St. William’s Catholic Primary School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Passionate About Providing Inclusive Opportunities
St. William’s Catholic Primary School places relationships at the heart of everything they do. This was clear to our Assessor who spent a wonderful day talking with children, staff, parents, Governors, volunteers, and support staff.
Placed in an area of social deprivation, with 51% of children with pupil premium (PP) status, 20% with English as an additional language (EAL) and 23% on the Special Educational Needs and Disability SEND register, St. William’s are passionate about providing inclusive opportunities and support for every child.
The Inclusion Lead is passionate, driven, and enthusiastic, using her expertise and influence to drive forward both Inclusion and the TIS programme across school.
Walking through the school, while being enlightened and entertained by the wonderful children, it was clear to see that children come first at St. William’s. They are valued, listened to, and supported on their learning journeys. Furthermore, these learning journeys are vibrant, exciting, holistic, and inclusive.
The diversification and expertise within the staff is astounding. From the experienced to the young there is a clear pathway for development and growth. The motivation of every staff member spoken with to expand their roles and their willingness to embrace CPD was clearly evident. This is led expertly from the front, with a skilled and supportive SLT and complimented by an army of expert and determined staff.
Positive Impact
Looking throughout the school at the evidence in place, it was evident that the TIS programme is having a positive impact across school. Mental Health and Wellbeing for staff and pupils is a priority. The culture and ethos of the school oozes throughout. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it!” There is consistent messaging, examples include “Brain House” and personalised “Self-Regulation Cards” which are seen in every classroom.
CPD informs and grows the model and adds quality to the aspiration to become an “Accredited Thinking School” – which our Assessor is sure is only a matter of due course.
TIS Interventions are varied, including some commonalties centred on being away from the “school desk” in a calm environment that is chosen by the child. Interventions include creative use of the sand-trays and a “Big Empathy Draw”. During the intervention trained staff will attempt to unpick how life feels for the child, unpick what is going on with an individual, trying to gain an understanding of what may be causing the trauma. Children will often divulge information they do not realise. Examples were shared with a KS2 child and a child from Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), who have both gone on to make fantastic progress as a result of the TIS interventions.
Inclusive values are evident right across the school environment. The learning walk took me through the colourful corridors with some fantastic displays and interactive calming interventions such as the fish tank (which is valued and loved by the children).
Welcoming and Happy
The classrooms (and the children and staff within them) are welcoming and happy. There is a uniformity with the displays and meta cognition posters that are showcased. Other interventions and supported resources include “Thinking Frames,” and “Flipping the Lid – Brain House”.
Links with the community are in place. A Forest School, placed at the neighbouring children’s centre is timetabled and used regularly by all classes. Global awareness is prioritised. There is a celebration of heritage throughout school and the outdoor learning environment is engaging and used well, this includes the Peace Garden, Cycling Hut, Adventure Frame and Daily Mile Track.
While the building and its environment is a real strength of the school, promoting and fostering inclusivity, it is the people within it that forms the real heart at St. William’s. The children are wonderful, they speak positively and passionately about their learning and how they are supported by all staff. Wellbeing is a priority and pupils are encouraged to be confident with a can-do attitude. They are gaining resilience and are learning to become independent learners.
Making Children Feel Safe
Making children feel safe, removing anxiety and providing an environment where the pressures of learning are removed permeates throughout the school. Children are allowed to make mistakes, staff are supportive and calm in helping the children overcome learning difficulties while the teachers are kind, caring and relatable.
The curriculum is broad, balanced and accessible to all. The range and type of activities enthuses children. There is a varied extracurricular programme of activity and enrichment which includes sports and arts. There is a focus on cultural capital, bringing to life learning through educational visits, school visitors and using aspirational members of the community as role models.
Despite the fantastic inclusive provision there is a vision for the future at St. William’s, they don’t want to stand still! Moving forward and developing their “Thinking School” status, they want to move beyond retrieval and knowledge to children having a raised awareness of how thinking happens and how the brain works. They want children to be able to recognise strategies they can use to help them to self-regulate and put these into action in times of need.
Furthermore, discussions centred on expanding intervention therapies to include the subjects of Art, Music and Sport, which was agreed would fit really well with some children, providing additional trauma coping strategies in a kinaesthetic way.
Open thinking and a flexible approach to break times further embeds the approach taken to suit the needs of the children. Staff can choose when to take their class out to play, there is no set time, as long as there are not more than 2 classes out at a time.
Positive Focus on Relationships
During the pupil discussion, the children provided some insightful approaches and strategies taken and used to both help them think and to help them cope. They talked about using colours, closing your eyes, “getting lost in a book – falling into your story”, talking to teachers, meditation, finger breathing, thinking of their “happy place”, using “Thinking frames”, working walls, achievement walls, “I’m a meta learner”, sound matts and a strategy they call “Three before me – Think, Ask, Equipment”.
Parent discussion confirmed that there is a positive focus on relationships. There is consistent messaging right from the top. Children’s wellbeing is paramount. The school “work with you and don’t judge”. Governors talked about “future proofing” the lives of the children. They recognised the fantastic jobs that teachers do, how much time and effort they put into the lives of the children they teach. They are providing “Tools for life”, which enable children to have dreams and aspirations.
Whole-School Approach
At St. William’s, Inclusion is a whole-school approach. The behaviour of the children reflects this. Children are developing their understanding of self-regulation strategies. For the teachers this is embedded within their practice. There is less sanctioning and more of a focus on positive praise and restorative justice. “Gentle on the child – firm on the boundaries” as the Inclusion Lead described.
St. William’s coupled approach of providing a fully inclusive learning offer with their continued pursuit of improving and building for the future is clear to see.
Our Assessor added, “It was a privilege to meet such a dedicated team and an amazing set of children, who regard inclusion as a way of life, offering children and their families rich experiences and opportunities which reach far beyond the academic curriculum. Thank you to everyone, who made my day so special.”
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.