Most Inclusive Practice Across a School
Barnton Community Nursery and Primary School
Judges comments: We were impressed with the range of resources and provision despite challenging circumstances. It feels inclusion is embedded throughout and great to see clear community involvement.
Context
As a school of opportunity, we deliver the best possible education and experiences for all of our children. Our aim is to inspire our children, to believe in themselves and to achieve their full potential. Our learning environment reflects our high standards. Learning inside and outside the classroom provides children with the knowledge, skills and understanding to ensure social and academic success.
Barnton Community Nursery and Primary School (BCNPS) is a two-form entry primary school with a resource provision for children with moderate to complex learning needs. We are the founding academy within Weaver Trust, and we welcome children of all ages and abilities.
Partnership with Parents
Little Hill Primary School
Judges comments: Excellent partnership work fully embedded across the school, we can see the impact of parent partnership. We liked that the entry told us what they did with parent feedback. Impressed with the direct access to services for parents.
Context
Little Hill Primary School is a very well thought of community primary school situated in Wigston, Leicester. It caters for a housing estate as well as a good proportion of pupils from outside of catchment. It has approximately 420 pupils on role.
Our key principles for supporting pupils with additional needs are:
o a commitment to inclusivity and a celebration of diversity
o Putting the child and family at the heart of all our processes
Our school has an excellent reputation in Leicestershire for inclusivity and has been praised by many members of Leicestershire County Councils’ children, family and education services for its outward looking attitude and the good relationships its fosters with parents and the community, as well as outside agencies. Due to the level of expertise at our school, and our inclusive attitude, we have a high proportion of children with complex needs receiving personalised and bespoke provision. Currently we have 3% of pupils with Education, Health and Care plans, or in the process of completing them. We consistently go above and beyond what many mainstream primary schools offer and take our commitment to ‘best endeavours’ very seriously. In our experience parents of pupils with high needs are very informed and good at discerning schools that are going to be able to provide the high quality education that their children need, and they have told us that our school stood out for them.
Most Innovative SEND Intervention
Rowdeford School
Judges comments: Amazing use of outdoor learning environment to meet needs. A creative programme making the full use of the grounds and evidencing the impact.
Context
Rowdeford is a secondary (11 – 16 years), co-educational, Special School for students with complex learning difficulties. Some have additional sensory impairment, physical difficulties or medical needs.
Rowdeford School is committed to providing for the needs of each individual pupil through a values-based curriculum delivered by an expert, experienced and dedicated team of staff. The pupils are grouped in small, well-staffed classes and provided with high quality learning and teaching opportunities, including Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC). The positive atmosphere at the school is part of Rowdeford’s belief that we need to nurture pupils’ self-confidence and self-esteem as well as helping pupils to develop their independence. We are a specialist school for pupils with Communication and Interaction difficulties, with all the additional resources, staffing and expertise required to support this. We pride ourselves on our caring, supportive and happy atmosphere.
Best use of External Professional
Woodbridge High School
Judges comments: Great to see a professional being used holistically, having an impact across the board, not just a few pupils.
Context
Woodbridge High School is a mainstream secondary school in the London Borough of Redbridge. There are 1720 students on roll. In ACORN terms it has one of highest percentages within the Borough of most ‘‘hard-pressed’ profiles. There are 32 students with EHCPs and another 200 students on SEN Support. 27% of the students qualify for Free School Meals. The school supports some of the most disadvanted students in the Borough.
In a recent audit (February 2019) the Redbridge School Improvement Advisors described the Inclusion department as ‘exemplary’ in terms of its support structures, policies and practice. The school was highly commended by the LA advisors and they closely identified the detail of our quality assured and effective interventions.
Excellence in Special Schools
Avalon School and Meadow View Farm School
Judges comments: We were impressed by the raising of funds, unintentionally at first, through clubs and projects. Very impressive approach, well done.
Context
Avalon School is a small Special School in Street, Somerset. We have 51 students across KS3,4 and 5 with a wide range of abilities and needs. We employ 9 teachers and 58 support staff.
