Temple Ewell PS Achieves Flagship status

Visiting Temple Ewell Primary School is always a pleasure.  This is a small school with a very big heart.  Children come first in everything, and it is true to say that this is a child-centred school – unashamedly so.  Staff stay at the school for a very long time.  This is a place where they are listened to, they are part of the team, and they can run with different ideas if they will benefit the children.  They are valued by the Headteacher and Governors and each other as well as by parents and of course the children.  There are strong relationships at every level that make this schoolwork so well, and ensure it thrives rather than just survives.

Our accessor first met with the Headteacher and Deputy Headteacher/Inclusion Lead and they told them about what had been happening in the school since our accessor last visited.  The school received another inspection which turned into a full inspection in July 2023, where the school was graded as ‘Good’.  Even with the pressure of a second inspection our inspector saw real progress made with their Flagship project and with the school generally.  Outcomes at all levels were very good this year and the school remains oversubscribed and is very popular.

Our assessor and the school discussed the safeguarding policy and practice and what had been put in place since that previous inspection.  The criticism was about safeguarding record keeping and the Trust stepped in and bought a Broncom system for all their schools to keep their records on.  The system has many other uses as well and the school is now becoming familiar with what else the system can do.  There are also regular independent safeguarding audits to make sure that nothing is left to chance.  Our assessor is assured that all processes are in place and all staff are properly trained and are provided with regular updates.  The Inclusion Lead is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL), but she is supported by others.  She has introduced (some years ago) a supervision system for all staff that they told the assessor is very useful and helps them deal with many of the issues they face.  The two teachers our assessor met later that afternoon were particularly keen to tell the assessor about this supportive process and gave them examples of how it had helped them.

Talking to the Headteacher they spoke about the particular problems or barriers faced by her small school.  Finance and lack of resources are the main things.  Being part of the Aquilla Trust is helpful and they provide some very useful services.

The school cannot take any more Early Career Teachers (ECTs) because the new regulations mean they do not have the 20 hours of mentor training that is required.  This is a shame but cannot be helped and most small schools have taken the same decision.

The Headteacher is a consultant headteacher and supports other schools and she has mentored new headteachers in the area for the last five years.  Her Deputy Headteacher and other staff also go out to support schools and the income they bring in helps to supplement the school budget in a small way.

Job Satisfaction Is Strong

The school staff are very experienced but are expensive; however, they bend over backward to support the children and their families as well as each other.  They work in partnership and always reflect on their practice and are always willing to try new things.  There is no complacency.  One factor that keeps teachers and support staff at the school is that they are allowed and enabled to be creative and to follow up on ideas so that job satisfaction is strong.  Morale is high once again and there is a ‘can-do’ attitude.

The Headteacher told our assessor that she has a good network of other headteachers and she meets many regularly through the Trust and often participates in training with them.  She had a year off supporting another school and has now been asked to support another school in need of support.

Our assessor recommend that the school might want to join the National Association of Small Schools (NASS), who have members facing similar barriers to them.

Our assessor was able to meet with two Governors one of whom our assessor had met before.  She used to be the Safeguarding Link but gave this up following the first Inspection and handed this over to another Governor.  She felt this was the right thing to do.  She is now one of two Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Governors and is also the Health and Safety Link.  The other Governor is a Parent Governor and has only been in post since September.  He is now a joint SEND Governor.

The Parent Governor told our accessor he has a daughter in Year 2 and she loves school.  She is thriving in her mixed classes and he told our accessor that staff know what they are doing and do it well.  He commented that Ofsted did not know much about mixed age classes and unique Village School issues and he did not put much store of their opinions and judgements.  He said that parents were very supportive following the first Ofsted inspection, nobody left the school, and the school remains oversubscribed.

As Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCo), the Inclusion Lead works closely with the SEND Governors.  There are several visits planned in the diary for Governors to come in and see for themselves how SEND pupils are supported.  They get the opportunity to visit classrooms and see teaching and learning in action.

They now have a good understanding of what an ‘Inclusive classroom’ looks and feels like.  They are directed to look at displays and visuals and see how they contribute to learning and support.

Project Is going From Strength To Strength

Next, our assessor spent some time with the Inclusion Lead/SENCO/Deputy Headteacher to talk about the new developments in Language Through Colour which is regarded as a universal provision across the school.  It is available for all children not just those with SEND.  She told our assessor that Language Through Colour is like Colourful Semantics and is about colour coding.  Language Through Colour was introduced and made available to all Kent Schools and the Inclusion Lead is always on the look for new ideas and developments that will benefit the pupils at Temple Ewell.  Therefore, she put her hands up to get involved.  Her greatest skill is to find new, free and exciting resources and developments and to rope in several other professionals including Education Psychologists and Speech and Language Therapists (SaLTs) and of course persuading staff at all levels to get involved!  She is a great believer in preventative work and does not wait until a problem presents itself but acts.  She told our assessor that she discusses issues and concerns with parents through the Parent Café and they often identified concerns that they had identified in their children.

They talked about the SLCN developments and providing a balanced approach to what happens in the classroom and what additional contributions might be made by professional partners such as building partnerships with a professional partner such as the SaLT.

They talked about the very successful Transition Project in Year 6 which our assessor was to see on their learning walk later in the day.  This project is going from strength to strength and is unique to the school.

