Alexander McLeod Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Inclusion is Top of the Agenda
Alexander McLeod is a large, three-form entry school, situated in Abbey Wood, Greenwich. Alexander McLeod currently has 580 on roll, serving the diverse catchment area of Abbey Wood. Approximately one third of pupils are disadvantaged. The proportion of pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) is above the national average. One half of the pupil population comes from families whose home language is not English. The School Development Plan (SDP) is on display around the school for all to see.
Alexander McLeod staff, throughout the assessment, discussed and showed evidence of how they provide a dynamic and vibrant environment where every child acquires a high-quality education. All children, staff, parents and the wider stakeholders feel valued and listened to.
Inclusion is at the top of the agenda at Alexander McLeod Primary School. Leaders have carefully planned the curriculum in terms of what the children need to learn which means that, by the time the children leave Alexander McLeod, they will have acquired the knowledge, skills and understanding in key areas of the curriculum.
Ensure All Pupils Achieve
Inclusive practice comes naturally within Alexander McLeod and all learners access a high-quality education; professionals are passionate and understand the school’s ethos and ensure that all pupils achieve and any barriers are removed. There is a strong commitment to promote inclusion for all learners. It was clear it is the people that make Alexander McLeod Primary School special; they talk passionately about the inclusion journey they are on. The school has developed impressively strong working relationships with a wide range of professionals, creating strong partnerships.
The Inclusion Lead has recently been appointed into her role; within her many roles, she oversees SEND, EAL inclusion, pastoral care and behaviour. She did a fantastic job in leading this IQM inspection. The Inclusion Lead was able to articulate the needs of the children and how the school promotes inclusion and is refining the systems that her predecessor had set up. She understands that the school must move with the times and recently introduced an online EAL programme which was greatly received by the children.
In response to the varied needs of the children, the school has developed an excellent range of intervention strategies, which it continually refines and evaluates. There is an absolute determination to break down barriers to learning and to enable children to access the provision. The school offers a range of interventions; our Assessor observed a phonics intervention taking place and a Dyslexia Gold intervention too. The school buys in an art therapist, speech therapist and has Teaching Assistants (TA) trained as Emotional Literacy Support Assistants (ELSA). The school works closely with their outreach service and the local behaviour school.
The school recognised that a lot of children had SEMH needs and could not fit into the mainstream school setting. There were not enough special school places for children with SEMH needs within the borough to attend so the school opened their own ‘provision’. “The school wants to do their best for the children, they want them to achieve everything that they can possibly achieve.”
Considers the Family Circumstances
Our Assessor met with the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Outreach, the Educational Psychologist (EP) and the Speech and Language Therapist (SALT). The school aims to meet the speech, language, literacy and social communication needs of all pupils by providing individual, group or classroom-based support, depending on the needs of the child. The EP is in the school almost one day per week. The EP explained that, “inclusivity is very strong here; it is never just about the child themselves, it is always about working with the family. The school considers the family circumstances”. The school has invested a lot of work in helping the children feel that they belong. Teachers have had training to make them more reflective on how children who are in the Hub or Pear class feel when they come back into their main classroom; making sure that the children feel that they are still part of the school community, even though they spend time in the Hub or Pear class.
The school has been on a journey with the curriculum, completing a lot of work to ensure that they are covering the national curriculum objectives and that the children are able to distinguish between when they are being taught geography and when they are being taught history. There is a lot of evidence of inclusivity in the curriculum.
Whilst planning lessons, there are discussions around ‘windows and mirrors’; the school gives the children not only an opportunity to see themselves and their peers reflected back at them but also an insight into lived experiences which are different from their own. The school uses high quality inclusive core text. The school is now thinking about the topics that they are teaching; teachers are encouraged to think about what else was happening at that time in the world, for instance, if the children are studying World War II, to think about other countries in the Commonwealth and what they were doing during World War II.
Teachers are teaching the children the skills to help them to become both critical thinkers and more inclusive, by looking at bias in the media. “The teachers are driven to make sure that their children achieve and that they see themselves in the world that they live in.”
The school looked closely at the needs of the children and noticed that the children’s language skills, retention of learning and independence, especially in the lower year groups, was undeveloped. From this, an enquiry-based learning approach was introduced to the school. The sessions are designed to be a very rich language-learning environment, to develop inquisitive minds while forming educated opinions. The idea of the approach is about learning over time and no child is left behind. The whole class becomes a collaborative learning team.
Driven by Educational Trips
Our Assessor went to Pear provision which is a highly structured, small group provision with a high ratio of staff to pupil which reflects their high level of need. They observed the children undertaking a range of activities with a focus on social, communication and language skills. Our Assessor observed an integrated approach in the Hub; the children in the Hub were working on activities, the same as those being taught in their mainstream class but, in smaller groups. This ensured that even though the children were in the Hub, their curriculum was not narrowed. This is seen as a short-term intervention and the aim is to get the children back into their mainstream class when they are ready and are equipped with all the skills they will need to cope with being back in their mainstream class.
