Ronald Openshaw Nursery Education Centre in Stratford has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Proudly Outward-Facing
Ronald Openshaw Nursery Education Centre (RONEC) is a large mainstream nursery education centre which has a number of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as some with profound and multiple learning difficulties. RONEC has been a Centre of Excellence for three years and is now developing its Flagship Project.
RONEC is proudly outward-facing and keen to share with other settings. At the start of the day, the Headteacher and IQM Lead told me they want not only to do the IQM Award as a celebration of everything they do but also to be able to take part in the reciprocal sharing of ideas and good practice with other schools.
When asked to tell me how she would articulate her inclusive ethos in one sentence, the Headteacher is so passionate about inclusion that she takes three sentences.
She told me it was about: “treating every child as an individual”, and “children who have been here understand disability”.
The third sentence was the most telling of all, “The measure of inclusion is when children with learning difficulties get invited to birthday parties and don’t stand out in class.”
The success of what the Headteacher had conveyed was clear during our Assessor’s learning walk when they were unable to pick out the children with learning difficulties in the classroom.
Of the school population, 85% have a mother tongue other than English and the centre is able to use this to help support its inclusive practices. The Headteacher explained that, for example, they often invite parents/carers to take part in different activities, such as sharing their own stories and cultural practices.
RONEC likes to mark events like Chinese New Year and Black History Month in practical ways, such as cooking, books and clothes or taking the children to a shop about African music and art.
Unconscious Bias
RONEC also works hard to make sure their resources are reflective of the local community/school population, for example, the setting has black, white and Asian dolls.
When the staff at the nursery noticed that the children all wanted to play with the white dolls, they made a point of looking at unconscious bias and thinking about ways to educate the children about that.
Walking round the nursery it was lovely to see all children engaged in the activities that were helping them learn as well as the special sensory rooms being made full use of. Our Assessor was particularly fascinated to hear staff at the centre do not plan lessons in the traditional sense.
The IQM Lead explained they used to do lots of planning and set up lots of activities but the children did not choose to engage and time was wasted that way.
Staff also found that they were not being as inclusive as they wanted to be since they were always thinking about the “average” child yet found that sticking rigidly to planned activities, “stunted learning and imagination”.
With the shift to the “no planning approach”, all children just go to the cupboards to get the resources they want and the teacher is then able to respond to them and encourages/stretches them at their pace.
Resources Relevant to Children
Our Assessor met with a teacher who had been at the nursery for several years and explained that teaching staff spend a lot of time looking for resources that are relevant to the children as well as accessible for everyone who may want to use them.
RONEC provides staff with regular time to think about the type of activities different children may do with different resources and to make sure they are differentiated, telling me, “everybody is valued and everybody is welcome”.
Teachers and support staff use a variety of assessment tools; it is not a statutory duty to assess, but staff at RONEC do. However, they feel it is more inclusive to assess progress at this stage.
One important way of assessing children is through the use of ‘Special Books’. Teachers and support staff record activities, pieces of work, conversations or other tasks carried out by the children in their ‘Special Book’.
The children often decide what they would like to have recorded in their books as well as staff deciding on that. Each child has a ‘Special Week’ where staff take an in-depth look at a particular child and record her/his progress. The children are very proud of their books and our Assessor was lucky enough to meet with a group of children who were happy and confident to show their books and explain particular drawings or other pieces of work.
‘Warm and Friendly Nursery’
Our Assessor had the opportunity to meet with a parent whose son has spina bifida. She had been unable to find her son a place in other nurseries but RONEC, she says, “just knew what they were doing”.
She went on to explain that the nursery will try really hard to make sure her son is out of his wheelchair, whenever possible, so they will make sure he uses splints to be able to stand at the sand pit or take him out of his chair to sit on the carpet with other children to listen to story time. The parent said that RONEC is a very, “warm and friendly nursery and most parents I speak to are happy.”
This parent is delighted with the progress her son has made both socially and physically. She has seen massive developments; he is talking about friends and he is able to do things from taking part in swimming lessons to using his cutlery better.
Our Assessor also spoke with a Governor during at RONEC who explained that Governors are all very knowledgeable about safeguarding, having had training this academic year and that they also are very well informed and supportive of the Flagship Project.
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.