New Brighton Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
A Real Community School
New Brighton Primary School has inclusive values and ethos which focus on the well-being and progress of every child. There are high expectations of all the children, who all experience praise, recognition and success. Its mission, ‘Giving our Best, Achieving Success’ is evident in all aspects of school life at New Brighton Primary School. It is a real community school and its ethos and values reflect this. The school places a huge importance on the development of the whole child, not just what they do between the hours of 9am and 3pm. There is a shared desire for New Brighton children to be caring good citizens, polite and resilient.
The Head simply described his role as,” Bringing the heart and soul into the school.” As part of his vision for the school, he appointed an Enrichment Co-ordinator. The impact of this role has been really significant, providing amazing opportunities and experiences that some children might not otherwise get. He has the Level 3 Beach School qualification and has developed a marvellous school garden complete with a sensory area. Members of the community are encouraged to recommend children for hot chocolate with the Headteacher. Nominations have been given for pupils who have picked litter on the beach, made sandwiches for the homeless, for volunteering or raising money for local charities, helping elderly relatives or acting as young carers.
Welcoming and Warm School
New Brighton Primary School is a welcoming and warm school. Every child has a good morning as they are welcomed by name to the school each morning as they enter school. A Teaching Assistant is at the gate to engage with and be available for parents. At break time the duty staff engage positively with children and keep them safe and the staff in reception know parents and children and could not be more helpful and friendly.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Co-ordinator (SENDCo)/Assistant Headteacher (AHT) poke enthusiastically about the journey the school has been on to be ready to apply for the Inclusive School Award and the plans to improve inclusive provision and practice further. The relatively new, reflective and highly motivated senior team is on an exciting journey of school improvement with the children at the very heart of all decision making.
The Head and school leaders are ambitious for the school and have inclusivity centre stage of their planning. There are plans to expand the specialist provision which currently consists of a speech and language base at KS1 and a KS2 base for children with moderate learning difficulties to incorporate an ASC base in the school in the future. Work is starting on this by ensuring that the school is ASC friendly from September. Full Makaton will be used and the existing two bases will share an entrance and a sensory space. During our Assessor’s visit it was wonderful to observe the KS1 base teacher signing with the pupils and the progress they were making with their speech development.
Developing the Vocabulary of the Children
There has been a real focus across the school on developing the vocabulary of the children. A range of strategies have been used including; curriculum enhancement, accelerated reader and a literacy curriculum with key vocabulary from texts. It was a real pleasure to see the impact of this work. During a visit to a F2 class, pupils were keen to tell our Assessor, with great eloquence, what they were doing; “I’m making sand spaghetti in the water”, “I’ve been making a house for my mind craft creeper, it’s got a secret hiding place”, “I drew a cat, it has a squiggly tail like a pig and a love heart with whiskers” “We are building a house to keep money safe, if the money is stuck to the house or bridge it can’t get taken.”
In Year 4 children were reading ‘Albert the Hundred Year Old Fish’ and were busy writing letters from Albert to humans regarding pollution and environmental damage, using some very impressive vocabulary. “Dear wicked land mutants, think before you ruin the spirit of my home. It was a beautiful, peaceful coral city and now it is a wasteland. It was my dream home, now it is a nightmare.” The library has also been developed and has been instrumental in getting pupils reading, there is a diverse range of books with pupil library monitors who help their peers choose books.
Who better to summarise the school than members of the school community.
What is special about New Brighton Primary School?
“The heart of the staff, they know the children, they care for them and genuinely want the best for every child,” “They will work above and beyond for the children.” (Governors)
“Staff take a personal approach, always smiling, nothing is too much trouble, they are positive and encouraging.” (Parent)
What does inclusivity at New Brighton Primary School look like?
“It is a vibe; it doesn’t matter what day it is, the atmosphere will lift you. When we visit the school, we are greeted by children who are clearly happy to be at school.” (Governors)
“Inclusion means including everyone regardless of race, disability, ethnicity, religion etc. Our school does that.” (Pupil)
“Not only are we inclusive inside the school but we are outside too as we interact with the community.” (Pupil)
“The school digs underneath the barriers to learning to try and understand the issues so they can provide the appropriate support.” (Parent)
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.