Bexley Schools Accessibility Strategy
2015-2018
1. Introduction
1.1 Our vision
We want to support all young people in Bexley to achieve; young people should be aspirational
for their futures and inspired to reach their full potential.
1.2 How will we achieve this?
Education in Bexley needs to be inclusive, support services provided and tailored to meet the
need and agencies working together to support children to succeed. We will work to deliver
high quality support around the child, to remove the barriers to learning that some children may
face and work to ensure children can participate fully in the curriculum.
1.3 Our work will focus on:
Increasing accessibility and inclusivity: continue to improve the physical education
environment, removing physical barriers ensures that children are empowered to engage in their
education in the way they want to. To match an accessible mainstream physical setting with the
right support to access the curriculum, to enable the focus to be on what you can achieve and
not negotiating barriers to achievement.
Providing good support for families: through the Local Offer – providing clear information
about the support available to families and consulting with disabled children, children with
special educational needs and their families when commissioning services. We will constantly
seek feedback on the quality of support and whether our service users feel the services they
use are making a difference to them.
Planning around the needs of the child: working with families to ensure that those education,
health and care plans , statements of SEN and those receiving SEN support have their needs
met now and plans are developed at the right time to include the support to help them
transition into adulthood. We will consistently seek feedback from families on whether their
needs are met, whether they feel that their plan is a good plan and whether there is adequate
engagement from all agencies in the plan.
Performance indicators to monitor achievements on the three aspirations set out above are
included in the Children’s services improvement plan and performance dashboard and will be
monitored and scrutinised through the Councils Children and Young People’s Improvement
Partnership.
2. Our legal duties
The Council and all public sector organisations are required to meet the Public Sector Equality
Duty. This was introduced under the Equality Act in 2010. The Equality Act brought together all
previous equalities legislation and this replaces most of the previous elements, including the
Disability Discrimination Act.
The Public Sector Equality Duty is a legal requirement for public bodies to have due regard to
the need to:
 eliminate discrimination and other conduct that is prohibited under the Equality Act
 advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and
people who do not share it,
 foster good relations
Duties relating to schools when carrying out their functions are clearly defined in the Equality Act
as:
 To eliminate discrimination that is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010
 To eliminate harassment of disabled pupils as it relates to their disability
 To promote equality of opportunity between disabled people and other people
 To promote positive attitudes to disabled people
 To encourage participation by disabled people in public life
 To take steps to account for disabled people’s disabilities, make reasonable adjustments or
take reasonable steps to avoid disadvantage
2.1 School Accessibility Strategy
Schedule 10 of the Equality Act sets out the requirement for a local authority to have an
accessibility strategy that sets out how the local authority will, over a prescribed period, address
the following:

Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the schools' curriculums;

improving the physical environment of the schools for the purpose of increasing the extent
to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and benefits, facilities or
services provided or offered by the schools;

improving the delivery to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils
who are not disabled.
The responsible body of the school should also have in place an accessibility plan that addresses
the three issues above.
The legislation states that the accessibility strategy and plans should be delivered within the
timescales set out and developed and reviewed “after taking account of the pupils' disabilities and
any preferences expressed by them or their parents.” It also states that adequate resources are
allocated to delivering the plan.
Equalities law is detailed and complex and therefore this summary serve to highlight the key
requirements for local authorities and schools. The information below sets out the work we have
done and what we will seek to do over the next three years to deliver better accessibility for
pupils from 2015-2018, against the three key areas listed above and the modelling work that is
undertaken to understand current need and plan ahead for future demand. This is all included in
our Commissioning Strategy for 2015-2018.
3. Understanding and predicting the need for provision for pupils with special educational
needs and disabilities
The last seven years have seen increasing pressures on school places right across London and
the wider South East. If numbers in Bexley grow based on current trends, there will be demand
for additional reception places until at least 2021 with a potential need to provide at least a further
ten forms of entry by 2021. Pressures for SEN provision remain in line with the growth of the
general school population and some expansion will be required, changes in diagnosis and the
statutory framework add further layers of complexity.
In order to determine the future demand for SEN places in Bexley, the GLA Alternate Model Data
(Jan 13) was used and applied to the percentage of children who have a special educational
need and national and local trends. The new SEN Code of Practice (October 2014) introduced
Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) in place of Statements of Special Educational Need.
All new statutory assessments will result in an EHCP and all Statements will be converted to
EHCP’s by 2017. Therefore both currently exist in Bexley.
The table below shows projected and current numbers of children in Bexley who have statements
by primary needs. The trend for each primary type was calculated by looking at the numbers of
pupils who have each primary need type over the last 5 years and averaging out the increase or
decrease to give a % increase or decrease. Our data shows generally that Bexley follows the
national trend:

