Don Valley Academy has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
Exceptionally Welcoming
On this, The Assessors second visit, The Assessor found Don Valley Academy to be extremely welcoming. This was evident from the outset, with reception staff ensuring that appropriate ‘signing in’ arrangements are undertaken and providing effective and friendly communication with visitors to the school. Safeguarding is given high priority; it is clear who can support if there are any worries or concerns. All meetings with staff were exceptionally welcoming and they enthused about their school and their work with the students. The Vice Principal was extremely warm and open in all conversations.
Don Valley Academy is part of the Delta Academy Trust and is a secondary provision with 1102 students on roll. There have been significant changes in leadership in the last academic year. However, the inclusion of the students is at the foremost of the Academy ethos and consistency is created across the pastoral support and curriculum. The Vice Principal explained that the new Executive Principal has provided the staff with autonomy stating, “We are all developing as he has led us.” The Academy currently has a high percentage of Student Premium students at 39%, slightly lower than last academic year with Free School Meals (FSM) slightly raised at 38.1%. They have 12% of students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) support and they have had a rise to 3% with Education Health Care Plans (EHCP). English as an Additional Language (EAL) students are steady at 12%.
The Academy tracks risks using the Power BI Management System to compare all schools across the Delta Academy Trust and to be proactive in their approach. This was easily accessed to provide information. This ensures that vulnerable students are tracked on the school’s dashboard to evaluate headline figures for attendance, exclusions, provisions and SEND. The Academy uses data effectively, so patterns are tracked and concerns are identified with appropriate provision put in place to support their students and their families effectively. This also provides supportive evidence at the inclusion meetings which are held weekly to ascertain progress from their identified provision and identify further areas of support.
Attendance at the Academy has continued to improve and is currently at 93%. The Vice Principal described how the students receive “the best education they can but they have to be here to access it.” Therefore, attendance is key and is continually encouraged by the students knowing “they are listened to and have a point of contact.” The Blue Line is a procedure in place daily where Learning Managers (LMs) greet all students as they come into school. Here they can address any issues that may have arisen with their students.
“Changing Lives”
In addition, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) and the LMs meet prior to attending the school gate to raise any concerns and share information regarding the students for an up-to-date briefing to enable them to deal effectively with any issues at the point of contact. The LMs are crucial in Don Valley Academy and work closely together to provide consistency for the students and their families throughout their education at the Academy and are effectively line managed by the Inclusion Coordinator/Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead who is also new in the post. The weekly inclusion meetings provide “communication between the teams so we can pick up the key needs of each student.”
As the Academy is part of the Delta Academy Trust, there is a shared vision, policies and procedures and the Academy continues to embed these. The mission statement is “Changing Lives” and there is a large focus on consistency to continually improve teaching, behaviour, engagement and differentiation with clear expectations identified.
The Academy is in a diverse demographic area and the Vice Principal described how they offer “wrap-around care” and “holding the line with high expectations”. Behaviour in the Academy also has a consistent and graduated approach identified in the Behaviour Policy. As a result of this consistency, the Reflection Room, the last sanction of the Behaviour Policy, has changed significantly by raising the standards with the immediate impact of reducing the number of students attending there.
Since The Assessors last visit, Don Valley has been accepted to be a research school for the Educational Endowment Fund (EEF). This is directed by the Vice Principal leading Curriculum and Design. Staff are provided with a full programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) weekly to upskill with policy and practice, for example, the Behaviour Policy and Reading Policy. They are currently waiting to team up with the Local Authority or a smaller Multi Academy Trust to be part of a school improvement strategy. Through the research school, they intend to mobilise research and explore evidence and data in the next academic year.
There is an emphasis on Collaborative Learning’s 4 Principles of Learning – Sequencing and Modelling, Questioning, Assessment Over Time and Practice. There is further emphasis on retrieval practice and supporting staff to provide an engaging delivery with a consistent lesson structure with mixed ability seating plans to offer peer support and provide “a consistent approach to transferable skills”. In The Assessors visits to all classrooms, it was evident that this consistent approach was used throughout and all students understood the procedures and how they supported their learning. In addition, The Assessor was shown the Diamond pathway, which is a core group base with a flexible, adapted curriculum which is nurture focussed.
Encourage Engagement
The curriculum provides a number of vocational courses including Health and Social Care, Hospitality and Catering, Engineering and Sports Studies with exceptional and adaptive resources to encourage engagement and inclusion. Students are provided with one-to-one meetings and taster sessions to discuss their options which are discussed with their parents/carers.