They also talked about the school homework policy which the Parent Governor brought up during their conversation.  He had questioned the type of homework set and if it was appropriate or not.  They wondered if homework was set because parents demanded it or if teachers felt it was necessary.  They agreed that there is no evidence that it makes much of a difference to pupil progress, but some parents thought that it was necessary in Year 6 to prepare pupils for transition to Year 7.  It would certainly be a good topic for discussion in the Parent Café.  Our accessor suggested that it might be an idea to invite some of the past pupils who are now in Year 7 in different schools to come in and talk to staff and or Governors about their experience and if they felt the school had prepared them for secondary school.  As Kent still has Grammar Schools many children are tutored to pass the transfer tests and there is a perception (assumed but not confirmed) that the expectations of Grammar School in terms of homework would be different from non-grammar schools.

Our assessor then met with a student teacher along with the ‘super user’ Teaching Assistant who have both (along with all staff) participated in well-planned SLCN training.  The named ‘super user’ TA has had additional training and is quickly becoming the expert on the new Language Through Colour programme.  Our accessor was told that two Speech and Language Therapists provided the training, and they gave plenty of time for staff to question them about the ins and outs of the programme and staff at all levels found this useful.  The new system is about the school doing the speech and language interventions themselves and this involves upskilling staff.  They audited their provision and their pupils and staff to find gaps and then put appropriate training in place.  The Language Through Colour is a universal programme and teachers use it to inform their planning and teaching.  Teachers are positive about the impact it is having.  The school believes that the best interventions are whole-class interventions.  However, for those with specific needs, there is a more targeted offer and provision.

The student teacher told our accessor the training has provided him with more strategies and techniques to support children in his class.  He has attended all the training because he knows it will help him become a better teacher.

The specialist Teaching Assistant has had one-to-one training with a specialist therapist, and she runs small intervention groups for pupils who have particular needs.  Furthermore, Autism Training is scheduled for all staff this term.

Our assessor was told the Language Through Colour programme is introduced through repetition and can be adapted for children with specific language problems.  They spoke about one particular pupil, who is experiencing speech and language difficulties.  He finds it hard to understand what people are saying to him and they implement specific interventions using colour-coded cards to help him.

They Are Adapting Their Teaching

The training programme is a structured framework and has been happening in many other Kent schools.  The Inclusion Lead networks with these schools and has built on their experience, particularly those who have used it all through their schools.  It was originally designed for SEND pupils but there was a realisation that it would be better for it to be universal.  At the moment the school is concentrating and focusing on the Reception & Year 1 class.  The next step is to introduce colour stickers in books.

The Learning Walk took them through the school where they could see children and staff at work and talk to children about what they were doing.  Many were engaged in science experiments as one of the teachers is the Science Lead across the school and within the Aquilla Trust and she is responsible for bringing new ideas and expertise to her school and many others.

Our assessor met with this teacher (class teacher in Year 4/5 and Science subject Lead and leading an additional two subjects) along with the Year half teacher who leads two different subjects.  They told our assessor they started to use Language Through Colour following their training and found it was particularly useful when working with pupils who had English as an Additional Language (EAL) which is an increasing need in the school.  They told our assessor they had seen the programme being used in another school and were impressed.  They told our assessor they are adapting their teaching to what they are already doing.  They found that they were already doing lots of things included in the programme, so it is not all new.  However, they are finding it helps as they find it provides hooks that help with memory.  The training was successful in that it got teachers talking about speech and language more and exposed them to lots of ways to identify concerns or issues and they learned new strategies to support children.

The two colleagues told our assessor that teachers in the school are very reflective and want to keep learning.  Although many have been at the school for several years, the cohort keeps changing and they need to keep updating their skills and expertise to make sure they can meet all their needs.  They also observed that the parents have also changed and want different things.  They all enjoy teaching mixed class groups and generally plan for the individual child.

They also spoke about the Parent Cafés and how they help them inform parents about what they are doing and try to get them on board!

Our assessors last meeting of the day was with the Acorns Pupil Group who were accompanied by their enthusiastic and very talented class teacher.  They had already visited their classroom on their learning walk and saw them fully engaged in their learning.  Their teacher knew all the individual pupils very well and it was obvious from our assessors time with them that some of them had specific difficulties with their speech and language.  The pupils were very chatty, but there was no point in our assessor asking them about the Language Through Colour as they would not be conscious of it.  Instead, our assessor asked them to tell me the best things about their school so that our assessor could hear them talking.  They told our asssessor the best things are:

• Playing with toys.
• Playing with teddies.
• Doing work – writing and drawing.
• The Who and What (Language Through Colour) of a story and writing four words and using a capital letter and a full stop!
• Using their imagination.
• Reading stories.
• Physical Education (PE).
• Bikes and races to see who wins!

One boy told our assessor he was very worried when he started school and he cried a lot but soon he felt better and his teacher and other staff helped him.

One child told our assessor the best thing was the school cat, but others pointed out that the cat did not actually belong to the school but was just a visitor and lived in a house nearby.  A full debate on the subject, including what his/her actual name was!  Different pupils had different ideas on the matter.  The debate was good-natured and all the group took part even though some pupils found it hard to make themselves understood.

Temple Ewell Church of England Primary School is an IQM Flagship School in every sense of the word.  Inclusion permeates every aspect of the school and they constantly share their practice and are always keen to learn from others.

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)
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