Bursted Wood Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
Rapid School Improvement
The Headteacher arrived at Bursted Wood Primary School just before lockdown in 2020. She was tasked with the responsibility of making immediate changes which she certainly has done. Change can present challenges. Our Assessor thought this has been the case at Bursted Wood Primary School reflecting on the challenges of the last year.
The Headteacher created, alongside the School Development Plan (SDP) a number of linked Developing Excellence Plans (DEP). She did this with a view to securing rapid school improvement after the school had gone through a period of decline prior to her arrival. All was going to plan until unexpected circumstances presented a problem that needed to take priority over everything else.
There have been a number of changes to key personnel including a change of Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), two new SENCo Teaching Assistants (TAs) and two Assistant Headteachers have been appointed to the Senior Leadership Team (SLT). The Headteacher and her team are building on previous good practice and developing areas that have been identified for improvement through a whole school audit and recommendations made during a recent Ofsted visit. The Headteacher and her Deputy Headteacher have learned a great deal as a result of recent experiences and are now well prepared to continue on their IQM journey.
Achieving its Objectives
When new staff were appointed, the Inclusion Developing Excellence Plan (DEP) was well underway. The DEP became the focus and enabled the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) provision at Bursted Wood Primary School to get back on track. In October 2021, Ofsted inspected the school and concluded, taking into consideration the circumstances, that Bursted Wood Primary School was a ‘Good’ School. The school immediately took on board the recommendations which Ofsted made.
Leaders at Bursted Wood Primary School decided not to go through the IQM review process in the 2021-2022 academic year because they considered it was in the best interest of the school community to focus on rebuilding capacity in the areas of SEND and leadership through continued provision of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for staff at all levels and more effective engagement with parents. The current targets are informed by this focus. Challenging circumstances did not deter leadership from achieving its objectives but it did delay progress for a moment in time.
An experienced team of leaders and staff ensures that pupils’ welfare is always a high priority. Safeguarding processes and procedures are thorough and are understood by all stakeholders. Staff at all levels receive training and know where they should report any concerns. The Safeguarding Policy is clear and concise and can be found on the school website. Leaders make sure that staff receive appropriate training and know how to identify and report any safeguarding concerns.
Trustees receive at least yearly safeguarding training and have a designated Trustee with responsibility for this area. Our Assessor suggested that the Trustee with this responsibility not only meets with the designated teacher for safeguarding as well as the newly appointed SENCo who is the person who oversees the central register and who keeps the personnel files.
Pupils Know How to Keep Themselves Safe
Pupils know how to keep themselves safe and are aware of risks to their welfare, for instance, when using social media and the internet.
The learning environment and curriculum are adapted to suit the needs of the children. A dyslexia friendly approach is implemented across the school. Teachers differentiate work accordingly, provide specific resources, scaffold tasks for pupils to achieve success, use progressive skills-based success criteria and questioning to challenge thinking and assess understanding in their day-to-day teaching.
Adaptations are made daily for all pupils, not just those with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), for example, targeted questioning, providing specific resources, changing the seating within a classroom or the colour of paper that worksheets are printed on. These requirements are identified by school staff, recommended by professionals or advised by the Inclusion Team. Class teachers reflect and will often implement adaptations which they think will help a pupil in their class.
Classrooms environments are designed to engage and support all children and include personal workstations and ‘calm down’ areas to support behaviour. Peer assessment is encouraged, nurtured, and monitored.
Pupils enjoy a wide range of extra-curricular activities including music, theatre, sport, cooking and choir. Pupils also enjoy taking on responsibilities in school. These include, for instance, becoming members of the ‘One Step Greener’ group which promotes awareness of climate change and environmental issues.
Teachers are Held to Account
Teachers are held to account for pupil progress through performance management and regular progress meetings with senior management. Tracking systems, using prior attainment and standardised assessments, are used to ensure that children are on track and to plan for next steps. Leaders have identified that this is an area that requires some improvement. This is being addressed through measures set out in the SENCo Development Plan and the School Development Plan (SDP).
An Assess, Plan, Do and Review approach is used throughout the school to identify children who may have SEND. Pupils’ current skills and level of knowledge are assessed, learning opportunities are planned and delivered and are then reviewed. The cycle is ongoing. Children who are not making expected progress or are experiencing difficulties, are identified through this process. Parents can also raise any concerns they may have by speaking with their child’s class teacher or the Inclusion Team.
The Headteacher and other members of the Senior Leadership Team (SLT), including the Inclusion Team, are at the gates meeting and greeting parents before and after school and are ready, willing and able to talk with any parents who may have concerns or who need to be signposted to the appropriate member of staff or external agency to talk about a particular issue.
Teaching and learning are the key to effective inclusion. The classroom teachers have responsibility for meeting the needs of all pupils, no matter what their ability or disability. Teaching is generally good throughout the school and the positive impact on pupil outcomes is clear. However, the school is fully aware that they need to do some work in this area and this work has been planned.
Performance management identifies the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) on offer and individuals can request courses if they have a particular interest or training need. The CPD around Quality First Teaching (QFT) is very important because it puts the overall responsibility back to classroom teachers.
Clear Commitment to Inclusion
It was clear to our Assessor that the leadership at Bursted Wood Primary School, including Trustees, has a clear commitment to inclusion. They are determined to provide every child with the opportunities they require to be the best they can be. Furthermore, there is a strong belief in distributed leadership with the intention of empowering staff to make decisions and to lead with confidence when the time is right.
Parent survey results indicated that a small number of parents of Special Educational Needs (SEN) children were not satisfied with the provision for their child. The reason for this has largely been attributed to the loss of key staff in this area.
A clear cycle of information sharing is now in place and prior warning of the communication strategy was shared with parents at the start of the New Year for transparency. Recent indicators suggest that individual communication is improving so the challenge now is to sustain and develop this success through a variety of communication strands.
The parent, to whom our Assessor spoke, has a child with significant SEN needs attending Bursted Wood Primary School. She spoke so very highly of the school and was extremely happy with the progress her child was making at Bursted Wood. She told our Assessor that it was lifechanging for her and her family and what she wanted to happen next was for her child to be able to increase the number of hours she spent at school. She said that, for the first time, she could leave her child and not worry because she trusted that the school has the best interests of her child at heart and, “she is safe here”.
In the lessons our Assessor observed and during learning walks, children were actively engaged in learning. Our Assessor spoke to pupil representatives who sat on the School Council. They clearly understood what their job is and also talked about being a Rights Respecting School. They spoke about their favourite article and discussed the benefits of being an Rights Respecting School. At Bursted Wood Primary School, adults and children work together to give children the best chance to lead happy, healthy lives and to be responsible active citizens.
Our Assessor is confident that Bursted Wood Primary School is now in a much healthier position than it was a year ago. The Headteacher and her newly established team have worked extremely hard to recover and to rebuild. They are aware that there is much to do to get to where they want to be but the Assessor is confident they will get there.
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.
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