Schools and learning

Governors with Disabilities

Hertfordshire County Council is committed to the principle of equal opportunities for all. It encourages and welcomes members of underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, to serve as governors in its schools.

Schools and the County Council share responsibility for ensuring that all members of the community have access to premises, services and facilities. Both are required to have in place, and to publish, a Disability Equality Scheme to address any obstacles to that access, including adapting premises and providing written material in suitable formats. Schools will make reasonable and relevant adjustments in anticipation of the commonest forms of disability where required.

In the first instance, therefore, a school will seek to address the needs of an existing or potential governor from within its own resources as part of its Disability Equality Scheme.

In specific exceptional cases where the requisite adaptations or additional support is beyond the capacity of the school to provide they will be funded by the County Council. Any individual circumstances that require special provision will be treated as a priority.

Advice and help when required is available from:

Governance
01438 843082

and

School Access – Property
Keith Hutt
01992 555743


Further Guidance for Specific Types of Disability

Visual

At the ‘milder’ end of the range of visual impairments the provision of documents in large print is likely to suffice, but schools need to be aware that contrast of colours can either assist or hinder visibility.

Special arrangements are likely to be needed for governors who are registered as blind. Schools should assess, through discussion with the governor concerned, what forms of assistance would enable them to participate fully in the work of the governing body. If this required significant additional cost the matter should be referred to the LA (Keith Hutt, in the first instance). In some cases it may be necessary to notify CSF Communications to ensure that relevant CSF staff are alerted.

Auditory

A governor who has a severe hearing difficulty may use lip-reading to follow what is being said. It will be important for other governors to be made aware of the need to ensure that their faces and mouths can always be seen by the governor when they speak, ideally by facing him/her. They may need to make other adjustments to the way they speak and, in particular, avoid speaking at the same time as one another.

If a deaf governor uses a ‘signer’ s/he should be invited to attend meetings. This too will require adjustments to the way other governors normally speak. Occasional short breaks in the course of the meeting will be necessary, particularly if the agenda is long.

Some schools have forms of amplification fitted in some rooms and it may be helpful for governing body meetings to be held in one of them. However, if it was necessary either to provide microphones to pick up all governors‘ contributions or to adapt the system in some other way the school would need to refer to the LA (again, Keith Hutt, in the first instance).

Mobility

Most schools now have access, both into and within their premises, that is suitable for people with mobility difficulties, including those in wheelchairs. Thought should be given to whether the room normally used for governing body meetings is suitable (e.g. How far is it from the entrance? Do steps have to be negotiated?). As with other forms of disability any necessary adaptations requiring significant expenditure should be discussed with the LA (Keith Hutt, in the first instance).