Barrowford Primary School in Lancashire has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
A diverse and highly inclusive school
Barrowford Primary is a diverse and highly inclusive, two-form-entry primary school with 348 pupils on roll. Although there is no nursery attached to the school, there are an increasing number of nursery settings close to the school which act as main feeders into the Reception classes.
The school is situated in the village of Barrowford, but most of its pupils live in the deprived areas in Nelson. The deprivation is generational, with many poorly educated families. This is combined with an increasing number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi families who are arriving straight from their home country, or via Spain, or Portugal, with little, or no, English. There are high numbers of SEND pupils, with around 30% of pupils on the SEND Profile and 6% of the pupils on roll have EHCPs. The school has recently received funding to establish a Local Authority SEMH unit on-site which is known as ‘The Gap’. The number of pupils who receive Pupil Premium funding is rising.
The school manages extremely high levels of mobility. In 2019, 43% of the pupils who started in Reception had left before Y6 and this level of mobility is increasing. Arrivals have significantly lower ability than leavers and join with a greater severity of SEND needs. This leaves the staff with less time than most schools to work on raising standards for these pupils, especially at KS2. In addition, many pupils move on and tend to leave with higher ability than the cohort they leave behind.
Pupils make good progress
Nevertheless, the school regards this level of diversity as its strength and is willing to take on this ongoing challenge. Newly arrived pupils settle very well due to the way that they conduct transition induction, and the pupils make good progress. Pupils join Reception with skills below those typical for their age but those who stay until the end of Year 6 achieve higher than similar pupils nationally. Transient pupils often make outstanding progress from their starting points. This points to very good progress across the school.
During an Ofsted inspection in March 2022 the school continued to be judged as Good.
The school has a strong Senior Leadership Team which is led by a highly effective and experienced Headteacher. It was evident through discussions that the team meet regularly and are constantly looking at new initiatives and ways to support both staff and pupils in creating an inclusive environment.
Everyone met during the visit fully understood what inclusive practice involves and were willing to share their own experiences and gave examples of this in practice.
It was clear from the visit how hard everyone has worked to create a wonderful learning environment.
The school’s learning motto is: ‘Learn to Love, Love to Learn’ which is displayed in the hall. The whole school community of staff, parents and pupils were clearly very proud of the inclusive ethos and practices and were keen to share what it meant to them. The pupils are all extremely happy and engaged in learning, with their comments about the school and the teachers reflecting their love of the school. It was a pleasure to witness the pupils engaged in learning and playing environments on the learning walk.
Parents have trust in the school
Parents clearly have trust in the school and the strong SLT. During the meeting with the parents, they discussed how the school had supported them incredibly well during the Covid lockdowns by providing live lessons and making home visits to check on their well-being.
Inclusion was reinforced during the learning walk. It was clear to see how the SEMH Provision is becoming very much part of the school. Leaders encourage pupils within the provision to integrate with their mainstream class when appropriate and purposeful.
SLT have developed a wonderful Inclusion Team who meet regularly to focus on specific agendas linked to the school development plan. The school has appointed a social worker who was highly knowledgeable about the emotional needs of the whole community. Her passion was palpable, as well as her love for the role. She meets regularly with the Inclusion Team to provide additional support. In addition to an Inclusion Manager and two SENCos, the team also includes a Play Therapist who offers play therapy, drawing and talking and sand therapy sessions. The members of the Inclusion Team all have different expertise and skills to share. They work collaboratively together and feel fully supported by the Head and the SLT.
The Teaching Assistants were extremely praiseworthy of the SLT and the opportunities they have to develop their own career paths to create positive outcomes for all pupils.
Calm learning environment
The whole environment is carefully managed to create a calm learning environment by thinking carefully of ways to reduce sensory overstimulation and support pupils to be self-regulated. All displays are created on a hessian background purposefully to support this ethos. The furniture does not introduce over stimulating bright colours but rather has wood effect surfaces. The organisation of the classrooms as well as the structure of the outdoor space is commendable.
It is clear leadership qualities of the SLT have played a major role in creating such a reflective and continually developing school.
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: info@iqmaward.com for further details.
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