Our assessor’s arrival at Discovery Special Academy set the tone for the day and immediately illustrated the inclusive ethos of the school. As our assessor visited the cloakroom prior to entering the main building there was a notice on the wall that simply told you to ‘Breathe and take a moment.’ For a parent or carer who may have been having a fraught day or morning, that may have been just the thing they needed to help them calm themselves and take stock before they met to discuss their child ‘s progress or needs.
When you enter the main building, you are greeted by a beautiful large tank and an overwhelming sense of calm and quietness. That is not to say incidents don’t happen, they do, but the staff have a very calm manner of dealing with things.
Moving through the school and its grounds you see that Discovery Special Academy and the Trust recognise the uniqueness of every child and promotes inclusion through their holistic approach. The leaders involve staff, pupils, and parents to understand the school’s vision and (deservedly) are proud of their school and what it offers its pupils and families. Leaders share clearly that their mission is to serve their community within the building and the local area. Documentation refers to their priority for all children achieving their full potential. The staff see that adapting teaching to support children to learn effectively in all areas, is their job and they actively seek the support of each other and outside agencies.
Staff across school are passionate about supporting all children and everything they do places the children firmly at the centre. Staff work as a close team and feel trusted to work for the good of all. They are innovative in their approach to supporting the needs of children. The clear systems and processes evidenced in their daily day-to-day practice make school a calm place to learn and work.
A Holistic Approach
The school is keen to ensure the whole child is nurtured and has a robust personal development offer and children have a strong sense of belonging. The children said that they love their school, they have a strong voice – one member of the Junior Leadership Team proudly told me that their role was to tell the teachers what they think the school needs like new bikes and then they do it. When asked what they liked about their school the instant answer from one child was ‘they meet your medical needs’. This may sound strange but when a child has such serious medical needs it is important that they feel cared for and they trust the staff with their personal and intimate care. The Junior Leadership were also proud of the jobs they have in school such as Lunchtime Buddies. As part of the Buddy System, they had lanyards and hats so children could spot them. Their job was to help the staff and to pour drinks and to sit with people whilst they ate their lunches. One child was very excited by the after school and lunchtime clubs their school had. She could play football and do Yoga.
Having a holistic approach to ensure the children made progress socially and emotionally as well as academically was evident and underpinned every decision the school leaders and staff made.
Parents are extremely supportive and appreciative of the work of the school. One parent said of the staff ‘It’s like having another parent for my child’. Another said, ‘Everything I need is here from the staff because through their support they know the children better than we do’. Through the work of the Pastoral Team the school is keen to continue to encourage parents to play a part in school life. Their Early Bird Programme for children under the age of five, supported by the National Autism Society, is proving very successful at helping to totally embed parental engagement. This warm welcome into the family of Discovery Special Academy starts with a programme that runs over ten weeks. Two places are offered to each family and provides parents and carers with strategies to help children with autism. It also affords opportunities to network and to realise they are not alone. The last group formed their own WhatsApp group and arranged playdates outside of school for the children. The school website is an extremely comprehensive window into the daily life and working of the school and communicates the important messages of welcome and belonging.
Communication with parents is vital therefore is very strong. The pastoral team work tirelessly to ensure parents are supported, through events such as regular coffee mornings during which they host a ‘thrift shop’. Staff help parents’ complete applications for disability allowances and to highlight aid available in the community. One major ‘aid’ staff provide is to help parents of children in year six apply for a secondary place. The children must apply for a mainstream school place along with a place in Y7 at Discovery Special Academy and this can prove to be traumatic for some parents.
Working In Partnership With Parents Is Key
One aspect of support that the school staff work hard on is changing the conversation and belief around having a social worker. For some families, prior experience or even childhood experience can make involvement of a social worker to be seen as a negative. Having established strong bonds with the families they are able to work with them to see the benefits and need of social worker involvement.
A connection with the Family Foundation enables some of the parents to have access to a caravan for a family holiday. For those parents really struggling, the school can arrange food vouchers. School leaders and staff recognise that working in partnership with parents is key to ensuring successful outcomes for children however small they may be. The staff know the pupils well therefore learning programmes are personalised to include a range of therapies.
