St Andrew’s CE Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Sharing Expertise and Resources
St Andrew’s CE Primary School is a truly inclusive, 1-form entry, culturally diverse primary school in Stockwell, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The school is situated in an area of high socio-economic deprivation and has approximately 174 pupils on roll. Due to decreasing numbers of primary school aged children in the area, St Andrew’s is experiencing a falling roll and currently has a number of unfilled places. The percentage of pupils eligible for pupil premium (PP), pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) and those who speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) is well above the national average. Pupils entering Reception have a low baseline but make excellent progress within an outstanding environment. A high percentage of children with SEND in reception have communication and interaction as their primary level of need.
St Andrew’s formed a soft federation with Christchurch Primary SW9 in 2016, creating the SW9 partnership. The schools work closely together under the leadership of an Executive Headteacher sharing expertise and resources.
At St Andrew’s the Executive Headteacher is ably supported by a strong and dedicated Senior Leadership Team (SLT), which includes the Head of School (HOS), Deputy Headteacher/Special Educational Needs and Disability Co-ordinator (SENDCo), Psychotherapist/Wellbeing Lead (PWL) and Parent Partnership Lead (PPL). This dynamic team are ‘inclusion focussed’ and work to support all their pupils, families, and staff.
Great importance is placed on the Mental Health and Wellbeing of all, an area which the school felt to be a post pandemic priority. In addition to SEND support, current wellbeing and Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) provision includes Early Learning Support Assistant (ELSA) support, therapeutic art and yoga, therapeutic music, youth, and adult Mental Health first aid and child/family psychodynamic psychotherapy, offered by therapists and trainee therapists. The PWL runs SEMH specific groups, attachment groups and friendship and resilience groups. He also offers staff support through psychotherapy, check-ins, and supervision. The PPL offers family support on a whole range of issues including those around domestic violence, housing, and Mental Health. A 6-week parent gym programme is currently running at the school, led by volunteer parent gym coaches.
Inclusive Vision
St Andrew’s is a Flagship school for the Inclusive School Award, and this was the school’s 6th IQM Flagship review. At its last Ofsted inspection in January 2019, it was graded good overall, with outstanding leadership and management, personal development, behaviour and welfare and early years provision. The report praised the highly knowledgeable SENDCo.
The SIAMS report of March 2019 graded the school as excellent, praising its ‘inclusive vision’ and the school has achieved a number of awards, which externally validate the high-quality work which is going on at St Andrew’s. These include Artsmark Gold, NACE Challenge Award, RE Quality Mark Silver, Leading Parent Partnership Award, National Children’s Bureau Wellbeing Award for schools, Stonewall School Champions and the Professional Development Quality Mark Award.
The school is proud of being an inclusive school and their school motto is ‘Reach for the stars’ and beyond!’ This is underpinned by their 6 core values of faithfulness, joy, kindness, peace, love, and perseverance. Staff also have a St Andrew’s staff values charter.
St Andrew’s is a calm, happy, welcoming, and vibrant community, where staff and Governor’s work as a team and share a commitment to continuous school improvement and meeting the needs of every child. The EHT told our Assessor, “We are a small school, so we know everyone really well. We call it a family – it is a family. The children are the most important thing, and we want everyone to do well.”
The feeling of being a caring family was shared by all who were interviewed during the review day. The Executive Headteacher said that the school identify the children’s individual barriers to learning and staff work hard to overcome these challenges, so that the pupils can achieve success. There is a high level of need among the school population and there is great flexibility with the provision, in order to provide immediate and bespoke interventions where required. In addition, pupil progress meetings are held on a termly basis and the school successfully runs a wide range of impact driven, targeted interventions for pupils. There is a Teaching Assistant (TA) attached to each class, with interventions being delivered in the afternoons. One teacher commented on how well support staff were used with ‘a focus on children keeping up, not catching up’. Children do not have 1-1 support. The teacher stated: “Everyone works with our children. It’s a collegiate thing. It’s just good practise what we do.”
The HOS said: “Expectations are high for everybody. They’re all equal’.
Works Very Effectively
The school works very effectively with a wide range of external agencies, including the EP, SALT, Lambeth Autism Advisory Service, and the Educational Psychotherapist. St Andrew’s also employs the use of charities like Welcare who support groups of children who are struggling with their emotional regulation, Speech Bubbles, who develop communication, confidence and wellbeing through drama and Bookmark volunteer readers.
The community that the school serves is very diverse and this is celebrated, St Andrew’s has been part of the ‘Raising the Game’ initiative, put together by the Lambeth Schools Partnership, to raise the achievement of Black Caribbean pupils in Lambeth. The school’s racial justice champion has produced a racial justice plan.
The school site is beautifully cared for, and outdoor space is maximised to encourage purposeful learning and play. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) indoor and outdoor learning environment has been creatively developed to reflect the different areas of learning. A values mural covers one of the playground walls and there is an adventure area and football cage. The entrance to the school building is welcoming and internal displays reflect the curriculum, community and celebrate events. Corridor displays included those on super science, our parents at school, English, Feelings and Windrush. The school has a sensory/intervention space and a multi-purpose portacabin.
There is a consistent approach to classroom organisation, classroom environments and teaching strategies help to both support and scaffold pupils’ learning and encourage independence. All classrooms have visual timetables, writing and maths working walls, colourful semantics displays, an RE table and values posters. Behaviour for learning observed during the assessment was exemplary, with one member of staff telling our Assessor that the children’s behaviour is ‘incredible’. The staff have engaged in trauma informed training, resulting in a change in the way that staff manage behaviour. The school uses Zones of Regulation and a traffic light system for behaviour which enables children to work towards moving up from green to silver and gold. Some classes use the class dojo system. There are worry boxes in some year groups, where children can share any concerns that they have and know that an adult will help them with it. The Worshipful Company of Weavers has supported the school in a number of ways, including through purchasing chrome books and iPads for the children.
