Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
Excellent Example of Inclusive Practise
Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy is an excellent example of inclusive practice. It is a school with 375 pupils in Lowestoft with a catchment area that has predominantly white British families. Inclusion is evident in all aspects of the school’s work and there are good links with the community to offer support for families. The Headteacher works effectively with his leadership team, the Governing Body and the REACH2 academy Trust to ensure that all staff have similar aspirations for children at the school. All teachers are expected to be teachers of SEND and all leaders, leaders of SEND.
The Pastoral Team demonstrates a commitment and focus on ensuring the school caters for the needs of every child. The school encourages all children to ‘Look smart, think smart and be smart’. The school strives to be present and available for children, colleagues and parents and to have considerate, professional and respectful behaviours with all members of the school community.
They also have worked hard to ensure a safe school environment by maintaining positive relationships. The school provides a challenging, stimulating and creative curriculum delivered in a calm, supportive learning environment where all pupils are encouraged and enabled to achieve their best and to become independent resilient learners. Pupils have made good progress over the last four years from low starting points and all staff in the school are committed to ensuring individual progress continues to reflect the hard work that has been devoted to developing a broad, balanced, diverse and well thought through curriculum which offers opportunities for every child to progress.
The ASUPERHERO curriculum is bespoke to the school and its aims are to be found displayed all around the school building. Aspirational, Sensory, Unforgettable, Progress, Exciting and Engaging, Relevant, Hope, Emotional Literacy, Reading and Opportunity are all built in to the ASUPERHERO curriculum expectations.
The Headteacher feels that regular reminders around the school of commitments to children’s education are important. He states that it is ‘gentle pressure applied relentlessly.’ Certainly the school has moved forward a long way since its ‘Requires Improvement’ Ofsted judgement in 2018. An Ofsted Inspection in July 2022 stated: ‘’Pupils at Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy are happy and safe. They earn ‘nicely done’ certificates for showing care or encouragement towards others. Pupils trust school staff, feeling listened to and valued. Pupils use the daily check-ins or ‘talk it out triangles’ to let staff know if they have any worries. As a result, bullying is rare, and resolved quickly when it happens.” This inspection was judged ‘Good’ with ‘Outstanding’ leadership.
‘Making the School a Successful Place for Every Child’
The Assessor can confirm that this was certainly the overall findings of this assessment and that the Headteacher has been true to his philosophy of ‘Making the school a successful place for every child’. His ‘hard on issues, soft on people’ approach has certainly paid dividends in this exciting, inclusive environment where everyone feels they have a ‘voice’ regardless of their age or status. There is also a strong and proactive pastoral team which works closely with children, families and staff in order to support children’s wellbeing, but also to support conflict resolution through the Restorative Practice approach.
Children with special educational needs access the same, but sometimes modified, curriculum as other children in the school and consequently make good progress. The Assistant Headteacher/ SENCO plays an important part in ensuring every effort is made to cater for the needs of every child and goes out of her way to ensure all agencies, teachers and support staff have the child’s needs upper most in their minds. Consequently the progress of all children is good.
The Thrive assessments support the identification of needs and the Thrive room supports a large number of children with their emotional wellbeing and attainment. The HUB is another room that helps children understand themselves and their behaviour and how it may impact on others near them. The School Parliament, Ambassadors and Play Leaders also play a big part in supporting other children and providing a ‘voice’ for the children in the school. They take their roles very seriously and come forward with ideas and suggestions about life in school and remind other children of their responsibilities. Health and safeguarding are addressed in PSHE lessons on a weekly basis and children are given the opportunity to discuss current affairs through the discussions of the reporting of world affairs in the magazine Picture News.
Tidy and Purposeful Learning Environment
The behaviour and attitude of the children in both formal and informal settings is excellent and the calm, tidy and purposeful learning environment encourages that level of behaviour by the children. The indoor and outdoor learning environments are spacious, offering children opportunities to develop aspects of sport, sustainability and learning through play. Music in the corridors adds to the calm atmosphere. These environments are important and supplement the focus on the mental health and wellbeing of staff and pupils and the understanding that high quality learning experiences support that pupil development. Staff and pupil wellbeing is regularly addressed. There is a Wellbeing Committee and teachers can check-in on a weekly basis to express any concerns they may have.
Support staff feel totally included in the life of the school. The LSAs say ‘there is no hierarchy- everyone is given responsibility’. They have monthly wellbeing meetings and they are always kept up to date with regular training in different areas of learning. The site manager is well respected and has a wealth of knowledge of health and safety procedures which the school uses to good effect.
The friendly faces at the school reception provide parents with the confidence to approach the school with their concerns. They are an important first line of contact for parents who may have an issue they need to discuss. Staff are also available at the beginning and end of the day for a ‘meet and greet’. This close liaison helps to ensure a two way monitoring of attitudes, pupils’ progress and the opportunities to celebrate successes.
A Breakfast Club offers children a good start to the day and a lunch club is an excellent environment for any child who needs some reassurance or a quiet chat. Parents understand the expectations of behaviour and the inclusive ethos of the school and recognise the improvements made over the recent years. They understand the high expectations of all staff to ensure children have a positive learning experience.
Northfield St Nicholas Primary Academy is a particularly outstanding example of a school committed to meet the needs of its pupils and is outstanding in its commitment to and implementation of inclusive practice. All staff have an enthusiasm and passion for their part in the learning and lives of the pupils at the school. They are dedicated and positive about the futures of their pupils. Everyone is committed and wanting to do the best they can for the pupils at Northfield St Nicholas Primary School. They provide an outstanding, caring environment for pupils where high expectations have a huge impact on their progress and wellbeing. The Self Evaluation Report reflects the high quality of evaluation that exists in the school. It is comprehensive and reflects the school as seen by the assessor.
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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