Furthermore, the Academy has recognised the data had lowered for science due to a more passive approach therefore practical lessons have been reinstated to encourage engagement.
This academic year, Don Valley Academy is aiming for +0.5 progress, and data is showing +0.39 currently. Their ongoing evaluation of data identifies a precise group of key students which in turn engages the Year 11 Learning Mentor and Senior Leadership Mentoring programme.
The quality of student work and celebrating achievement are fully embedded in the school. The Aspiring Leader for DEEPs described how celebrations include Proud Thursday where the students present their exceptional work to the staff to receive prize and positive postcards which are sent home to share success with their families. This is also shared on Twitter and parents are encouraged to link achievements the students have made outside of school. Celebration assemblies are conducted every half term.
When meeting the Head of Drama she spoke enthusiastically about the ‘Speak Up Programme’ which is led by CAST engaging 55 schools across the Doncaster area. This provides the students with a variety of opportunities to work with creative professionals such as DJs, community artists, animators and songwriters and allows the students to explore more opportunities. This is student-led and they have the opportunity to have a voice, raising their confidence. Currently, this is mainly an enrichment but, in the future, the Head of Drama would like to see this as part of the curriculum. The Academy holds three lunch time drop-ins per week with a theatre artist working on a variety of projects.
Previously, the students have taken part in a project showing what it is like to be a student at Don Valley and this term the project is ‘Having a Voice; Speaking Up’ where the students celebrate having a voice. They have created a flash mob and are working on other projects with the theatre artist to facilitate discussion. The Head of Drama described how the projects and student engagement are “very joyous because it is celebrating them.” She reported how there is definite ‘buy-in’ from the students, and they are currently auditioning for their next drama ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’. Additionally, the Academy is in the process of supporting the students in completing the Arts Award (bronze and silver) not only in acting but also the design elements in theatre for those who are struggling with the confidence and skill of acting, getting an understanding of the industry and how it feeds into everything. Regarding the impact of the provision, one student stated to the Head of Drama, “Thank you, I know I am not the loudest but it has given me the confidence in the rest of my lessons.”
Huge Improvement And Big Impact
The Lead for Careers described how the Academy is re-accrediting for the Gold Careers Quality Award and providing all students with access to quality career information with three main step-up days offering various activities and a full immersion day where they have employers in the school as well as extra events such as taster days and college days. This provides the students with more opportunities for engagement and has shown a huge improvement and a big impact. Furthermore, the students follow a scheme of work during form times with subjects discussing careers across the curriculum. There is a full careers programme offering various opportunities to promote high aspirations across year groups and the academic year.
Data evaluation through Power BI offers full tracking across all students to identify possible Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) students for targeted intensive work. This has had a huge impact showing a downward trend in NEETs to 3.7%, below the national average of 8.4%.
Don Valley Academy promotes ambition in the students through promotions and experience. A Teaching Assistant (TA) is the Mental Health Lead and Leading Ambition, with a charity-based organisation, the Ambition Project. With Key Stage 3, the SLT are looking for impact.
Disadvantaged and disengaged students are supported so they can see the opportunities available to them through a 12-month programme created by a Governor. They visit factories, Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Magna for a careers exhibition so the students can experience opportunities open to them in their future. This builds their confidence and creates ambition, building capacity for future generations. The TA leads the visits and is training other staff, again building capacity.
Year 10 has worked with the NHS on a competition to promote disability and mental health. The group working on an app for signs and symptoms of mental health won the competition with the app being used nationally.
Mental health is fully supported in the Academy by the TA who is the Mental Health Lead and Inclusion Coordinator. They work with ‘Me in Mind’ with an ambassador programme with two students from each year group. During Mental Health Week, students created assemblies regarding low mood, anxiety and autism which were well received and well accepted by the student population, and they have asked for more of the same, with Summer Safety next on the agenda.
Community Feel For Staff
Students have created a mental health webpage linking to Me in Mind, Fortis and KOOTH with also a website button for 24/7 contact which links straight to safeguarding and can be acted upon immediately. Immediate plans include dealing with exam stress and offering a weekly drop-in.
