Crosshall Junior School in Cambridgeshire has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Warmth, Kindness, Aspiration and Achievement
Crosshall Junior School is a four-form entry junior school within St Neots. Upon entry, you are instantly made to feel welcome. It has an atmosphere of warmth, kindness, aspiration and achievement; adults and children are friendly, enthusiastic when talking with you and focussed and engaged when working and learning.
The school’s building is divided into year group areas. The classrooms are open plan and each year group area has its own breakout area. The spaces are well organised and resources are readily available. The classrooms utilise displays to assist in learning and children actively utilise these displays and the knowledge and skills of other children around them to bolster their learning.
One child explained, “if you don’t understand something, you use three before me {‘me’ referring to the teacher}. You think, look around for something to help you, ask a friend and then ask a teacher.” Another child said, “I learn a lot from what is around me, I learned all my pronouns from the walls…everything is here to help me”.
The school benefits from a music room and performance room. On the day of assessment, children were having rock band lessons in this area. The school clearly values arts; on the afternoon of the review, the school had a music performance for year 6 children delivered by the local music service.
Enriches the Curriculum
The example of the music performance is just one of the many opportunities at Crosshall that enriches the curriculum. For example, on the day of assessment, Year 6 children could choose to attend the music performance or they could also go to a talk from a Premier League footballer visiting the school.
The school puts on many visits from people who are successful in their jobs and roles (such as a zookeeper and photographer), showing the children the possibilities and opportunities that are available to them in life and importantly showing them that all these people possess the same qualities in obtaining success: determination, perseverance and passion. The school tries to understand children’s passions and align guest speakers based on these.
The school places high emphasis on developing the wellbeing of its young people and that is why they employ three wellbeing and learning mentors who are responsible for ensuring children are supported with their mental health and are therefore ready to learn. These mentors have a dedicated space with sensory area and dining room (where they hold their breakfast club). This space ensures they can cater for the needs of vulnerable learners, offering a place where they can emotionally regulate so that they feel ready to go to their main lessons.
Fantastic Outdoor Space
The school has a fantastic outdoor space which incorporates an outdoor gym, garden area and adventure playground. At playtimes, adults create zoned activities (outside and within covered areas) such as basketball, reading, board games and beat the goalie. Children have a wide variety of activities to access and are extremely happy and engaged.
Lunches at Crosshall are very happy ones, due to the wide variety of activities the children have on offer and due to a fantastic catering set up in the hall. The children can bring their own pack lunch or choose from an extensive cafeteria style menu, which is of extremely high quality.
Parents can also book in and have lunch with their children at lunchtimes; it is often fully booked. Parents explained that the food was excellent and they loved the opportunity to sit and be with their child and meet some of their friends and teachers. This really simple act of inviting parents in for lunches at a minimal cost served to not only demonstrate how welcoming they are but also how proud they are of their lunchtimes and how they want to celebrate this with families. The school has a genuine affection for its parents and carers and the role they play collectively in developing the children with the school.
At lunchtime our Assessor sat with a group of parents who were having lunch with their children. They were asked what they liked about the school and their responses were often based around the school having a family feel, that they felt valued and that the school worked closely with them to bring out the best in their children. One parent explained, “the school is approachable…both my children have needs and they have worked with me and done all they can to cater for them. They are very inclusive.”
Breadth, Depth and Progression
The curriculum at Crosshall has breadth, depth and progression. Curriculum maps across subjects clearly show breadth and children’s books evidence their deepening understanding in subjects. Books across year groups show progression and adaptation. The marking system the school uses is purposeful and shows how children who do not fully understand or have misconceptions are picked up prior to the next lesson to review the learning before moving forward.
Children were highly engaged in their lessons and motivated to learn. On the day of assessment, our Assessor witnessed a variety of subjects being delivered. Children listened to their teacher and each other respectfully and engaged in tasks they were undertaking enthusiastically. They were able to talk about their learning and could articulate what they needed to do to improve.
