Education and Skills

Bradford’s Vision for Inclusion

Inclusion is not a simple concept but a continuous process concerned with identifying and removing barriers to the presence, participation and achievement of all children and young people – with an emphasis on those learners who may be vulnerable and in need.

• Presence is concerned with whether children and young people attend school regularly and arrive punctually and safely. It is concerned also with whether they are offered full access to a broad and balanced curriculum with their peers and full opportunities to be included in extra curricular activities. This will require a sufficiently flexible and appropriate learning environment within a continuum of provision. It should take account of the preferences of parents / carers and children for attendance at a local school or college where that is the most appropriate setting to secure their participation and achievement.
• Participation is concerned with the quality of children’s educational experiences, their self-esteem and sense of self-worth, and the extent to which they ‘feel that they belong’. It also relates to the perception of parents / carers and children about the service that they receive and whether their views, beliefs and values are taken into account.
• Achievement is concerned with the full range of learning outcomes of children and young people across the whole curriculum, both inside and outside the classroom. In this way, ‘achievement’ is defined much more broadly than ‘academic attainment’ and cannot be measured by tests and examinations alone.

Accessibility

This Accessibility Strategy sets out Bradford LEA’s aims to increase over time the accessibility of all maintained schools, including pupil referral units and nurseries, to disabled pupils and adults in a phased approach by November 2007. The strategy has 3 specific strands:

• Curriculum: Increasing the extent to which disabled pupils or prospective pupils can participate in the school curriculum,
• Physicality: Improving the physical environment of schools to increase the extent to which disabled pupils can take advantage of education and associated services,
• Information: Improving the provision of information in a wide range of formats for disabled pupils