The school’s core purpose is to support and develop all their children through a planned curriculum and ethos that expands and explores. The staff welcome all its children and ensures their and their family’s needs are well supported. Leaders make it clear that the school’s core purpose is to work to support all pupils and their families and carers. They work hard to make sure pupils receive the support they need so they can achieve their full potential. They recognise that sometimes support needs to be gained from outside of school and work effectively to find the additional expertise and support within the Trust and the Council. Curriculum plans, pupil profiles, therapeutic support plans and the warm relationships observed all evidence the excellent work in making sure each child is valued and cared for.
The curriculum is tailor made for the children within the school. The staff have arranged groupings on formal and semi formal basis. Children who are able to access the national curriculum do so in the more formalised classroom bases. For others whose needs are greater, their curriculum is less formal with a great emphasis on social and emotional development. One parent voiced their greatest desire was that their child grew into an adult that had friends and could go out to the pub and have a social life and cope.
The secondary curriculum PFA – Preparing for Adulthood at its heart, with the aim of enabling pupils to mature with financial knowledge, independence, skills and strategies to help build and sustain social relationships. The Head of School and Secondary Leader have designed the curriculum to ensure learners are given opportunities to explore themes and expand their knowledge. Afternoons are planned thematically on physical development, Creative Arts, Social and Cultural, STEM and Community Engagement. The final being targeted towards careers and enterprise skills. Two programmes are used to enrich pupil knowledge in writing CVs and what a job is Cultural capital experiences are well planned because the staff realise how difficult it can be for families of children with additional needs to access experiences outside of school. Whilst the parents mentioned the great experiences the children are given, they wished for more. They stated that whilst some venues offer quieter sessions for neurodiverse children, they were either early on a morning or around 6.30 pm and who wants to get their child all excited and hyper then fight to try and get them to sleep. They said it had a huge knock-on effect on the family that day and the next as they had the aftermath of little sleep etc. All staff feel that it is important to provide opportunities for children to take part and experience events in the local community and beyond. Links to curriculum subjects ensure visits complement and enhance learning, provide memorable experiences, and help children to place their learning in context. They are working with the wider community to get people involved in a community garden and were actively approaching companies to ask for volunteers with time and expertise to help.
Fully Inclusive Of All Learners
The leadership team recognises that every member of staff has an important role to play in the development of the school and its ethos, from supporting parents’ carers and guardians and appreciates the work of everyone in supporting families. There is very much a ‘village’ around each child and their family at Discovery Special Academy. Staff were steadfast in their belief that it was not only the pupils and family that were supported but they themselves. Several of the Teaching Assistants had started as parents and moved on to being helpers and lunchtime staff before moving into teaching assistant roles. Two staff moved from parent to teacher through support of the school and its mission to be fully inclusive of all learners. One teaching assistant mentioned how she had started on supply and after a number of weeks became anxious that if she had to leave, she wouldn’t find a post that she enjoyed as much as she did at Discovery Special Academy. She was delighted when a permanent post became available and was able to stay. There is very much a feeling of everyone being involved in decision making and that everyone ‘was an asset and treated as one’. Staff stated that whilst there was a hierarchy in roles, there wasn’t a hierarchy as all staff were asked for their opinions and for advice as they knew the children so well. They appreciated that the Senior Leaders rolled up their sleeves and ‘got stuck in’.
The leaders see no job as too big or too small and the emphasis on positive relationships ensures for a harmonious school where people feel valued and appreciated. You leave Discovery Special Academy feeling that it is a haven of calm and hope for children who have special needs. You appreciate the processes they operate so that wherever a child is in the building they know what to expect. The corridors allow them to re-regulate should they go into crisis as there are resources at several points. These stations have communication aids, toys to calm and equipment to appeal to a child needing a sensory break allowing any adult to interact with the child in a moment of need. The large sensory room is amazing with equipment to permit every child in the building ‘therapy’.
Within the community the school is working tirelessly with local businesses to make a chicken run and a community garden. They fervently believe that the child’s development is hugely enhanced by working outside and caring for plants and animals. They have plans for a school farm and already have a list of the animals they would like the children to care for. The enterprise element of the garden and the farm will go a long way to embedding the Preparing for Adulthood trajectory the children are on.
The school does a significant amount of outreach work within the Trust and with the local authority. It started as a Free School with a small number of pupils and, through a growing reputation, has grown rapidly over the past two years. Its aim is to extend through to Sixth Form. This is a heartfelt desire of many of the parents.
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