Reasonable Adjustments at Priory Belvoir

 

The Equality Act

Reasonable Adjustments Schools and local authorities have a duty to provide reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils under the Equality Act 2010.

The Children and Families Act 2014 and associated SEND Code of Practice (2014) states that:

‘Mainstream schools must use their best endeavours to make sure that a child with SEN gets the support they need – this means doing everything they can to meet children and young people’s SEN.’ SEND CoP (Code of Practice) 6.2 pg.92

At Priory Belvoir, ‘best endeavours’ constitutes doing everything the school reasonably can to meet the needs of young people with SEND so that they might be included with school.

The Reasonable Adjustments for Disabled Pupils Guidance for Schools in England requires schools: ‘To take such steps as it is Reasonable to have to take to avoid the substantial disadvantage’ to a disabled person caused by a provision, criterion or practice applied by or on behalf of a school, or by the absence of an auxiliary aid or service.’

The reasonable adjustments duty is triggered only where there is a need to avoid ‘substantial disadvantage.’ ‘Substantial’ is defined as being anything more than minor or trivial. Whether a disabled pupil is at a substantial disadvantage or not will depend on the individual situation. In the reasonable adjustment guidance, the term ‘school’ is used to refer to both schools and local authorities, so this is a shared responsibility.

This responsibility is also referenced in the SEND Code of Practice (2014), which states that schools must: ‘Make reasonable adjustments, including the provision of auxiliary aids and services, to ensure that disabled children and young people are not at a substantial disadvantage compared with their peers. This duty is anticipatory – it requires thought to be given in advance to what disabled children and young people might require and what adjustments might need to be made to prevent that disadvantage.’ Send CoP pg.17

Therefore, in order to determine when a ‘should’ under ‘best endeavours’ becomes a ‘must’ or a ‘reasonable adjustment,’ the judgment relates to whether or not the children and young person is at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with non-disabled /non SEND peers, because of action taken, or not taken. If so, the school is potentially in breach of the Equality Act and/or the Code of Practice. As with ‘reasonable adjustments,’ the disadvantage will be deemed to be ‘substantial’ when it is judged to be anything more than minor or trivial. Whether a pupil with SEND is at a substantial disadvantage or not will depend on the individual situation Therefore, in making judgments about what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’ or a ‘best endeavour’ it will be important to consider the context and individual circumstance of both the children and young people and their school. As noted above, in applying the legislative responsibilities associated with ‘best endeavours/reasonable adjustments’ it is important to take the context into account. All children and young people are individuals and the ‘best endeavours/reasonable adjustments’ that are appropriate for them will depend upon the way in which their SEND affects them, and the context in which they are being educated.

There are three elements to reasonable adjustments:

 • Provisions, criteria, and practices – this relates to the way in which a school operates daily, including its decisions and actions.

• Auxiliary aids and services – this means anything that constitutes additional support or assistance for a disabled pupil, such as a piece of equipment or support from a member of staff.

• Physical features – whilst this element does not apply to schools in relation to disabled pupils, they do have a duty to plan better access for disabled pupils including in relation to the school’s physical environment.

Examples of reasonable adjustments across the four broad areas of need

Cognition and Learning

• Additional processing time
• Use of writing frames and scaffolds
• Chunking tasks, visual aids
• Alternative writing methods e.g. use of a word processor
• Dyslexia friendly fonts and presentation layouts

Social Emotional and Mental Health

• Where possible, notifying significant change ahead of time
• PACE approach to discipline
•  Use of positive reinforcement
• Adaptations to environment for detentions and consequences
• Consistent boundaries and expectations

Physical and Sensory

• Adjustments to seating
• Access to appropriate physical aids to support learning
• Adaptations to physical aspects lessons or auxillary aids for these lessons
• Sensory adjustments where possible e.g. ear defenders

Communication and Interaction

• Word banks and preteaching of key vocabulary
• Auxiliary aids such as RAG cards
• Cloze exercises, sentence starters
• Safe space within school for unstructured time

 

At Priory Belvoir, the aim of all reasonable adjustments and best endeavours is to ensure that students are able to feel safe, make progress and enjoy their school experience. All adjustments are identified within student individual support plans and are individual to the specific needs of the student. In line with their progress and development, adjustments must be applied with a view of maximising student independence.