions	School Improvement Planning responds to the needs  of children with disabilities	Head Teacher/Senior Leadership Team	Ongoing	The SIP emphasises that all priorities relate to all children regardless of disability

The Head Teacher and Governing Body monitor the implementation of policy and practice.  Ongoing progress and impact of actions taken as identified in the Action Plan will be monitored through governors’ sub-committee meetings to ensure that progress is being made towards meeting the Disability Equality Duty. The school will continue to consult with new parents and families and members of the community.  An annual report in relation the Disability and Accessibility Action Plans will be made to the full Governing Body and will assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the Action Plan.  Information gathered will be used to inform future practice and improve the Disability Equality Scheme.

The next disability equality plan in 2012 will build upon this plan’s actions, the results of monitoring, and other information

Reviewed February 2009.