Outwood Academy Bydales has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Culture of Kindness
Our assessor was pleased to return to Outwood Academy Bydales and see the progress that had been made against the targets from the previous review. Since the assessor’s last visit, the previous Principal has retired and after a thorough handover, a new Principal has been appointed from outside of the Trust. The Principal and senior leaders were keen to demonstrate the academy’s wide praise ‘culture of kindness’ with a relentless focus on ensuring children are supported by removing barriers that may lead them to miss out on learning opportunities.
The strength of the academy’s success lies in the robust school systems and policies driven by a team of dedicated leaders and staff. The leadership qualities of the Principal and the Senior Leadership Team continue to foster a culture of high standards along with love, care and compassion for their students. The word tolerance is no longer used and has instead been replaced with acceptance. The Principal is driving a focus on ensuring all children and staff have a sense of belonging at Outwood Academy Bydales, creating a school which engages with its community, adapting policy to support the most vulnerable whilst ensuring support for all.
Warm and Nurturing Staff
This could be seen at the start of the school day, when the assessor observed staff making adjustments for a student who was in the local authority care system. Staff were warm and nurturing, making reasonable adjustments to ensure this student felt supported. Their policy clearly jumping off the page, they praised this student and offered the support needed for that student to remain safe in school. The culture of positive praise and kindness has changed the narrative of staff, students, and their families where it is a regular occurrence to succeed. This change was in its infancy during the previous review but can be felt with the full force through the staff training around positive regard and noticing the achievements of all (no matter how small).
During the assessor’s meeting with the Principal and IQM Lead, the clear aim of providing high quality provision for the young people of Outwood Academy Bydales is paramount to all they do. They have created a clear plan for future-proofing provision in the academy and are keen to engage with other leaders to see their vision become reality. During the learning walk around the academy, the assessor was able to see how leaders have begun to develop their spaces throughout the school to provide this provision for those facing disadvantage in education.
Literacy is a high focus across the academy. Leaders have thought carefully about the use of staff and have used evidence from the Education Endowment Fund to shape the support given to students. Support staff are used effectively to provide high quality interventions both in and out of lesson time. The impact of this directed support can be seen in the success of students’ reading ages and a love of reading can be seen throughout lessons.
Passionate About Student Outcomes
All leaders and staff are passionate about student outcomes – not only academic outcomes but their social and emotional outcomes. Interventions and extracurricular opportunities are used as a vehicle to take students to the next stage. The lead for careers and enrichment is tenacious in their drive and passion to fill students’ lives with experiences that will help shape who they choose to be in the future. During the assessor’s visit they were able to observe a careers assembly to promote further education to students at Bydales. The lead was also able to show the assessor the work that had been carried out to make careers accessible to students through lunch time drop-in sessions where a range of providers will spend lunch time at the academy giving students the opportunity for more informal discussions to take place. To ensure students are constantly in receipt of advice around careers, the lead conducted an audit of staff confidence in discussing different career options with students. Using the results, staff training has been given to ensure that staff now feel more confident in this area. The lead was very proud to be able to share with the assessor that the school have a zero percentage for NEETs.
This ‘drip feeding’ approach can also be seen in the academy’s promotion of cultural capital and SMSC events. The vision for a student-led experience has ensured greater engagement with positive outcomes. Through leaders’ determination to ensure provision meets the needs of individual students and how they want their school experience to be, students’ personal interests are captured and turned into engaging opportunities for growth.
Ensuring children are in school has remained a key priority and through the relentlessness work of staff and the robust systems in place, leaders are able to report a further drop on PAs. Now students who last year would have had a high level of internal truancy and/or persistent absence are accessing school and attending through the drive to ensure students feel a sense of belonging and that staff really do care. Through the academy’s success with this, they have been able to provide support to other settings and have hosted other leaders to attend their school and spend time learning about their systems when it comes to attendance.
Enthusiasm and Passion
There is a genuine feeling of enthusiasm and passion for the young people of Marske and Redcar which runs through all including the governance of the academy. The DEEP support seen across the academy has been reviewed with ‘fresh eyes’ under the supportive leadership of SLT. The structure of support has been reviewed which has started the foundations for future plans which will have a lasting impact on students’ future opportunities and choices. Daily meetings with the inclusion team ensure concerns are noticed quickly and a solution focused approach is in place.
Visiting departments across the academy allowed the assessor an opportunity to feel the school’s commitment to inclusion. Staff training has ensured all teachers and support staff understand the needs of students ensuring lessons are purposeful, safe learning spaces for students.
The structure of support for all pupils has been carefully mapped out with judicious use of teaching assistants and targeted intervention strategies. It builds upon pupils’ previous knowledge, skills and understanding as well as identifying the pupils’ gaps in their learning. This means that all pupils are catered for so that they become confident and enjoy learning.
Safe Place
Our assessor was fortunate enough to have time with several students during their visit. The assessor was able to hear the feedback from those who experienced the different waves of intervention on offer across the academy. Students talked with confidence about their interactions with staff, describing their school as ‘being a family and never feeling alone.’ Students described the school as a ‘safe place’ and talked with confidence about the weekly safeguarding updates given in tutor time. Students enjoy coming to school and all were able to talk with joy about the number of external visitors who had been into school, and were due to come in.
Again, the assessor was privileged to witness the power of relationships as one student identified a member of staff and described them as being ‘like a parent’ to them when they needed support. The support students receive when they join the school was talked about with pride. Students all said how much they preferred the Bydales way compared to their previous schools. One student said to the assessor: ‘Do you see the smile on my face? It is because of this school.’ Students articulated how teachers and support staff at the academy support them to ‘fulfil their dreams’ about their future aspirations. It was a pleasure to spend time with the students and listen to their experiences at school. The enhanced curriculum offer, with a clear link to future learning and careers, enriches students’ lives exposing them to the world around them. Students were all able to talk about their individual journeys and acknowledge how they had been supported by staff to achieve.
Through a consistent approach and strong leadership, combined with engagement with those outside the academy and Trust, leaders have ensured a good school where children are valued beyond exam results. The school’s future plans to develop provision are exciting and will be of benefit for all students.
Find out more about the IQM Inclusive School Award
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