The Duston School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Helpful Teaching and Support Strategies
Our Assessor met with the IQM coordinator in The Duston School to catch up on what had been happening in the school since the last visit. He is a Lead Practitioner, a teacher of English, and a Year 11 tutor. He also leads on IQM and Investors In People. Currently, the school is a Gold Investor In People (IIP) school and is now applying for the Platinum Award.
Our Assessor asked about the current situation regarding Special Educational Needs (SEN) students in terms of numbers and staffing. It was explained there is a SENCo and two Deputy SENCos; one in Key Stage 3 (KS3) and one in Key Stage 4 (KS4). He explained staff are kept informed of the needs of students with SEN and helpful teaching and support strategies that they might employ to meet the students’ needs in the classroom. The latest one had been around increasing awareness of autism and the particular needs and impact on children with autism.
Next our Assessor went to meet the Principal and he was able to provide some facts and figures.
He is very proud of the fact that The Duston School is the 27th Most Improved School in the country and subsequently is heavily oversubscribed. However, this is not the only reason for the increased popularity but is due to the positive reputation of the school in terms of his behaviour as well as academic success.
He gave our Assessor the current student numbers: 420 students in primary; 278 students in Years 7 to 9; 270 students in Years 10 and 11; and 220 students in Sixth Form. In total, the school population is nearly 2,000. The school building and grounds are well able to accommodate this number and the school feels spacious even when it is full.
Vision for the School
There are over 20 feeder primary schools and the school runs a very thorough transition process so students settle quickly. The area around the school is very deceptive in that it looks like an affluent area when, in fact, the majority of students come from local housing estates and deprivation is not obvious.
A discussion about students’ awareness of the cost of living took place. The school tries to make sure they are not charging for different things and where they do, they keep the costs down. For instance, the number of branded uniform items required was down to two and the rest could be bought from local supermarkets.
Proud to be Duston Pupils
Our Assessor was taken on a quick tour of the school and was joined halfway through by a Governor. The tour was led by three Year 12 students who did a great job showing their school. They had all been attending the school since Year 7 and were obviously very proud to be students at Duston. The school building is in very good condition and it is clear that students appreciate it and do not abuse it.
There are displays everywhere that remind students of the behaviour code, about the Character Culture and other key messages about the school’s vision and expectations. Classrooms were busy, well-ordered, calm and encouraging. Students who were out of lessons, in corridors, were challenged as to where they should be and they went on their way quickly. The atmosphere was relaxed and not in any way oppressive. The students were able to answer the questions confidently. They were a credit to the school.
Child’s Journey
The SEN Governor described the way the SEN department monitors students with an EHCP through something called Pupil Pursuit. They observe students in the classroom and look at that child’s journey through the lessons. This is not about individual teachers; it is a general look to see if there are any particular themes coming through. They prepare reports and share the main findings with staff so they can adjust their teaching appropriately.
Positive Impact Centre
Next, our Assessor was able to meet with the Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) who runs the Positive Impact Centre along with the Assistant Principal who has oversight of the provision and the Head of Year 8.
The Positive Impact Centre is mentioned in the 2021 Ofsted Report: ‘PIC working with specific pupils to address their social, emotional and behavioural needs. It has contributed to improving attendance and behaviour as well as reducing exclusions’.
The PIC was set up to provide different strands of support for students who are not managing or coping well in the mainstream. There is a lot of multi-agency support who come in to work with students. There is also external Alternative Provision offsite.
Attendance
Attendance was then discussed and our Assessor was told about the rigorous follow-up when students are not coming to school.
Attendance has nearly returned to pre-Covid times but there are still too many persistent non-attenders.
The Safeguarding Team meets weekly and reviews the caseload and all open cases. The aim is to ensure that no child slips through the gap. No case is closed if even one person on the team disagrees and wants it to be kept open. The top three safeguarding concerns currently are self-harm, home issues and domestic violence.
Character Culture
Our Assessor asked staff about the changes since the new Principal arrived. They mentioned the Character Culture programme which they said was resisted at first, especially when it took place at the end of the day but since it was moved to the morning and is now embedded in the school day, it has helped to change the school culture. They also pointed to better behaviour and said there was less truanting from lessons and the school was very calm. There are lots of staff on duty and students feel safe.
They said they feel proud of the school when they are doing their tours with prospective parents.
There are lots of student voice groups and the House Voice is one that anybody can come to and many do. These are chaired by the House Captains. It was from one of these meetings that students asked if they could wear tailored shorts to school when it was very hot. The Principal agreed to this so student power worked!
Coaching Principles
Finally, our Assessor met with the Associate Assistant Principal (AAP) who is heading up the Flagship Project. She is also part of the Teaching and Learning Team and also heads up the Duston Action Research Team (DART) that takes a coaching approach to meetings and it is how they work collaboratively to advance their research projects.
The coaching principles are now embedded in the team’s way of working. There is a recognition that not all benefits of coaching are easily quantifiable but the impact of coaching feedback can, in part, be measured through the school’s quality assurance cycle and has been given increased importance through the Performance Management process.
The school has invested in a good staff CPD library and colleagues are asked to link their research project to their Performance Management.
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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