Outwood Grange Academy has achieved has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Utilised Expertise to Secure Stability
Outwood Grange Academy is a mainstream secondary school for students aged 11-19 years with 1,962 on roll, with 210 in post-16. The population consists of 12.5% disadvantaged and 6.6% Special Education Needs (SEN) support, which is below the national average. Autism and Specific Learning Difficulties are the academy’s primary needs, followed closely by Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.
Outwood Grange Academy is part of Outwood Grange Academies Trust, which has 48 schools and post-16 provisions across the North of England. Attendance currently sits at 93.1% which is above national average.
Although there have been several changes in leadership across the last three years and throughout the pandemic, the Trust’s executive leadership strategically utilised expertise to secure stability. The new Principal took up the role full-time from Easter 2022.
Inclusion Practice
Guidance documents are provided at Trust level for all aspects of inclusion practice within the academy. These documents are written by Directors who visit schools regularly and in collaboration with the leaders. The Vice Principals of Deep Support work closely together to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of all policies and collaborate with the Principal and Directors to review these, where necessary. Trust ethos ‘Students first’ and all the policies support the inclusive practice in school. Students receive regular input through the tutor programme and assemblies to promote respect.
As a school at the centre of a high performing Multi Academy Trust, Outwood Grange Academy embraces the opportunity to ensure that all children, irrespective of their starting point, receive an excellent education. The school relishes the opportunity to be part of the much needed regeneration of the areas in which the academies are situated. The school also takes great pride in the extensive work the leaders and staff do in sharing good practice across the North, putting students to the forefront, so they can reach their full potential. The staff are experts in their fields and this includes the inclusive provision. They are relentless in their pursuit of excellence for all students and for the communities which they serve. The vision is to put students first: raising standards and transforming lives.
The academy has 34 primary feeder schools, with 10 providing the main population.
There are established links to the local community including employers, apprenticeships, colleges, universities, work experience opportunities and services including St. Giles, Future in Mind and Wakefield Inclusion Special Educational Needs & Disabilities Support Service (WISENDSS).
Student Voice
There is a robust personal development curriculum in place that links to the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) and Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) curriculums and is threaded throughout subjects, form time, careers and assemblies. The academy is fortunate to employ a Safer Schools Police Officer four days a week to support with the personal development curriculum and contextualised safeguarding issues, as well as education on the law.
Student voice is captured via form representatives and year group representatives who liaise directly with the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) to raise concerns or suggestions.
Students are recognised through a plethora of praise initiatives which include: general praise (stamps and stickers); PROUD Thursday where nominations are made by teachers for students whose work is of a good standard or an improvement in effort and/or attainment; classroom champions where staff nominate a classroom champion each week; a student is randomly selected each week to receive donuts for their Friday class; class act where classes are nominated by their teachers to be rewarded the following week with a sweet treat during that lesson and the teacher can ‘take five’ to chat to the group about why they were nominated for class act; a celebration event is held at the end of each half term to celebrate attendance and praise. This year these have included inflatable obstacle courses, trampolines and other fun activities.
Felt Safe in School
The pupils spoken to said that they felt safe in school and could give examples of who they would talk to if they had a concern.
All the lessons our Assessor visited displayed full student engagement and inclusive teaching that provided appropriate support for a variety of students including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), English as an Additional Language (EAL) and disadvantaged students. Progress was evident in book scrutinies.
Parents and Governors spoke highly of the support their children had received and could not suggest any improvements to be made to the academy when asked.
The academy has identified several areas that they want to develop further, which include Continued Professional Development (CPD) in SEN for all staff, the introduction of a numeracy Red, Amber Green (RAG) status programme that mirrors the literacy one already in place, sharing strategies for pupils with SEN with cover staff and to increase parent voice surveys.
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.