Hollydale Primary School, Nunhead in London, has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Dynamic Leadership Team
Hollydale Primary School continues to be a very inclusive and welcoming school with all staff putting the children’s best interests at the centre of everything that they do. The Headteacher leads by example and has a strong moral purpose that drives the school forward. She is ably supported by a strong Leadership Team.
Bright and Stimulating
The school has a very welcoming entrance area with plants, colourful displays, and comfortable seating. Benches and palms and small trees in pots, outside the reception area set an inclusive tone. There is also a book box- labelled books “for you to take home and enjoy.”
Little Gardeners
Breakfast Club and Gardening Club take place before the school day starts. Children were tending to their cucumbers in the small garden, where there were tomatoes, herbs and other plants growing. The children were very knowledgeable about what plants need to thrive. Plants were on windowsills throughout the school corridors, and tomato plants were even growing on some balcony areas!
Accessible to All
All lower floor classrooms have direct access to the playgrounds and upstairs rooms open on to balconies. The school has additional spare rooms for interventions to take place and there is a spacious feel about the building.
Engaged Pupils
During the drop-ins to lessons, all the children were engaged and interested in their learning. All classes were having literacy lessons, reading texts aloud, looking at real books or seeing pictures from the book on screen. Children in Year 3 enjoyed pretending that they were alive in the stone age, with their own pet wolf!
Joy of Reading
Reading is a particular strength of the school. The reading curriculum has been revamped with lots of new books and resources.
Parents in Partnership
Parents’ workshops are now taking place in person once again. Information about the sessions is displayed in the school playground so that they are accessible as parents are picking up their children. Sessions have included: phonics, EYFS Maths workshops, Reading, Speech and Language and Science workshops, respectively.
Specialist Support
The school have bought in the services of a private Speech and Language Therapist who attends the school for half a day per week. She has presented her work to parents at parent workshops, supporting them with strategies that they can use at home. The school run the Talk Boost, evidence-based programme in Key Stage One which has improved children’s vocabulary. Lego therapy groups also take place to help develop children’s social and emotional skills. The SALT will be leading on training for teachers in the Autumn Term about DLD awareness as well as neurodiversity.
Lived Values
The school held a core values assembly on the day of the IQM assessment, which all the pupils attended. It was led by the Headteacher and was a joyful and very inclusive event. All the pupils are able to articulate the four core values of Responsibility, Relationships, Resilience and Respect. The assembly opened with a song, which all the children sang along to with great gusto. The assembly focused on the upcoming sports day which will have a multi-cultural slant with all pupils being placed in groups representing the Commonwealth – Malta, New Zealand, Botswana, Guyana, and Sri Lanka. Pupils enjoyed looking at photos of previous sports days. Work from last week was displayed on the screen so all children could see what each class had studied in the previous week – a highlight was a carnival to celebrate Windrush Day.
Dedicated Staff
Pupils spoke about their kind teachers and how they all help them to learn. They feel confident about speaking to their teachers if they have any anxieties or issues that are concerning them. The support staff are an asset to the school. They are committed to the children, support each other, and enjoy the multiple roles that they play in a small school like Hollydale Primary School. They appreciate the fact that they all know all the children and the strategies that are to be used on the playground for example.
Good Communication
They stated that SLT are very approachable, and communication is good. They know what is happening, get sent all the planning that they need a week before and appreciate the weekly briefings as well as access to curriculum letters. They are well supported in the interventions that they deliver. They give feedback on their 1: 1 pupils for their annual review meetings and feel involved.
Confident Communicators
The Head Boy and Deputy Head Girl were very confident, articulate and friendly during lunch time and the tour that they provided of the various playgrounds. Their enthusiasm for learning and the opportunities that they have got from the school were very clear.
Supportive Governors
One of the parent Governors spoke about how he was supported by existing Governors when joining and that he thought the Governors induction programme was robust and fit for purpose. He values the teachers’ efforts, which go above and beyond their role.
Creating Future Leaders
Pupils are immensely proud and articulate about the additional roles that they have in school. The Assessor met with the School Council, Reading Buddies and the Eco-Committee- 17 pupils in total who enjoyed talking about the good things that happen in the school and why they like school.
Pupil Leadership Roles
The Reading Buddies were very clear about the purpose of the support that they give to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils – to improve their reading ability. Parents come to school for the Read Together sessions and the Reading Buddies work with the children whose parents can’t attend. We help them to enjoy reading one boy said:
‘The School Council work to make the school better. They spoke about improving the garden area and getting more books for the school.’
The Eco-Committee are taking part in the Great Britain Big Cleaning Plan. Their next plans are to develop a green roof on the school building! The school have recently introduced the role of Science Ambassadors
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.
Want more information on the IQM Award? Click here to request your free IQM information pack