Accessibility audit of school routes

ServiceProject-ready

With staff and students who use wheelchairs or have other access needs, measure ramps, step heights, door widths and route times around the school, and report problems.

Where the maths comes in

Measurement, gradients, time comparisons and clear maps.

Which CAS strand it fits

Service: Unpaid, voluntary work with others that also has a learning benefit for you.

Your CAS coordinator decides how an experience counts at your school. Strand summaries are provisional (our words, being checked).

How to run it

Plan the audit with the people affected and a member of staff.
Measure and time routes systematically.
Calculate gradients and compare with guidance the school uses.
Present a prioritised list to the school.

This can grow into a CAS project if your CAS coordinator agrees: see planning a maths CAS project.

How to evidence it

Audit plan
Measurements and maps
Response from the school

Date everything and keep it in your school's CAS portfolio as you go. More on what counts as evidence.

Reflection prompts

Questions to think about, not answers to copy. Write your reflections in your own words, in whatever form your school accepts.

How did people with access needs shape the audit?
What did measuring show that you had never noticed?
How did you prioritise what to report?

Learning outcomes this often gives a chance to show

Ethics. What choice in this experience had a right and a wrong way to do it? Whose interests did you have to protect (privacy, safety, fairness), and how?
Global significance. How does the local need you worked on connect to a wider issue? What did you learn about that issue that you did not know before?
Collaboration. What did someone else bring that you could not have done alone? Describe a disagreement or a mix-up in the team. How was it resolved?

Whether you meet an outcome depends on what you actually do and reflect on, not on the idea. Outcome labels are our short summaries, being checked.

Safety and ethics

Involve affected people as partners and respect their privacy.
Follow staff instructions in areas such as stairs and car parks.

Agree every plan with your CAS coordinator first. Safety and ethics for maths CAS.

Need the statistics? The statistics guide (written for the IA) explains tests and charts step by step. Keep CAS and your IA separate.