Shared Vision, Policies and Procedures
St Wilfrid’s Academy is part of the Delta Academy Trust and is a 125 place alternative provision, catering for pre Key Stage 4 pupils and Key Stage 4 pupils, approximately 50% of pupils are Key Stage 4. They provide Day 6 exclusion and assessment places for the Local Authority, feeding assessment overviews back to the In-Year Fair Access Panel (IYFAP), Special Educational Needs (SEN) and inclusion panels help to ensure the most appropriate education settings are sourced to meet the needs of their pupils when transitioning from the Academy. As the Academy is part of the Delta Academy Trust, there is a shared vision, policies and procedures and continue to embed these as a joint Educational Advisory board has been established to share Governance and challenge good practice.
The Academy takes a transitional approach to supporting their pupils, through assessment and supportive work through their Taskforce, consisting of an Early Help Coordinator, Youth Justice Worker, Family Support Worker, Careers advisor and therapist. This allows the Academy to work with more young people and provide earlier intervention. For Key Stage 3 the Academy delivers a topic based curriculum, and the pupils are assessed for gaps in their knowledge which can be addressed appropriately. Key Stage 4 offers vocational qualifications and positive destinations in partnership with local providers, the success of which is evidenced in their NEETS figures which are extremely low at 4%.
Exemplary Practice and Bespoke Curriculum
Due to their exemplary practice and bespoke curriculum pathways, they have replicated their curriculum and ethos to support another AP and now have a sister school in Leeds, also offering a broad and balanced curriculum, personalised to the students with support from a multidisciplinary team. This in turn has supported their application through the DfE pilot to apply for Wave 15 Alternative Provision Free Schools and they currently have 4 applications in place for Local Authorities with areas of acute need for this provision. This will form the basis of their IQM Flagship Project.
In discussion with the Taskforce Team, the Early Help Coordinator described how the team map all cases and can access information from Multicultural Office for Student Access, Inclusiveness, and Community (MOSAIC) to enable assessment and offer support to the young people and their parents to prevent escalation to social care or transition successfully from social care.
The Youth Justice Worker described how he focuses initially on creating a rapport and positive relationships as the engagement is voluntary for the young person and provides support at the right time with quick referral turnovers which has proven to be impactful with fewer young people going through the Youth Justice system. Furthermore, due to the relationships built with families, the Youth Justice Worker can engage with younger siblings at risk of criminality, therefore supporting engagement at an early stage. They described how working closely within the Taskforce enabling ‘early support in the moment’ with improved communication and sharing of information of young people who meet the Taskforce criteria.
Further members of the Taskforce are a Family Support Worker; a careers advisor and Post-16 transition Coach to sustain the engagement of the young people and provide a bespoke provision; a therapist to support and build resilience; a speech and language therapist. St Wilfrid’s Academy now has a purpose built Hub which houses the Taskforce. The building is on site but has a separate entrance therefore can be accessed out of school hours. The Taskforce pilot has been extended until March 2025 with 25% match funding. Due to their exceptional practice, St Wilfrid’s has been used in the DfE promotional video for Wave 15 free schools.
Support and Tutoring for Young People
Moreover, the Hub provides support and tutoring for young people who are not at the point where they can access full time educational offer. They initially attend mornings in the Hub with a Maths and English tutor with opportunity to engage with option classes to eventually extend their day. As the Principal explained, St Wilfrid’s is ‘helping the young people get the best possible grades we can’ by offering bespoke provision which has resulted in 100% gaining their functional Skills qualifications and 78% passing Maths and English combined in July 2022.
The Academy provides reading routes which has been adapted from the Delta model to encourage engagement in reading and does not limit the route to a specific age group or year marker in order to encourage reading across all abilities. Furthermore, the Academy has an extended tutor time weekly where all tutors read to the class for further engagement. Our Assessor observed the word of the day being provided in each classroom which has also been adapted to ensure cross curricular themes and therefore more relevant to the students.
While at St Wilfrid’s our Assessor observed an extremely engaging English lesson were all students participated in discussion to support their Speaking and Listening for English GCSE. The teacher used THRIVE methods to support the students through a sensory box and allowing them to walk, circle the room or sit, supported by differentiated resources and adapting to their individual needs, yet all the time providing ground rules and putting their learning into context with the exam board criteria.