One year 6 class was designing games for their school fair. They were excited to create something with purpose and because of its real-world application and were able to articulate what they needed to do to make changes to an original design. The school ensures the learning is memorable and, as a result, ensures the children are given opportunities for learning visits. These were a highlight for the children and they often spoke about these.
One child explained, “we go on loads of school visits…we did a trip to York and stayed there and went to a chocolate factory” another explained, “I love the learning here, it’s really fun and we get to go on lots of trips to places to learn more about what we are doing.”
Relationships between all adults and children at Crosshall are incredibly positive. Children and adults speak to each other with mutual respect. Children commented that adults are kind. Adults trust children and children are put into positions of responsibility: across all classes, our Assessor was met by class ambassadors who introduced their class and talked about their learning. In year 6 children apply for responsibilities across school and undertake these leadership roles throughout the year; for example, some children take on the role of librarian and organise the books within the school library.
Trust is a Key Feature
Trust is a key feature of the school. Children are trusted to undertake responsibilities and as adults who are trusted to work with autonomy, supported within this. Staff like working here and retention and stability of staff members is testament to this. Leaders support staff to work within certain evidence-based approaches but staff are able to adapt within this framework to suit the needs of their learners. The most important thing at Crosshall is doing what is right for the child and the only way to do this is to have the freedom to adapt approaches to teaching, learning and pastoral care.
As one teacher explained; “I love working at this school, the buzz and the atmosphere, the Headteacher’s philosophy. It is about the whole child. It is not just about the end results. It is about adapting approaches so we get everything in between right. We can take risks and are supported and as we work in year groups of four, we can learn from each other.”
It is evident collaborative teamwork across the school is strong; staff are given responsibilities and develop in these roles; there is a collective and shared responsibility to strive towards creating the best outcomes for the ‘Crosshall Child’ and each individual child and their needs. On meeting with the pupil premium champions, the theme of individualising provision remained clear. They had identified each pupil premium child’s barriers to learning and success, tracked this across year groups to note patterns and trends and placed in individualised support for each of these children.
High Value on the Whole Child
The school places a high value on the whole child and success in all aspects of their life. This is most apparent within their ‘Future Me’ curriculum. This ‘Future Me’ curriculum strives to develop, nurture and reward talents that can be hidden, both at home and school, celebrating internal and external achievements. In this curriculum children have a booklet which records activities inside and outside of school that are sometimes not always recognised.
They make pledges to, for example, perform at a talent show or to their class, change something for the better at home or at school, construct a den or commit to a club and attend for more than half a year. They set themselves targets of personal development and these targets are formally recognised. Children collect a certain number of pledges and are rewarded with bronze, silver or gold badges to show their progression. These badges are proudly displayed on their collars and children talk about them with satisfaction and importance.
This curriculum is highly unique and clearly brings out the best in their children. The Headteacher explained that this programme has been so successful that other schools can now invest in it through the school. The school also recognised that for some children the support to make these pledges from home is not always available and, as a result, they ensure support for vulnerable learners is in place, with TAs tracking and assisting children with their ‘Future Me’ work during the school day.
The staff are highly reflective. Leaders plan in specific time to evaluate and improve practice, especially around developing research-based pedagogical techniques. The school has also been developing links across its location to share knowledge and improve practice, for example: it has set up a St Neots’ SENDCo cluster group; it has invited other local schools to come in and understand the pastoral work it offers; it has set up links with a local special school to enable Crosshall staff to visit a specialist setting and understand more about specialist provision.
It is also evident that the school takes on board ideas from the IQM cluster group to further improve practice. The Assistant Headteacher is currently doing a Masters in Education and numerous members of staff are working towards achieving national professional qualifications in school leadership or middle leadership. They actively engage in research and improvement to develop themselves as educationalists and, in turn, improve outcomes for their children.
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: admin@iqmaward.com for further details.
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