St Thomas More Catholic Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
Strong Inclusive Ethos
The school has a very strong inclusive ethos. Every single stakeholder described this from the head cook to the youngest child our Assessor spoke to. Pupils explained every person in the school matter. Kindness, care, and support are key messages repeated by all, alongside excellence, community, and nurture. One parent described it as “Excellent, supportive of families, wellbeing is central, they show they care.”
The school website starts its description of the school in this way: “We often refer to ourselves as ‘The St Thomas More Family,’ our school is a place of care, kindness, support, and happiness for all our children and adults. We achieve excellent academic results but what is even more important to us is that every child is known as an individual and cared for in the exact way they need.”
A group of key stage 2 (KS2) teachers and Learning Support Assistants (LSAs) said “The school has a family ethos, a togetherness, a loving, caring and nurturing environment that is also exciting – children get so excited as they achieve!”
The Headteacher said “We want our children happy, safe, and confident. Everything builds on that.”
One pupil said, “We do a lot of helping each other in this school.” Another added “I feel safe, and we get a lot of support.” Yet another said “This school is excellent for everyone. Even if you have a condition, you still get on really good in school, even autism, dyslexia, medical things, or anger.”
Sense of Community
The faith base of the school is foundational. The mission statement describes how the school wants children to leave being happy, confident, resilient, respectful, compassionate, ambitious, with strong moral values centred on their faith. These all came across from all stakeholders throughout. Parents explained “The sense of community, common interest and faith are a key message.” Another parent said “Values linked to faith are instilled throughout.” The Headteacher outlined “The faith base is the central core of all we do. All we do comes from care, respect, tolerance, and love.”
The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) explained that about five years ago, one child and their needs was the catalyst to becoming a Nurture focused school. In 2020 they achieved nurture accreditation. As the Headteacher explained, “We wanted to change completely so we did not get to crisis point with a child. Now every child has access to our layered approach.” What our Assessor saw throughout the two-day visit reflected this ethos from every angle.
The pastoral manager said “The success of the school stems from a strong pastoral base and focus. Children need to feel loved to be happy and successful, not only in academic success.” This matched the words of the SLT. They explained that the whole child is so important. They are proud of the academic success of their children, but they also see such value in ensuring the children are safe, happy, and confident. There are so many opportunities in place for children to succeed and grow, that both adults as well as children highlight opportunities offered that are creative and responsive to need.
The Headteacher said “Having gained nurture accreditation, we constantly evaluate what we can do next. We want a welcoming, nurturing, faith-based family ethos.”
Safe, Valued and Seen
Walking round the school, speaking to a range of adults in different roles and children, it is evident that all feel safe, valued and seen. They are treated as individuals, as one size clearly does not fit all, and alternative provision is put into place where needs arise, that then become part of best practice across the school.
Staff are rightly proud of their trauma informed status. They explained that following this training, they are more reflective and there is such a difference in the way in which they approach children and situations. The children also have seen this modelled and have become reflective themselves about how they feel and their actions.
There are many children with a range of complex needs at the school. However, walking around it was not obvious where they were. The resources set up to support all children ensured those with additional needs were not made to feel different. Workstations were available in most classes, visual timetables were accessed by all children and praised by the children as reducing anxiety for all. Children described a range of resources and strategies in place to help them all, from fiddle toys to laptops and extra adult support when needed.
A parent said “The little things the school does make a big difference to my child.” She described a quiet lunchtime space being set up to help with playground difficulties, preparation for transitions, and using things that her child loves to engage with in their learning. Nothing seemed too much for the staff to do for her child. The capacity of the team to be determined to meet each individual need was clear. It was based around ensuring needs are met early in order to avoid escalating issues down the line.
Alongside the family ethos, there is also a hands-on approach from SLT. The SENCo has an open-door policy, with staff describing how they pop in to discuss things with her all the time. The Deputy Headteacher described how she has explained to pupils that they can come to see her any time. This open communication form SLT appears available to children, staff, and parents alike. Staff were keen to describe how they felt so well supported, and where they have concerns, they are listened to.
Cultural Mix
The school has a wonderful cultural mix of families that they celebrate regularly. Staff have received training to better understand how to support their families such as Afruka charity. They have invested in visitors to the school, books, and events to encourage the children to celebrate each other and understand our world.
Our Assessor was lucky enough to walk into a Year 1 class in which the teacher was leading a session of mindfulness. However, this was mindfulness with preparation for the next session, linked to the next activity and clearly part of regular practice. For example, she asked the children to stand on one leg and balance like they were a pirate, getting ready to write their pirate letter. The result was a calm, engaged class, ready to learn, and supported through the transition.
Our Assessor saw that teaching in every class was fun, engaging, pacey yet calm. There were additional resources in all lessons, with word banks confidently used, slopes, adapted worksheets, and iPads. LSAs were always proactive, with lots of questioning, extending, and supporting independent working. The school has clearly invested heavily in staffing, but with remarkable results both in progress and also in engagement and every child feeling and being included within the whole class setting.
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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