Moorside Primary School and Nursery has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
The Headteacher And Staff Love Their School
At Moorside PS and Nursery, every single decision is based on providing the best educational and pastoral opportunities for each child. The Headteacher and staff love their school. Whilst recognising the many aspects of vulnerability within the school cohort, senior leaders are determined to raise aspiration and achievement across the school. The Headteacher knows every child in the school and is aware of any challenges and their achievements. She proudly shared examples of children flying after attending the Standard Assessment Tests (SATs) Club and how one child has doubled their rate of attendance. The recent Ofsted report (September 2023) noted the ambitious curriculum and high expectations for behaviour.
There is such a calm atmosphere of learning around the school. Each classroom is well-organised and children easily follow the daily routines. Each child is greeted individually at the door before indicating their feelings on a board before going to their first task. In Year 3, for example, children immediately started their revision maths tasks at their tables. Every classroom has an attractive reading corner. A visual timetable ensures children know the structure of the day and are aware of any changes.
Parents have grown in confidence in accessing Moorside PS and Nursery for information and support. The Headteacher explained how essential it is for parents to come and celebrate their child’s success. A range of strategies to welcome more parents into school have included an after-school event for Mother’s Day where parents were surrounded by the children’s wonderful work, reading café and sharing stories around the Christmas tree. The Maths and Science Lead was overwhelmed when so many parents attended the maths workshop that the hall was rammed! In future, this will now be presented to separate year groups. During the sessions, the child worked alongside their parent and they were given a pack to take home with links to websites and ideas for home learning.
Promote The Positive
Targeted interventions are provided every morning for children who need support in developing their understanding of specific concepts or who need to build their self-confidence. Small groups of children were working intently in the hall with several TAs on maths and literacy tasks whilst the IQM Lead showed me how their progress is rigorously tracked.
It was lovely to see the Nursery children engaging with the register as their teacher held up a photograph of each child to support them looking and responding. They also signed ‘Good morning’ to each other. Creative activities waited invitingly for the children including drawing spring flowers and searching for magic beans amongst clouds (cotton wool) in the tuff tray. In Reception children were enjoying their phonics lesson whilst a small number played an individual reading game on a tablet to help them make the transition to the class input. Widget signs were displayed to support the use of the snack area.
In Year 6, children were completing PowerPoint presentations to present to their parents on the upcoming ‘Museum for Parents’ showcase when parents are given a tour of the school. Every child was deeply engaged in discussion with a partner. The KS2 Lead and Y6 teacher explained how children are paired thoughtfully to support and challenge each other. One child who is new to English was paired with a child who has learned English but knows what the experience is like.
Every opportunity is taken to promote the positive and the IQM Lead expressed her pride in the development of excellent behaviour at Moorside PS and Nursery. Both she and the Headteacher emphasised how this has become possible due to the high level of support on offer in the school. Children our Assessor spoke to described different ways they receive praise and names are added to the WOW display in each classroom, resulting in phone messages home. Pride Tokens are given out when they have acted respectfully or taken pride in their work and certificates are handed out in the Friday assembly. The oldest children enjoy taking on roles of responsibility and explained how they can write to the Headteacher to describe why they would like a particular job. Many of the children met enjoyed helping with the youngest children. Other roles include being responsible for resources.
Committed To Making A Difference
The children’s work is celebrated in beautiful displays along the corridors and classrooms. For the King’s Coronation, every class produced images of Buckingham Palace based on different artistic styles including Picasso, Warhol and Matisse. This created a vibrant demonstration of styles across the age groups. Progression in writing, maths and all subjects are displayed, highlighting the achievements of each year group.
Staff at Moorside PS and Nursery create wonderful opportunities for children to be motivated and enjoy a range of experiences. One child told our Assessor that, “we are really lucky as we get to do Forest School and we have a field”. Not content with World Book Day, Moorside children have enjoyed a whole ‘Month of Reading Madness’! Activities have included visiting the local library, class performances of a poem to the school and photos of staff and children reading in random places. For one session, staff brought their favourite story to read and children signed up for the story they wanted to hear.
The Headteacher is adamant that staff development and wellbeing must be always considered. Staff are encouraged to support each other, for example, the Year 3 teacher is working alongside an experienced subject lead to learn how to conduct the role. Every member of staff is committed to making a difference whilst feeling valued within the school. As noted by a monitoring visit on Inclusion by the Local Authority School Adviser, “nurture for the children and each other is at the heart of the school”. The Headteacher is committed to driving aspiration and achievement through the school and local community, supported by a hardworking and creative team. The school enjoys moving forward and trying new approaches.
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.