Ofsted (January 2018) tells us we are a warm and welcoming school where pupils enjoy their school experience. They also tell us we are a Good school.
Avalon Special School is focused on ensuring our young people are prepared for adulthood. We do this through the development of academic, personal and social, communication and independence skills. Working to ensure, where appropriate, students move towards achieving achieve paid employment, independent living, good health, friendships, relationships and inclusion in their community.
Our partnership with parent/carers, together with a flexible, personalised approach, are key to enabling our pupils to achieve as highly as they do. We have been working with parents /carers helping them to describe what a good life looks like for their child/young person and identifying steps towards this.
Manor View Farm School
Judges comments: The use of emotional intelligence to replace a traditional behaviour approach we felt was innovative. A well evidenced entry.
Entry
Meadow View Farm School caters for 36 pupils. Each child has an EHCP with the primary needs being SEMH or Communication and Interaction. One third of our children are LAC or post-adoption. The school structure comprises of four ‘mainstream’ style classes that follow the National Curriculum alongside the outdoor opportunities of the farm and forest school with integral structured and incidental opportunities to develop social, emotional and mental health strategies. We have created a Bespoke Learning Provision (BLP) which was established to meet the needs of some children with very complex needs. These children were unable to access the ‘mainstream’ learning environments successfully after a sustained period of time given to enable them to ‘settle in’. The BLP’s primary function is to help the children to learn the skills they need to manage their high levels of anxieties and enable them to begin to trust in the adults to help them to co-regulate. The school has a system for success rather than a traditional behaviour policy, a system that is built on high expectations and trust-where staff, children and their families work alongside each other to anticipate and prepare the children for day to day life; we recognise all elements of mental health and how they can impact on a person’s success and remove all the pressures seen in standard systems of consequence and rewards and the benefits are outstanding. Meadow View Farm School has worked tirelessly to refine and develop a model that can be, and has been, adopted by mainstream schools, and the Success Model has been celebrated nationally and internationally.
Inclusion in Further Education
Oldham College
Judges comments: We felt that this was a well-evidenced entry with data and supporting documentation backing up every point. The approach is college-wide, not just a focus on SEND or additional needs.
Context
Oldham College is an ambitious and inclusive college, which is proud to be a unique provider of technical and professional education in Oldham.
We are in an area with more challenges than many other regional and national areas in terms of deprivation (56% across Oldham) and education and skills levels (only 56% at Level 2 or above in Oldham). The levels of deprivation across the borough are ranked among the highest in the country.
The College has students from over 50 countries, speaking over 50 different languages with almost half of the College population coming from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.
The number of learners in Oldham’s schools achieving five GCSEs at grades 9 to 4, including maths and English, although improving, is below the national rate.
Just under half of all learners enter the college without having achieved any qualifications in English and mathematics.
Inclusion into Employment
Derwen College
Judges comments: So touching to read these stories – the difference this college is making to the lives of students and their families is immense. The support being offered to get their students into employment is inspirational.
Context
Derwen College, in Oswestry, is a national specialist college for young people aged from 16 to 25 with learning difficulties and disabilities. The college focus is on employability and development of independent living and social skills. There are more than 180 people enrolled on programmes from local authorities spanning the UK, including nearly 100 residential students. Students are based at the college’s main site near Oswestry, in Shropshire, and at three smaller satellite sites. Learners follow vocational pathways in Hospitality and Housekeeping, Horticulture, Retail and Creative Arts with work experience opportunities and relevant qualifications delivered by expert teaching staff.
Derwen College offers on-site work placements for students in its commercial areas which are open to the public. These include a restaurant, café, print shop, garden centre and shop. The college also runs a three-bedroom training hotel supported by hotel chain Premier Inn.
Derwen College has received three consecutive ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted gradings and has been shortlisted in the Times Education Supplement Awards prestigious Specialist FE Provider of the Year category for 2018 and 2019.
