Agenda item

Cabinet Member – Councillor Cemlyn Williams

To consider a report on the above.

To accept the report, noting the observations made during the meeting.

Submitted - the report of the Cabinet Member for Education noting the current position regarding school accessibility outlining how this situation had been reached and then looking at the way forward.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. 

Individual members submitted the following observations:-

·         It was suggested that parents were choosing to send their disabled children to the local community school, rather than the designated school, if at all possible, and therefore the progress in the field since 2017 was welcomed.

·         It was noted that the report referred to ramps and lifts, however disability was  very varied, and it was asked what provision the Council had for different disabilities or conditions such as autism, learning disability, sensory impairment etc.

·         The use of contrasting colours on the stairs in Ysgol Botwnnog was welcomed.

·         It was noted that assurances were needed, before sending a child to a designated school, that no stone would be left unturned to see whether it could be affordable to allow the child to receive education on his/her own doorstep.

·         That the accessibility adaptations had a positive influence on the entire school, in addition to the children with learning needs or disabilities.

In response to the observations and questions from members, it was noted:- 

·         The main obstacle for many schools was the expensive physical work, and that some things were more within reach of the reasonable adaptations schools would be expected to carry out. 

·         There were adaptations other than the physical ones and it was noted in the report that was part of the accessibility strategy e.g. the collaboration between parents and pupils and schools in terms of making amendments to the curriculum / timetable and changing the use of rooms so that every pupil had access to as full a curriculum as possible. 

·         In terms of determining the type of physical adaptations required, the Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion (ALN&I) officers had been asked to consider situations and individual pupils' needs and to make recommendations on this basis.

·         The Department did not have the right to refer any child to a designated school, and it was the parents' choice as to which school they wished to send their children.  The vast majority wished to send their children to their local school and it would be possible to look at providing parents with more information in terms of what facilities were available at different schools.

·         That parents were part of the conversation on the possibility of carrying out adaptations in a general school.  The ALN&I Service Team dealt with pre-school age pupils, and knew of pupils who would be moving in, and conversations were taking place between parents and the central services.   Therefore, parents had a free choice, all the better if that choice was based on information about the nature of the school(s) they were interested in sending their children to.

·         It was easy to forget the positive impact of the changes on the whole school, and it was important that children, no matter what their needs, were able to attend school without feeling any different to their peers, and were included in everything.

RESOLVED to accept the report, noting the observations made during the meeting.