Southend-on-Sea City Council Accessibility Strategy 2025 to 2028

Vision for Accessibility, feedback by stakeholders and the law

These pages contain Southend-on-Sea's strategy for the inclusion of all children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in educational settings (July 2025).

This strategy will ensure compliance with WCAG 2.2 AA standards and will be published in accessible format on the Council website. Schools must review their Accessibility Plans every three years with annual updates.

Vision for Accessibility

In Southend-on-Sea, we are dedicated to ensuring that every child and young person with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) has fair and equal access to learning, participation, and achievement. This strategy is shaped by real experiences and built on the principle that accessibility must be embedded from the outset, not added later, so that every pupil can thrive in their school or educational setting.

Key Highlights

  • purpose: explains the importance of accessibility and outlines the legal duties and local policies that all education settings in Southend-on-Sea must follow
  • co-designed with the community: informed by feedback from key stakeholders. This was over 90 families, children and young people (CYP). As well as professionals and representatives from Southend SEND Independent Forum (SSIF), the Southend Youth Voice Team, Education Access Team, Essex Partnership University Trust (EPUT), Children's Social Care, Visual Impairment team, Local Offer Team, Education Placements and Transport Service, Property and Estate Management, and the Multi Schools Council Southend (engagement took place in May to July 2025)
  • scope: applies to all schools and educational settings (hereafter referred to as schools) in Southend-on-Sea. While non-Local Authority maintained schools are not legally bound by the same duties, they are expected to align with the Strategy's principles
  • support from the Local Authority: schools will be helped by Southend-on-Sea City Council to improve accessibility and align efforts with the city's Special Educational Needs and Disaibilities (SEND) Strategy
  • timeline: the strategy will be published by September 2025, shaped directly by key stakeholder feedback. It will be reviewed annually to monitor outcomes for CYP

Key feedback by stakeholders

You told us:

Families:

  • Physical Education (PE): not all pupils can fully take part. While 69.8% try all PE activities, 65.4% can't access PE clubs outside the curriculum, and 76% would like to but can't
  • school trips: 61.5% of students go on trips, showing that many are missing out
  • extra-curricular activities: some pupils don't always take part in activities; this is up to 20% for swimming
  • unstructured times: for lunchtimes, 67% of pupils responded positively however difficulties are experienced because some must go home, changes, supervision, food choices, or a challenging environment
  • sensory needs: these are generally well supported
  • themed events: events like non-uniform days can be difficult for some pupils

Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs):

Barriers include:

  • financial constraints
  • staffing and capacity issues
  • lack of resources
  • changes in parental involvement
  • risk assessments
  • Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEPs)

The Law

Under the Equality Act 2010, Southend-on-Sea City Council and all education providers have a legal duty to support children and young people with disabilities.

Key Legal Duties:

  • Accessibility strategy - Schools and settings must follow the Council's Accessibility Strategy to improve access to:
    • the curriculum
    • the physical environment
    • information
  • Reasonable adjustments - Schools must make adjustments that are:
    • proactive – planned in advance, not reactive and by engaging the family
    • embedded in policies, routines, and relational practice systems
    • inclusive – involving support, aids, and specialist resources
  • Accessibility plans - these should address physical access, though this is separate from reasonable adjustments
  • Health conditions and SEND - CYP with long-term health conditions may fall under both SEND and disability definitions
  • SEN information report - Schools must describe their reasonable adjustments in this report, as required by the SEND Code of Practice (0 to 25)
  • The Local Authority (LA) role - the Council must maintain an Accessibility Strategy aligned with the city's SEND Strategy

Funding to deliver on the key requirements

Schools are expected to fund reasonable adjustments in line with the Equality Act from within their budget. This Duty applies to all pupils with a disability, whether or not they have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Schools receive funding through a notional SEN budget which enables them to provide additional support for some pupils that need it, of up to £6,000 per pupil, per year. Resourcing is also for a few pupils that have an EHCP.

Councils receive no dedicated access funding for adaptation, improvement or alteration at any schools.