There is a continued increase in the number of children in Bexley who are being diagnoses
with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. These children have a wide range of needs and abilities
requiring a range of provisions.

It is anticipated that we will continue to see a rise in the number of requests for Education,
Health and Care Plans for pre-school children.

As the new SEN Code of Practice allows for young people with special needs to receive
support in education up until their 25th birthday, we are and will continue to support
increasing numbers of young people for longer.

We anticipate that, as young people who have special educational needs are now able to
request support in education up until their 25th birthday, we will see a rise in the number of
young people in Year 11 asking for EHCP assessments in order to receive support as they
prepare for adulthood.

We anticipate the increases in numbers of children who have a primary need Physical
Disability, Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment to be in line with population increase.
It should be understood that children will be categorised under their primary need at point of
their Statement or Education, Health and Care Plan being finalised. As some children will have
significant needs in more than one area, it is sometimes difficult to determine one primary need
clearly.
4. Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the schools'
curriculums;
5. Improving the physical environment of the schools for the purpose of increasing the
extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and benefits,
facilities or services provided or offered by the schools;
Bexley already has a diverse range of schools. There are 59 primary, infant and junior schools;
16 secondary schools; 5 special schools and a pupil referral unit. The borough is a net importer
of children with 9% of primary and 26% of secondary places taken up by children who do not live
in Bexley as at January 2014. Since 2011, 195 new reception places have been created in
Bexley. Six primary schools have been permanently expanded. Separate linked infant and junior
schools have been re-organised into two all-through primary schools. Classrooms have been
provided to facilitate bulge classes and temporary expansions. There are now 965 more primary
places available than in 2012. A former primary school has been refurbished and extended to
become a state of the art facility for children on the autistic spectrum from Key Stage two up to
and including 6th form. Additionally, 60 new SEN places at Upton, Belmont, Marlborough and
Shenstone at Royal Park have been provided and a project is underway to build a new 6th block
that students from Marlborough School will share with Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School.
Support for children and young adults with special and complex educational needs remains a key
and urgent priority. The pressure on places within our special schools and provisions mirrors that
of the wider school population. Our plans are predicated on the clear aim that children should be
educated in Bexley whenever possible. We have reviewed, and continue to review, the current
provisions within our schools in the light of emerging data on future need and are making
changes to reflect this. There is pressure for those on the autistic spectrum so we have recently
created a further 18 places at Upton and Belmont Schools. Woodside School opened its new,
bespoke site for Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 at Colyers in Spring 2014 and we are now looking at
options to find a new location for the Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 children at Woodside School
who are not on the autistic spectrum and therefore did not move to the Colyers site.
In order to address an increase in demand for pupil places for children with severe and profound
learning difficulties, we have opened a 32 place Early Years provision that is a part of Shenstone
School. This provision is accommodated on the Royal Park site. A partnership project with
Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School for a new, co-located 6th Form with Marlborough
School is now under construction and will be able to accommodate 16 Marlborough students on
completion.
Support within the borough for young adults up to 25 with complex educational needs is a further
priority. We are developing solutions with a range of partners including Bexley College and the
Learning Centre and this includes a new build bespoke block in Brampton Road opening January
2015.
The quality of provision on offer impacts on the number of pupils that are attracted to Bexley
schools, particularly in terms of out borough pupils. As reputations rise or fall, existing admission
patterns can quickly change. The opening of new schools and provision of additional capacity in
existing schools can also affect admission patterns and result in changing demand for places at
some schools.
Our plans to ensure our physical environment meets the needs of pupils with special educational
needs and disabilities are explained in our Commissioning Strategy for 2015-2017 as follows:
