South Farnborough Junior School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Pupils and Families are Always the Pirority
Our Assessor explained it was lovely to return to South Farnborough Junior School and complete a second review. The progress that has been made in 12 months is both admirable and astounding and all stakeholders should be extremely proud of themselves as it is clear that the pupils and their families are always the priority.
Since the last visit restructuring of the SLT has occurred due to the Deputy Headteacher moving on to further her career. The Inclusion Leader is now the Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion Leader and SENDCo), and the previous Assistant Headteacher is now the school’s Deputy Headteacher. Both the Deputy Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion Leader and SENDCo) are fully qualified SENDCos and have the NASEN Award. As a result of this, they both work very closely together on inclusion matters which is what is needed due to the organisation of SEND needs in the mainstream school and the specialist Moderate Learning Department (MLD) unit.
When visiting the MLD unit the Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion Leader and SENDCo) explained that the biggest category of need in the specialist unit is communication and interaction despite the unit’s primary use being to support children with Moderate Learning Difficulties. Due to the restructuring the Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion leader and SENDCo) is no longer a teacher in the unit and a full-time teacher has been employed to teach the children. Hampshire County Council has funded the full-time teacher’s place in the school, and she is a great asset to the team.
Communication and Interaction
With communication and interaction being the largest category of need, both the Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion Leader and SENDCo) and MLD unit class teacher have completed ‘Word Aware’ training, which uses ELKLAN based principles to support the development of language for pupils. The aim is to share this knowledge with the rest of the staff during a staff training session so that strategies can be used to continue Quality First Teaching (QFT) in each class.
The school have a school dog called Rocky who visits the school during the school week (Monday morning, Tuesday on the school gate and Thursday all day). The School Business Manager discussed how the school dog has helped children with their SEMH and improved attendance as a result. He has particularly supported children who have EBSNA (Emotionally Based School Non-Avoidance), helping them to get into school and checking-in on them during the school day. The School Business Manager stated that the children understand the dog’s needs well and know not to crowd him and to give him space. The school have ‘Rocky Rules,’ which the children follow in order to be good citizens – they follow many of the protected characteristics that the school teach the children during assemblies and throughout the curriculum.
These are some of the comments that the pupils made with regards to Rocky: “Rocky makes school easier for me because some mornings I do not want to go to school. He has helped me with stuff at home.” (Year 3 pupil); “Rocky makes me feel happy and relaxed.” (Year 4 pupil); “Rocky has helped me because I have been worried at school. He makes me feel happy and way better.” (Year 5 child).
The acute awareness and understanding of each pupil’s needs is clear at the school. The school are in the second year of following the newly developed PDL curriculum (Personal Development Learning) and changes have already been made to include the Zones of Regulation curriculum to ensure this is not a standalone curriculum to support emotional regulation. When questioned last year on the aims of the new PDL curriculum the PDL Lead stated the following: “I wanted the Personal, Health, Social and Economic (PSHE) curriculum to include so much more. I wanted teaching and learning around safety, the world around us, current world issues, past world issues that shape us today. I also wanted to link the PDL curriculum to the school values, British values, and the values of the local and wider community.”
Staff are Regularly Reviewing
It is evident that staff are regularly reviewing and amending policies and the curriculum in the best interests of the children and their families. Cross-curricular links are made between all subjects across the school day as well as during collective periods of the day, such as assemblies. It is an extremely difficult task to ensure the key themes and priorities that the school are focussing on are threaded together and South Farnborough Junior School have done this excellently with the children at the heart.
Collective worship and the quality of assembly times has been made a priority this year. The collective worship session that our Assessor had the pleasure of observing was able to link both parables from the Bible with themes from the present day, which made the concepts relatable and understandable. A new feature of the assemblies this year has been teaching the children about ‘Protected Characteristics.’ When discussing what ‘protected characteristics’ are and the importance of sharing the qualities with the Headteacher, she stated “These links in with the Equalities Act to ensure that everyone is treated equally regardless of their age, gender, race, culture and so on.”
Values are Clearly Displayed
The values of Pride, Resilience, Empathy, Excellence, Creativity and Happiness are shared with the children during assembly times, and also throughout the curriculum. The values are clearly displayed in the school main reception area, as well as in communal areas, in order to remind pupils. As well as sharing the school values and protected characteristics, British Values are also shared, which shows how much the staff at South Farnborough Junior School value diversity and inclusion for all.
The School Governing Body and parents/carers play a very important role in the school. It is lovely to hear how both the Governing body and parents/carers are consulted when changes are being made throughout the school. For example, when discussing the Flagship Award with the Assistant Headteacher (Inclusion Leader and SENDCo), which is concerned with the writing of a Relational Policy, ensuring all stakeholders are involved in each process is stressed.
The Heart of the School
Post pandemic, parents/carers now work in the school library supporting children with the loan of books and encouraging children to read for pleasure.
The heart of the school however are the pupils and the respect and care for each individual child permeates through the school. The high expectations are mirrored with supporting the child’s academic and pastoral development.
Our Assessor had the pleasure of sitting with the children at the end of their lunch break and asking them about their experiences at South Farnborough Junior School. They stated the following: “I like that everyone is different here – boys/girls, different coloured skin, and religions. I like that my school is like this.”; “I like the gym equipment outside on the playground.”; “I like reading by myself on Fridays (reading for pleasure).”; “I feel safe and comfortable. My therapist comes here to school and helps me.”
Our Assessor added, “It was an absolute pleasure to visit South Farnborough Junior School for the second time as part of their Centre of Excellence Year 3 review. It is clear from the review process that all stakeholders value and celebrate diversity and inclusion in all its forms.”
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.
• Our inaugural National Inclusion Conference will take place on the 27th November, for further details click here.