Education Accessibility Strategy

Overview

East Lothian Council Education Service values and respects the diverse communities it serves and has policy and guidance documents in place to promote positive attitudes and eliminate discrimination and stereotyping in all of its establishments. 

The Service has a legal duty to prepare a strategy to increase the physical accessibility of the school environment, increase the accessibility of the curriculum and improve communication, especially in relation to the provision of school information, for those pupils who have disabilities.

Schools and nurseries must take the Accessibility Strategy into account in any management decisions and improvement planning.

Why your views matter

A review of the previous Accessibility Strategy, including consultation with service users, parents/carers and teaching staff, took place in 2012 and 2013 and led to the development of this latest version. This was then taken to the Council's Education Committee, who met and approved the Accessibility Strategy at the end of last year.

The most important component of the Accessibility Strategy is the Action Plan. This outlines the Service's agreed priorities in respect of increasing the physical accessibility of the school environment, increasing the accessibility of the curriculum and improving communication for those pupils who have disabilities, for the next two academic years.

It is our intention to form a group to review the Action Plan on an annual basis. We also intend that this should be a living document, responding to the changing needs of our service users. We are therefore consulting to gather your views on:

• The contents of the current Accessibility Strategy Action Plan
• What you feel should be considered in this current plan, or future plans

What happens next

It is our intention to review the Action Plan on an annual basis and the Strategy every three years or when new legislation impacts upon it. Your views will be used to inform the review group and develop the Action Plan.