The teacher and member of support staff provided interchangeable roles and all students engaged and worked together with their support. This would not necessarily be possible in a mainstream setting, however the detailed information from the Group Passport regarding each individual student, was utilised effectively to enable their participation and learning, providing high standards but reasonable adjustments.
In discussion with 2 of the students from this lesson, 1 described how they prefer the smaller class sizes as “the teacher can focus on you more and if something is going on, they can tell”. The other student explained how he had stopped attending his previous school and prefers the smaller size of the school with less people and how the curriculum supported his learning. It was obvious that he felt more comfortable at St Wilfrid’s than in a mainstream setting as he described, “We are so amazing our brains decided not to work like the mainstream setting wanted,” he described the positive experiences he was having with plans for his future.
The meeting with parents confirmed this describing how the Academy looked at the child and assesses their needs to inform teaching strategies to support his different way of learning which has resulted in higher grades. They described how all the staff are friendly and have formed good relationships with their child, from the minibus driver to Personal Learning Advocates (PLAs) in school stating, “they are so friendly, like the aunties he has never had.” They stated they had a better relationship with effective communication and positive experiences of their child’s education through the Academy providing a regular showcase for parents and provision of excellent tangible rewards.
They stated their child is “completely different because of attending St Wilfrid’s, his social skills are 100% better and talks to everyone like they are family,” and felt the school should be replicated which is certainly high praise for the Academy methods and their ethos. All of which provide evidence of St Wilfrid’s continuing efforts to successfully reengage reluctant learners and further improve their attendance.
Build Relationships with the Young People
There is a huge emphasis on wellbeing in the Academy with a Wellbeing Suite provided with counsellors on site to address issues immediately with a positive aspect encouraging reparation, to discuss the reasons of concern to enable the young person to reset and reengage with learning. From this, trends and issues can be quickly identified and are reported weekly to enable relevant intervention to start the next week. In addition, St Wilfrid’s employ PLAs as a first line of defence; to ensure the student’s basic needs are being met and to build relationships with the young people and their families. There are 5 PLAs with one working offsite visiting young people and their families in the home, 2 working with Key Stage 2/3 students and 2 with Key Stage 4.
St Wilfrid’s has THRIVE trained practitioners in the staff team. The programme is developed to support social and emotional needs of the pupils and assessments can be provided for individual pupils and, from September 2022, they have developed group passports to inform strategies for their class teachers or as part of the transitional information. In discussion with the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo) and Special Education Needs and Sensor Operator (SENSo), they explained that the students’ – Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) needs are supported through their Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or SEN support plan to support the Assess, Plan Do and Review (APDR) process or are provided THRIVE targets.
With dual registered students they offer support to their other school. This ensures all student’s individual needs are catered for within lessons and for transitional support with age appropriate but also developmentally appropriate action plans and strategies. A Key Stage 4 PLA described the bespoke provision and information provided at St Wilfrid’s as raising the reputation of the Academy with the quality of the inclusive provision they deliver, stating, “Everything we do is a lot more in-depth,” adapting to the needs of the students through differentiation in class and more flexible enrichment opportunities.
St Wilfrid’s has a high turnaround of Key Stage 2/3 students as their service level agreements gather extra SEN information and strategies through assessment which follows the students through transition to their mainstream provision, improving their success through a phased reintegration with a new focus. This provides a joined up process which is really embedded in the provision delivering a proactive approach to inclusion. The Principal described how they are sharpening practice based on Quality Marks and can evidence a robust model of impact.
St Wilfrid’s Academy has an exciting and unique Flagship Project planned which is already in the first stages offering their experience, expertise and good practice to replicate the Alternative Provision offer across further Local Authorities, in areas with acute need, through the Wave 15 Alternative Provision Free Schools. This is based on their successful DfE pilot to provide strategic implementation of the Taskforce of multidisciplinary teams to effectively respond to the complex needs of the pupils and respond in a timely manner and embed the ethos and culture of inclusion, contributing their knowledge over the last 10 years and enabling them to share their journey providing rapid school improvements.
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