Displays around the school are purposeful while being very neutral and calming. Classroom displays show the current topic. Displays are consistent around the school. Each class, for example, has an enquiry display which maps the learning journey. This is referred to during lessons which helps children understand what they have done, what they are doing now and what this will lead to. Each classroom has an English Learning Wall which provides both scaffolds and shared or modelled examples of the quality written outcome that the children are working towards. Bounce question frames are displayed in the classrooms to help children build on each other’s ideas.
The curriculum is driven by educational trips. Leaders believe these visits form an integral part of childhood and of growing up and it is their duty to provide these experiences to enrich and deepen the children’s understanding of the topic that they are studying.
Push Their Boundaries
Alexander McLeod Primary School is fortunate to be situated near local woods. The school is working alongside a specialist Forest School Leader to run various activities and programmes for their children throughout the year. During Forest School learning sessions, children are taught safety rules and skills for using equipment and doing activities. This allows them to take risks and push their boundaries in a responsible and controlled way. The children learn about how to respect the natural world and they get the chance to complete memorable activities, such as making soup.
Teaching and support staff work very well together to do their very best for all pupils. “We help children overcome barriers and strive to achieve their goals.” They are valued for their skills and expertise with support staff playing a vital role in the school, leading interventions, supporting in class, providing crucial support for pupils with a range of SEND. They share the common, inclusive vision and they feel they have excellent support and resources to enable them to do their work.
Staff are positive and energetic and are fully committed to the pupils and to the school. One teacher explained, “it is important to look outwards, not being blinkered and sharing good practice”. Another shared her thoughts on differentiation, “differentiation is a strength, not differentiating downwards so that it is at a lower ability, it is more about how the task can be different for all children to access the same learning intention; we are not capping their learning”. Teachers believe that it is paramount that they get to know their children at the beginning of the academic year. They plan lessons which are very visual which benefits all children, not just SEND children. During delivery, teachers think of all children and ensure that they give the children plenty of opportunity for talk. All PowerPoints are on an off-white paper, children with specific needs are considered; it is part of the whole class ethos. “Every child is supported and no child is left out, we are invested in our children.”
To bring the community on board and to make sure that the largest groups are represented and celebrated within the school, the school puts on a lot of community events, for instance, ‘Light up the sky’, a celebration of Diwali. The school carries out a range of cultural hybrid celebrations, such as ‘Feast of Eid’ and to make it more inclusive, it included food from around the world. “Everyone is invested in not just the children but also the whole community.”
Incredibly Supportive
Our Assessor sat in the dining room to have lunch with the junior Governors. While at the dining table, the children, who were very articulate when talking about the school, said the following about their school, “we do not learn just about England; we learn about all the different countries that we come from”. Another child explained, “there are a lot of opportunities to do things outside of school, such as table tennis tournaments”.
One child said, “the school is very diverse and lots of children attend with different backgrounds, some people are here temporarily, either way we are a lovely school with a lot of learning opportunities”. The children excitedly spoke about all the educational visits they had been on. A child in Year 6, said he had an opportunity to go to Paris for the day; next time the children will be staying overnight in Paris.
Our Assessor met with two parents face-to-face and spoke to one parent over the phone. They expressed that the school is incredibly supportive of their children’s needs and the communication between school and parents is excellent. A parent explained, “the school has been brilliant; staff are very approachable and easy to communicate with. The school is very quick at dealing with any parental concerns”. Parents have attended SEN coffee mornings and dyslexia workshops; this provided practical strategies/tips and gave parents the opportunity to network and offer support to each other.
The school works closely with the SEN Governor who plays a very supportive role in this aspect of the school’s work. The Governor is also a parent of children at the school and she explained the excellent opportunities the school has put in place for children to develop their skills and self-confidence, including school journeys and the Forest School initiative. The school held a ‘Meet the SEN Governor’ coffee morning during the summer term and this was greatly received by a lot of parents.
Our Assessor really appreciated the warm welcome given by staff and children in the school. There was so much evidence to support the school’s positive work on inclusion. Throughout the day, our Assessor saw how much it meant to staff to ensure that the needs of individuals are met. The staff’s reflective and thoughtful approach ensures that the school is warm and welcoming and aspires to do the best for each child.
Find out more about the IQM Inclusive School Award
If your school is interested in obtaining the IQM Inclusive School Award or you wish to talk to a member of the IQM team please telephone:
028 7127 7857 (9.00 am to 5.00 pm)
or email: [email protected] for further details.