Kessingland Church of England Primary Academy just south of Lowestoft, Suffolk has received the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
Supporting Children
Kessingland Church of England Primary Academy has been open since September 2014 and is part of the Diocese of Norwich Education and Academies Trust. It currently has 229 pupils on roll, and this includes 26 pupils in the Nursery.
The school is in a community that has high deprivation for the county.
Ofsted visited the school in November 2016 and evaluated it as ‘Good’ in all areas. The school has developed significantly since 2016, both in size and improvement and is now on a journey to ‘Outstanding’, SLT can identify outstanding elements within current practice, particularly around inclusion, SEND and supporting some of their most vulnerable children and families.
The school embraces ‘Thrive’ with a whole school Thrive Approach and has achieved the Suffolk Young Carers Gold Award and Silver National Award. The school also has a high-quality Forest Schools provision with opportunities for all children to take part.
The Student and Family Support Team is highly valued by the community and school as well as the external agencies who work closely across the community to support individual pupils and families. The work and support carried out by this team is exemplary.
Improving Life Chances
Leaders are relentless about ensuring every pupil meets their potential and pupil outcomes are rigorously tracked, with targeted interventions, where need is identified, put in place. For any pupil falling behind there is a genuine, unwavering commitment to inclusive practice which informs all systems and approaches. The Headteacher accepts and welcomes all children into the school, regardless of need or background. The Leadership Team is deeply passionate about, and committed to, the inclusion agenda. They want to make a difference to all the children and families and improve their life chances.
The Headteacher, with the support of the IQM Lead, has accurately evaluated the provision and is aware of the areas which need to be developed to ensure the forward momentum of the school. SLT know their staff well and deploy them effectively to have a positive impact on pupils. They recognise the importance of continued improvement in the quality of teaching and learning as they want the pupils to leave with the best outcomes academically, as well as developing the wider skills they acquire through the holistic curriculum.
There is a collective responsibility amongst the staff, to look after the children and give them the best school experience possible. All adults who work in the school are welcoming and kind. This thoughtful and inclusive ethos permeates all staff, regardless of role; all staff feel they are valued and respected.
Supporting the Community
The Family and Student Support Team maintain a stoic approach to supporting across the community, equally the Thrive Practitioners are to be congratulated for all they accomplish. Those children who are most vulnerable due to adverse childhood experiences, bereavement, loss, additional needs are very quickly identified and a Thrive baseline assessment carried out that then informs a bespoke personalised curriculum. As a result of the high level of care and support exclusions are rare and children with complex needs are flourishing and thriving.
Teachers have a good understanding of the factors which influence pupils’ mindsets and their ability to learn. They understand that behaviour is not who that child is, it does not define them. They seek to uncover the causes behind the behaviours. Staff also recognise the importance of building positive relationships and listening to the children, giving them a voice. The Headteacher believes that with the appropriate staff and personalities, you can build the desired ethos. You can upskill and train staff in different areas, but it is imperative that their beliefs align with the school’s shared vision. As a result of the support for all adults, the school takes a ‘grow your own’ staff team approach. All those who work in the school were unanimous in how they are supported to be the best they can possibly be and are challenged with kind candour and supported around self-improvement.
The Headteacher feels fully supported by the staff and they feel fully supported in return. The Trust Leaders speak very highly about the transformation of the school under the current leadership and fully appreciate the support of the Deputy Headteacher/SENCo who is supporting with the Trusts’ inclusion agenda and SEND in other Trust member schools. The Deputy Headteacher/SENDCo is an SLE and clearly has a very high level of knowledge and understanding around SEND and Inclusion and brings real energy to the role.
The school’s environment lends itself well to the inclusive ethos through its range of facilities, spaces, and equipment to enhance the learning and daily experience. Inclusion is engrained in the fabric of the school. The large forest area lends itself and is well used by all staff to support a wide range of learning experiences, such as science, orienteering, and bushcraft. The Thrive Room is well placed centrally to support all children, parents, and carers and one of the Thrive Practitioners has recently gained the accreditation to lead family thrive for parents and carers.
Curriculum Overhauled
Since September 2020, the curriculum throughout the school has been overhauled. This process has been ongoing as leaders adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of children and the community because of previously known information about the demographic and potential barriers faced and their experiences during the pandemic.
On reflection, leaders feel that whilst the lockdown meant that all stakeholders faced multiple challenges, they have looked to grasp the positives for both the school and the community; community self-belief has risen again, and the school has received some superb feedback from parents and the wider community about the support offered during this period.
The school has also deployed much welcomed additional resources accordingly with targeted intervention and increased 1-1 and small group tutoring. At the beginning of the very first lockdown, almost all pupils did not have access to laptops and the internet. The school committed to get at least one Chromebook for each family, and where there were numbers of children in each family timetabled creatively so that the Chromebook could be shared. Often the school also had to organise for internet connection and access, support by creating a very well used foodbank and regularly checking in with each family. Parents commented that the school simply couldn’t have done any more for them during this time and that “I just don’t know where I would be without this place, they are amazing.”
Passion
The Head, Deputy and Thrive Lead all spoke with passion about the commitment the school has to safeguarding staff well-being and that throughout the lockdown period leaders were very mindful of staff ‘togetherness.’
Leaders are very mindful of staff workload and keep this high on the agenda of discussion. All staff will be accessing The Thrive Approach training – an opportunity to further strengthen the whole school/community ethos, culture around this relational way of working and supporting to enable the best outcomes.
The ethos and culture of this school, combined with its highly effective systems and skilled and passionate staff team make it a beacon of excellent practice in Inclusion.
Our Assessor had the opportunity to meet with a number of students during the assessment day who spoke with real pride and overwhelming positivity about their school.
Safeguarding procedures are effective with rigorous and compulsory online and face-to-face training in place for all staff and robust safeguarding policies. The school uses an effective and secure reporting system.
In summary, the ethos of inclusion shines through in all that is done at Kessingland. This is a setting where a true feeling of ‘family’ and ‘belonging’ is promoted and the best interests of every individual pupil are held in mind.
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.