Mental health waves of intervention are tracked on the inclusion tracker from the point of referral and evaluated regularly for impact or further support. Staff are also encouraged to address mental health issues and the Academy is currently pushing men’s mental health. The TA commented “I think this is the healthiest the school has been with regard to talking about mental health,” with an open and approachable SLT who is happy to sit down and talk about any concerns or issues.
A staff member described how mental health for staff “is incredible. I have always known that I can go to the very top to get support and I don’t feel judged.” The Academy has a “community feel for staff” with staff wellbeing provided through coffee mornings, planned lessons for cover, limited emailing hours and Tuesday CPD sessions with opportunities to leave early at the end of term.
The Literacy Coordinator spoke enthusiastically about the Reading Strategy implemented into the Academy, encouraging and embedding a common language to tackle texts across all curriculum areas, through Framing the Text to better understand its purpose, Removing Barriers through understanding of the vocabulary and context, Layered Reads to enable students to understand what they are reading, and Stop and Jot to allow students to make their thinking permanent. The Reading Strategy provides a graduated approach with GL testing for all students in Years 7 and 8 to identify gaps and the provision of graduated interventions.
The Academy provides a reading tutor to deliver three weekly sessions to identified students. Text Help has been introduced to remove barriers to reading. Staff have CPD with reading awareness on areas of need with reading which has led to a significant number of staff identifying additional students with difficulties.
This links into the Quality Assurance through Learning Walks and Book Looks which promote discussion with staff regarding their students. The Reading Strategy is evolving significantly making sure all students progress in their literacy skills.
Focus On Positive Conversations
All SEND students are provided with a Learning Passport to support their differentiation and understanding of their individual needs through an informative document for all staff. All vulnerable students are tracked on the inclusion tracker which is a live shared document which is evaluated weekly at the inclusion meeting, which is attended by the Learning Mentors, Inclusion Coordinator and SENDCo to provide a graduated approach and identify the availability of interventions as well as evaluating the impact of those interventions.
SEND students are expected to attend one enrichment activity to achieve more pledges and focus on positive conversations. The students have a TA who attends to provide support with an emphasis on filling gaps with enrichment that is not in the curriculum, groups such as War Hammer to nurture and develop social skills as well as inclusion in the Arts Award and Speak Up. This provides an inclusive progression and promotes confidence in their abilities.
The Academy provides an enhanced transition to support Key Stage 4 students to move through to colleges with knowledge and understanding of their needs. It works closely with primary schools to meet with families and primary staff to support the movement to secondary education, through observations and three transition days, one enhanced for support with SEND and vulnerable students. The current Year 7 students provided feedback from their transition to provide further support to future students. The SENDCo provides a consistent approach and is working with feeder primaries regarding skillsets for key terminology and key skills to make for a smoother transition.
Builds Positive Relationships
The Assistant Vice Principal for Deep Experience and the EPC Lead described the spiral EPC curriculum with an extensive scheme of work covering the statutory requirements but also offering supplementary areas with external speakers and subject-related trips. These are all funded to remove barriers and are promoted through assemblies and open evenings. The delivery of EPC is by specialists and builds positive relationships. In student voice, EPC gains highly and they continue to raise the profile of EPC. This becomes responsive by monitoring and evaluating safeguarding to identify areas of concern.
The empowerment tracker links to British Values and addresses community concerns and identifies pockets they have not touched on, “parachuting in and out when we need them”, therefore immediately addressing issues that are happening in the community, weaving them into the curriculum rather than being a bolt-on. Moreover, the Academy has just been awarded the gold Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (SMSC) Award.
Don Valley Academy has a Personal Learning Centre (PLC) and Bridge to support individuals with medical conditions, behavioural concerns and issues with mental health and wellbeing for individualised support and bespoke learning packages. The managers of both facilities work cooperatively to build resilience in their students and build rapport. They engage with core teaching staff to deliver quality teaching and learning ensuring their students are in line with classroom curriculum, evaluating and sharing progress through updates. As the PLC manager stated for students that, “it is important they [staff] are aware of the journey they have had.” The Base provides support to SEND students and is currently being evaluated and adapted to provide further support in line with the Bridge and PLC, creating a “wider team and sharing expertise.”
Don Valley Academy is constantly evaluating and implementing its inclusive practice, addressing its community needs through providing a voice for the students and their families. The Assessor recommend the school’s application to continue with the Centre of Excellence status and looks forward to reading about the developments in their Action Plan in 12 months’ time, specifically with advancements on their developments around the Base and implementing change to staffing and roles to create further impact.
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