Burlington Infant and Nursery School Retains Flagship School Status

August 28, 2026

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Congratulations to everyone at Burlington Infant and Nursery School on retaining their Flagship School Status. This is a testament to the unwavering commitment, passion, and dedication of staff, governors, parents, and pupils alike.

This achievement reflects not only the outstanding work taking place every day but also the remarkable impact the school continues to have on the lives of its pupils and their families. 

Early Support Matters 

Burlington Infant and Nursery School continues to work on the premise that early intervention is important for removing possible learning barriers and offering an inclusive approach to learning. The intake of the school continues to present challenges and the school is proactive in trying to get ahead of early intervention quickly. This includes assessment of pupils as young as 2 where needed. Close tracking of pupils starts from Nursery and includes home visits to gain a broader picture of any possible barriers to early learning. This approach continues to equip staff with a wealth of information to ensure strong starts in the Early Years. 

Driven By Excellence 

Senior Leaders continue to drive school improvement, setting themselves the highest bar in terms of standards. Alongside this, the parent community is highly supportive of the school in its ambitions for their children. In a meeting with a parent and Governor both spoke at length about the admiration they feel for what the school offers to pupils and how parents are “supported through some of the most difficult circumstances without hesitation.”  

Every Child Valued 

There is a real family feel to this school despite its size. As a result, pupils are “held in mind” by all staff and there is a true sense of shared responsibility and desire to help one another get the best from the pupils. Small steps are openly celebrated amongst staff such as sharing milestones achieved by vulnerable pupils. The Deputy Head teacher for Inclusion said that at Burlington “we do not compare pupils for what they can achieve academically.” Her rationale for this statement came across clearly throughout the day as a belief in “every child is an individual.” 

Learning Without Overload 

The school continues to provide a broad and balanced curriculum which is then made bespoke for pupils who need further intervention. A great deal of time has been spent in researching the content for “task time sessions to ensure that pupils get the opportunity to revisit learning” thus avoiding cognitive overload. Further work this year to embed Chalk AI where simple visuals are created and used consistently with pupils has maintained this attention to minimising cognitive overload in lessons.

Remarkable Inclusive Impact

This visit provided a really valuable insight into the Focus 5 project and how this has progressed. The choice of focus for the next project would seem highly appropriate as a means of meeting the needs of pupils who cannot access mainstream classes. Particularly impressive was how the school has gone about researching and planning for its implementation. This is yet another measure of the extent to which the school will go to offer support to pupils who are also often suffering from multiple disadvantages. It was also delightful to see the continued levels of active engagement across the school. This is largely due to the dedication of this remarkable staff team who are tireless in their pursuit of delivering high quality learning experiences to every pupil regardless of barriers or challenges that they face. 

Find Out More About IQM  

The Inclusion Quality Mark provides schools with a nationally recognised framework for developing and celebrating inclusive practice.     

If your school is interested in achieving the IQM Inclusive School Award, contact the IQM team on 028 7127 7857 or email admin@iqmaward.com.     

To find out more about IQM and request a free information pack, visit www.iqmaward.com.