Leigh Beck Junior School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Highly Inclusive School
Leigh Beck Junior School is a highly inclusive school with consistent practices that include everyone – no child is left behind. The Headteacher explained that Special Educational Needs (SEN) is a school priority. This approach is valued by staff, pupils and parents.
The school is part of the Lion Trust so benefits from a collaborative and consistent approach throughout all the schools, with bespoke approaches specific to each school also present. The school values are articulated for staff and pupils through the six principles: Urgency, Attention to Detail, Relentless, Excellence, Proactive, and Impact.
The pupils follow and can articulate the ‘Leigh Beck 5’ of: Kindness, Aspiration, Respect, Honesty and Responsibility. These explicit values lead to behaviour around the school being exemplary.
Safeguarding is effective. The safeguarding team has supervision every half term for 45 minutes which allows them to articulate their thoughts about their work. This is valued by the team.
Well Supported
Teachers and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) feel well supported by the Senior Leadership team. They are given additional planning time to focus on making adaptations and to look at targets for children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and SEN support needs. All staff complete new Individual Education Plans (IEPs) as a staff group so the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) can support teachers on the spot, so each child’s learning journey for each area of the curriculum begins at the correct starting point.
Teachers spoke about the inclusive curriculum and the support that they are given from the Trust with the Miro teaching boards in which they are given a detailed curriculum framework. The school then use adaptive practices to further develop the curriculum, making sure that the learning objectives are broken down enough for all pupils to be able to experience success and a good level of independence in their learning.
All lessons have an element of recapping, key vocabulary development and knowledge about how the lesson fits into the overall sequence of learning.
All pupils have learning targets and are taught the importance of knowing their targets. Pupils with IEPs have target stickers that they put next to their work. Pupils who can articulate them are entered into a raffle and can win scooters/bikes and other highly desired prizes. This encourages them to be reflective learners who are proficient in self-assessment. This was also evident in the classroom where children were completing their success criteria charts to check what they had learnt.
Understanding, Kind and Respectful Teachers
Children described their teachers at Leigh Beck Junior as being understanding, kind and respectful of them. The pupils met demonstrated that they have a deep understanding of the curriculum, their targets and the purpose of all activities that take place in the school such as their next step in learning. They know how to get help and the process to follow if they do not understand their work.
They spoke about the teachers working with a particular focus group each day where they do deep marking and talk about targets so everyone knows exactly where they are with their work.
They like the reward of the Target Zone, where pupils who have achieved and understood their targets spend time playing with toys or PlayStation 4 (PS4), etc. The pupils were articulate, thoughtful and very polite – a credit to the school.
The school share their excellent practice with other schools. They offer help to other schools in the Lion Trust as well as the local secondary school on Canvey Island as part of the transition programme. They have shared the primary curriculum with them so that there is a seamless learning journey for the Year 6s. They have also been asked to provide support through their Inclusion Partner.
As part of the Trust’s structure, they have Parent Advisory Bodies (PAB) in each of their schools. Leigh Beck Junior’s PAB has a link visit each term with a focus area that is linked to the school’s developmental plan. The Governors are skilled individuals who have had a visible impact on the work of the school – they have had training in how to ask challenging questions and this is having an impact at meetings.
Inclusion Panel
The school is fortunate to have a Speech and Language Therapist on-site every week. The Educational Psychologist (EP) is employed for a significant number of hours over the year. An additional EP has also delivered whole school training.
The school has developed an internal Inclusion panel that meets every three weeks to discuss children’s needs and to receive referral forms from class teachers. They can discuss each child in turn and decide whether they should be on the SEN register, given specific support or be referred to an external agency.
The parent described the SLT as being very approachable and swift to resolve any concerns. The Headteacher is at the gate each morning, teachers are always present and are allies for the children. She described the SLT as going out of their way to support all the families. The school has a community and family feel.
The Learning Mentor signposts parents to community and external support for particular issues. She knows all the families and works hard to make sure that the needs of families are met. She has received good CPD to help her deliver the specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) interventions that she does in the afternoon and she feels well supported by the SLT.
Active School Council
During the learning walk at Leigh Beck Junior, our Assessor was pleased to see some pupils taking part in an anti-bullying workshop, delivered by the London Bus Company. Pupils found this to be interesting and beneficial.
The classrooms are all airy and very well organised, following a consistent display policy. Working walls include key vocabulary, supported by images, in each classroom, the ABC approach is highlighted (A – Agree, B – Build on and C – Challenge) with working examples. There are no teacher desks and the expectation is that the teacher will be actively working with the focus group each day and sitting with them as well as moving around the room.
There is a reading corner in each room, with a reading corner competition to encourage children to make theirs the most creative and exciting!
Teachers spoke to about Blue Friday, which happens once every half term where Year 6 pupils work with Year 3, for example. It is very targeted and enjoyed by the children.
The school has an active School Council with a Head Boy and Head Girl as well as deputies for each role. They have play pals in the playground who have been trained to lead games and help younger children access such games. Pupils are given specific responsibilities in their classrooms.
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.
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