Creative Curriculum
St Andrews offers a creative curriculum and is ‘highly committed to promoting creativity through the arts, music and outdoor learning activities.’ The curriculum reflects the local community and heritage of the children and encourages the school values, helping the children to explore what it means to be kind, caring, thoughtful and respectful citizens. The SW9 partnership has worked together to produce SW9 learning journeys for individual subject areas. St Andrew’s has implemented the Little Wandle letters and sounds revised phonics programme, a teaching for mastery approach in maths, using White Rose and the Jigsaw programme in Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE). Children learn Spanish as their (Modern Foreign Language (MFL) at the school. The curriculum is further enhanced through extra-curricular clubs, trips, visits, and celebrations such as the Enthusekids football tournament, trip to Kidzania, carol singing and World Book Day. Year 6 pupils were very excited to be going on their upcoming residential visit in July.
Pupils were enthusiastic to share information about all the badges and awards that they can achieve in school. These include a number of reward badges, such as for showing a school value, being a star reader or for 100% attendance. Children feel very proud if they are given a values ambassador award for frequently showing a particular value and enjoy the weekly celebration assembly. One pupil said: “They like to show us that we’ve done something good.”
Opportunities to take responsibility within school are also offered, for example through the school council, eco team, faith group, language experts, digital leaders, and Mental Health Ambassadors. A St Andrew’s prayer created by the faith group who meet weekly, was evident around the school and work in school is shared through the St Andrew’s All Stars blog on the school website. The pupils interviewed were great ambassadors for the school, making comments like: “There’s lots of nice teachers” and “we have nice values.”
Stable and Happy Staff
St Andrew’s has stable and happy staff, who feel very well supported by the EHT, HOS, Senior Leaders, and whole-school team. They expressed that the SLT door is always open if they need support for a child or themselves. Comments from staff included: ‘‘I love the atmosphere. It’s a really friendly school” and “SLT make sure we are looked after. You can go to anyone if you have a problem’.
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is a huge strength of the school, with weekly CPD for teachers and TAs in addition to staff meetings, which are shared with their partner school. This year a range of SEND CPD has been offered, including that on scaffolding and adaptive teaching and running successful interventions. Opportunities to plan together as partner schools and to moderate work are also offered. CPD beyond the school is actively encouraged and a number of staff are undertaking nationally accredited qualifications, including a range of NPQ qualifications and a Masters in Educational Leadership. Maximising the Impact of Teaching Assistants (MITA) training is held weekly for TAs.
Parents shared their highly positive experiences of St Andrew’s and the support that their child/children and themselves had been given. They have found the SENDCo and staff to be very caring, understanding, and supportive and appreciate the open-door policy at the school, which enables them to address any concerns and issues immediately.
They stated that the SENDCo always has time for them in the playground and told our Assessor about many of the adaptations that had been made for their children in order to fully meet their needs, thereby successfully including them in the school. These included an energy management tool and incentive hot chocolate for a child with a heart condition, which has improved her energy levels and attendance, setting up a video call and virtual tour with a new teacher to allay a child’s anxiety, play therapy to help increase a child’s confidence and providing additional support such as body breaks and a chair with wheels. Parents made comments like: “I love St Andrew’s because of the support. My child is happy here.”
Their message to prospective parents was “definitely send your child here!”
Positive Relationships with Parents
The school is working hard to rebuild positive relationships with parents, which suffered due to the pandemic. It relaunched their PTA, The Friends of St Andrews, last September and have held a successful Christmas bazaar and are planning a summer fete. During the review day Reception parents/carers attended a reception class assembly. The school communicates with parents using a range of means including by parent mail and the weekly school newsletter. They also hold parent/carer workshops and SEND coffee mornings with a range of foci. Weekly school tours are offered to prospective parents. St Andrew’s runs a breakfast and after school club, utilising The Department for Education (DFE) magic breakfast scheme, which provides free bagels. St Andrew’s is part of the Supporting TSIP Parental Engagement project run by the Oval Learning Cluster and Your Story charity.
The Parent Governor interviewed is the Link Governor for SEND and meets with the SENDCo at least termly to inform herself about what is going on in the school. Our Assessor was told that St Andrew’s has a ‘strong and supportive’ Governing body who provide ‘friendly challenge’ to the senior leadership of the school. Governors are linked to individual subject areas and can access training through Lambeth school services in order to fulfil their roles effectively.
The Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) report of March 2019 praised the outward looking nature of the school as being exemplary, stating: “Its many partnerships with other schools and bodies enrich its practice and allow it to enrich others.”
St Andrew’s belongs to a number of partnerships beyond the school, including being part of the Oval Learning Cluster, comprising of 12 schools, through which they have been able to be part of a range of projects, providing additional courses and opportunities for children and parents. They also work closely with a range of charities, such as Welcome; Bookmark; Art4Space and Action Breaks Silence and have developed a partnership with Lansdowne Special school. Subject leaders meet as part of the various LA forums. St Andrew’s is affiliated to St Michael’s Church, with the vicar visiting St Andrew’s each Monday. The SENDCo actively participates in the IQM SHELL Cluster group meetings.
Our Assessor added, “In conclusion, it was a pleasure to visit such a shining example of an IQM Flagship School. The school continues to move from strength to strength in terms of its superb inclusive practice and I am firmly of the opinion that the school fully meets the standard required by Inclusion Quality Mark to maintain its status as a Flagship School.”
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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