Education Accessibility Strategy

Our driving ambition is to deliver the best outcomes we can for all children, young people and their families. To support this ambition we are consulting on two documents:

Education Accessibility Strategy 2024-27

Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 (the “Act”) places a duty on the local authority to prepare a written accessibility strategy relating to the schools it is responsible for (community, foundation and voluntary controlled schools). It also places a duty on responsible bodies of schools (i.e. governing bodies and trusts) to prepare a written accessibility plan.

The Act stipulates that the purpose of an accessibility strategy is to:

  1. increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the schools’ curriculums;
  2. improve the physical environment of the schools to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can make best use of the opportunities available at the schools; and
  3. improve delivery of accessible information to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled.

The Education Accessibility Strategy 2024-27 outlines how Kent County Council (KCC) as the Local Authority for maintained schools currently supports the three areas outlined above and what steps will be taken to further improve accessibility.

School Access Initiative – Policy and Procedure

KCC has a capital funding stream, the Schools Access Initiative (SAI), to enable it to improve the physical accessibility of those maintained mainstream schools for which it has capital responsibility (community, foundation and voluntary controlled schools).

Funding is used to improve accessibility for individuals or groups of children and young people with disabilities to enable them to attend a local maintained mainstream school. We use the funding to ensure as far as reasonably practicable at least one school in each district is able to meet the diverse needs of children, and to address wider accessibility issues. SAI funding is also used to make adaptations to support individual children where this is represents an appropriate use of public funds.

Community, voluntary controlled and foundation schools maintained by KCC will have access to the funding. Capital funding for voluntary aided schools, academies and free schools is via either their responsible body’s School Capital Allocation (SCA) or through a Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) application to the Department for Education.

The policy and procedure outlines what will be funded, the level of capital that schools will be expected to provide themselves, how a request for SAI funding can be made and the decision making process.

Have your say

Before any decisions are made, we want to hear your views on the Education Accessibility Strategy and the Schools Access Initiative Policy and Procedure.

Please, tell us what you think by completing the online questionnaire on this page. Alternatively, you can find the Word version in the Documents section which you can download and email to us (or print and post). You are also welcome to simply email your views.

If you would like hard copies of the documents or the questionnaire, please email lee.round@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 412309.

What happens next

After the consultation closes, feedback from the consultation, alongside the Equality Impact Assessment, is expected to be presented to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 21 November 2024 before a decision is made by the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills.

We will publish a consultation report on this webpage, summarising the consultation responses. An email will also be sent to those who complete the online questionnaire and select that they want to be kept informed of KCC consultations.

Our driving ambition is to deliver the best outcomes we can for all children, young people and their families. To support this ambition we are consulting on two documents:

Education Accessibility Strategy 2024-27

Schedule 10 of the Equality Act 2010 (the “Act”) places a duty on the local authority to prepare a written accessibility strategy relating to the schools it is responsible for (community, foundation and voluntary controlled schools). It also places a duty on responsible bodies of schools (i.e. governing bodies and trusts) to prepare a written accessibility plan.

The Act stipulates that the purpose of an accessibility strategy is to:

  1. increase the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the schools’ curriculums;
  2. improve the physical environment of the schools to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can make best use of the opportunities available at the schools; and
  3. improve delivery of accessible information to disabled pupils of information which is readily accessible to pupils who are not disabled.

The Education Accessibility Strategy 2024-27 outlines how Kent County Council (KCC) as the Local Authority for maintained schools currently supports the three areas outlined above and what steps will be taken to further improve accessibility.

School Access Initiative – Policy and Procedure

KCC has a capital funding stream, the Schools Access Initiative (SAI), to enable it to improve the physical accessibility of those maintained mainstream schools for which it has capital responsibility (community, foundation and voluntary controlled schools).

Funding is used to improve accessibility for individuals or groups of children and young people with disabilities to enable them to attend a local maintained mainstream school. We use the funding to ensure as far as reasonably practicable at least one school in each district is able to meet the diverse needs of children, and to address wider accessibility issues. SAI funding is also used to make adaptations to support individual children where this is represents an appropriate use of public funds.

Community, voluntary controlled and foundation schools maintained by KCC will have access to the funding. Capital funding for voluntary aided schools, academies and free schools is via either their responsible body’s School Capital Allocation (SCA) or through a Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) application to the Department for Education.

The policy and procedure outlines what will be funded, the level of capital that schools will be expected to provide themselves, how a request for SAI funding can be made and the decision making process.

Have your say

Before any decisions are made, we want to hear your views on the Education Accessibility Strategy and the Schools Access Initiative Policy and Procedure.

Please, tell us what you think by completing the online questionnaire on this page. Alternatively, you can find the Word version in the Documents section which you can download and email to us (or print and post). You are also welcome to simply email your views.

If you would like hard copies of the documents or the questionnaire, please email lee.round@kent.gov.uk or call 03000 412309.

What happens next

After the consultation closes, feedback from the consultation, alongside the Equality Impact Assessment, is expected to be presented to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 21 November 2024 before a decision is made by the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills.

We will publish a consultation report on this webpage, summarising the consultation responses. An email will also be sent to those who complete the online questionnaire and select that they want to be kept informed of KCC consultations.