New provision since 2012
 The former Colyers Primary School has been refurbished and extended to become a state of
the art facility providing 70 new places for children on the autistic spectrum from Key Stage
two up to and including 6th form and re-providing 80 places.
 8 new places have been provided at Upton Primary School for high-performing children on the
autistic spectrum (ASD).
 32 Early Years places have been created at Royal Park Primary School in conjunction with
Shenstone Special School.
Current projects in progress
 10 additional places at Belmont Primary School for autistic children.
 8 places for ASD children at Royal Park Primary School to be delivered as part of the
mainstream expansion work
 16 places at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School for 6th form students from Marlborough
Special School
 8/10 further places at Marlborough Special School
 The New Horizon’s Federation reconfiguring their offer of provision to provide 32 places for
Year 10 and 11 students.
The key challenges that will ensure adequate, high quality special school and specialist provision
in Bexley are:
 Re-locating the pupils that remain on the Woodside Halt Robin Road site to appropriate,
quality accommodation that allows for the delivery of a full curriculum that meets the needs of
these pupils, a delivery of a new SEN unit is currently being developed.
 Ensuring adequate, high quality, places on Bexley schools for the increasing number of young
people that have a diagnosis of Autism. This will be achieved by the development of an Autism
Strategy that will describe the range of needs of pupils seeking places and ensure that Bexley
adjusts provision regularly to meet these needs. It is likely that Bexley will need to deliver
additional Resourced Provision places in mainstream schools.
 Managing the increasing specialist demand for SLD / PMLD places e.g. for teenage boys with
challenging behaviour and for increasing complex medical needs. (Marlborough/Shenstone)
Our strategy therefore should be one of progressing an expansion programme with a level of
caution to ensure we remain sensitive to the potential for further changes in patterns of demand.
We also need to update our information on the school estate and its capacity for more school
places either with or without major expansion works. This is true both for mainstream and Special
Education Needs places. ASD diagnosis is still running at a high level and really needs to be
better understood.
Our aspiration is that pupils who have Special Educational Needs are supported in Mainstream
Schools where possible. Many mainstream schools provide excellent support for pupils who
have a special educational need. There is, however, some disparity across the borough with
some schools being more able and willing to support SEN pupils and some seeking alternative
placements as soon as a pupil’s additional needs are identified. This may be due to a difference
in experience, attitude and knowledge within the schools. We want to share areas of good
practice and knowledge across other schools. A “hub and spoke” model can be developed to
allow the sharing of knowledge and experience within Bexley Schools.
Resourced provisions were reviewed and developed to meet the needs of the SEN pupils in
Bexley with a review of the current resourced provision places taking place during 2013. It was
clear that some resourced provisions are underutilised and had vacancies whilst others were full
to capacity. This reflected the changing profile of SEN in Bexley. Work has been undertaken to
increase the number of commissioned places at resourced provisions that provide for pupils who
have ASD and to change the needs met in other provisions to meet the increased demand for
places for pupils who have ASD. This work will is being further clarified with the introduction of a
“Local Offer” and banded funding. Developments have included:
 Reconfiguration of part of the premises at Belmont School to provide new accommodation for
the pupils at Russell House Resourced Provision. Russell House was based in the old
caretaker’s house at Belmont School but this environment was inadequate. This resourced
provision provides assessment places for older primary school aged pupils who have
emerging complex needs or who have moved into Bexley without a statement/EHCP. It also
has provided a “holding” provision for pupils who are hard to place.
 Refurbishment of the Children’s Centre at Upton Primary School to provide a 6-8 place
resourced unit for pupils who have complex ASD needs. (opened Autumn Term 2014)
 A new 8 place Resourced Provision for children who have Autism will open at Royal Park
Primary School in September 2015.
There has been an increased Demand for Post 16 places; changes to SEN Code of Practice
allow Bexley to support pupils who have a special educational in learning until they are 25. This
will result in an increased demand for post 16 SEN Places. This demand is being met in part in
collaboration with local colleges and employment services with the development of the “Local
College First” Programme. There is also a new 15 place Post 16 provision at Colyers ASD
School that opened in Sept 2014.