• by Dirk Pittard (Principal) from St Wilfrid’s Academy
St Wilfrid’s Academy has recently been accoladed with the IQM National Champion Award in recognition of their outstanding inclusive practice. They are a 125 place alternative provision setting offering KS2 and KS3 pupil assessments, short term intervention placements, and longer-term programmes for KS4 pupils.
As a school they are committed to multi-agency outreach work providing the support and challenge to mainstream colleagues to think outside the box in terms of the way in which they meet the needs of their high tariff students. They have a strong track record in terms of successfully re-integrating pupils back into mainstream schools. As a result of the impact of their outstanding provision they are now supporting other LAs to set up similar task forces based on the St Wilfrid’s model as this approach has been shown to be highly cost effective for the Local Authority and early help agencies.
St Wilfrid’s Academy were invited to take part in an exciting DfE pilot to provide multi-agency support. A multi-agency task force now operates out of St Wilfrid’s, supporting pupils and their families within the community. This efficient, highly effective approach to early-intervention model has had significant impact on pupil’s attendance, well-being, learning outcomes and on their future life chances.