Tor Bank School has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status.
Beacon of Inclusive Practice
The school continues to be a beacon of Inclusive practice within the Special School sector. As the Principal said,” We strive for inclusion as a fundamental right for all children.” In her office is a framed A-Z of Inclusion. This inclusive ethos is apparent throughout the curriculum, the lessons, resources and was at the forefront of conversations with pupils, parents, and the school staff. There is a sense of shared responsibility that is intrinsic in the fabric of the school. Senior and other leaders, teachers, support staff and governors all work together as a team. There is never a sense of something being someone else’s job. Experienced governors know the school well and are able to ask the right questions to make sure the school continues to improve.
The Senior Leadership Team is very strong, they are committed professionals. Their enthusiasm and passion for inclusion was clear to see. Leadership has an inclusive, ambitious and aspirational vision for the school. They work collaboratively with staff and their local partner schools in East Belfast (as well as their IQM cluster schools) to optimise planning and assessment processes and develop effective structures and systems for self-evaluation and monitoring purposes. Leadership and Management ensure continued innovation in the school’s curriculum design, they are reflective and creative in terms of resources, activities, pedagogical approaches and forward thinking. A very impressive pop-up banner stands near the front of the school affirming the findings of the school from a previous ETI inspection.
The 7 KPIs outlined on the banner are strong measures of the quality of teaching and learning provided by the school. The conclusion drawn by the inspectorate is that “Tor Bank continues to demonstrate a high level of capacity for sustained improvement in the interest of all learners.”
Broadest Possible Education
At Tor Bank, the curriculum aims to give the pupils the broadest possible education that consists of basic skills in each subject and exposure to experiences that will allow the pupils to develop their character to best succeed in lives. The curriculum is personalised with activities matching the individual developmental stages. The academic curriculum is complimented by both a robust preventative curriculum (NI Safer Schools App launched) and a bespoke and well-matched therapeutic, social and emotional curriculum. Project Evolve is an important safeguarding team-led initiative. The team wanted to “evolve” the online safety messages that children and young people were being taught something more appropriate; more meaningful; that encouraged reflection and that generated positive outcomes.
Such a broad curriculum requires multidisciplinary teamwork, which the school fosters to ensure a holistic teaching and learning approach is in place and that it encourages independence, greater access to knowledge and learning, and the development of children’s physical, mental and social wellbeing. The school offers opportunities for learning beyond the classroom where the pupils can experience the curriculum in a concrete way that considerably enhances their chances to retain the learning. Upon our Assessor’s arrival at the school, a group of learners were making their way towards their bus and to go and complete the latest module of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. The pupils’ work displays and the conversation with the parents confirm access to a varied and appropriately challenging curriculum.
Barriers to Learning
The school is successful in ensuring that they identify early and address any barriers to learning from the moment of the pupil’s admission. They plan support and interventions, which they then implement, monitor and review thus ensuring progress and equal access to the curriculum. This approach and attitude motivate pupils to engage with learning and helps to develop in pupils a love of learning through a well-designed and led curriculum.
The importance of establishing and fostering strong relationships with parents and families is central to the approach the school takes. The school offers workshops for parents, technical support and advice through calls to parents. Families that are particularly vulnerable are closely monitored, and additional support is put in place when necessary.
Promoting independence is a core value and embedded into outcomes within the Home/School Link Plans. Our Assessor spoke with the co-ordinating teacher of the home school link project. She visits each family once every 4-6 weeks and, together in these sessions, the learner’s progress is reviewed, and next steps are agreed between home and school. Parents are now enabled and better equipped to enhance the home learning experience of the child. For a lot of children, the major foci is on sensory play and speech/language communication experiences and enhancements. There is mutual respect between all in the partnership. The feedback from parents is first class and genuinely heartfelt. Funding is in place to repeat the initiative in 23/24 but sadly has been cut. This may result in streamlining the home visit process but ultimately not the quality of the flourishing partnerships.
Learner Progress
In order to facilitate each child’s learning, the school uses personalised pathways (which are never static and subject to constant review). Learner progress is reported to parents frequently and systematically. Teams has played an invaluable role in improving home/school partnerships, transparency and engagement. Meticulous assessment of pupils’ progress gives teachers a very clear idea of what pupils need to do next to extend their learning. Because individual needs are so well planned for, almost every pupil does well, whatever their starting points, with the vast majority achieving exceptionally well. Our Assessor had an inspiring conversation with the literacy co-ordinator in the school. She mentioned the benefits of a previous IQM cluster and how it has set the vision for how she wishes to develop her colleagues and curriculum area. Pupils take pride in their work and our Assessor was shown how standards of handwriting in the school have improved across the terms. Extremely careful checking of pupils’ progress towards challenging targets means it is rare for individuals to fall behind and over time all groups of pupils do well, although some do even better. Many pupils are involved in negotiating their own targets for improvement.
During the assessment day and in the meeting with the parent, the conversations were underpinned by the sense of pride of having an effective system of measuring and conveying pupil progress that captures their academic, social, emotional and life skills’ learning. The parent was full of praise for the school, staff and their practice. She described the leadership and administration staff in particular as “easily approachable” and that to all the parents in the school ‘’…the small things the school think they are doing actually to all of us (parents) are really big things that go a long way.’’
Wellbeing of Pupils
On the review day, the consistent thread through all our conversations was the wellbeing of pupils, their education and the school’s ambition to fulfil the demand for specialist places. Leadership demonstrates a strong desire to build a school with inclusion, equality of opportunity and diversity at the heart of everything they stand for and wish for their community. Conversations with the pupils allowed our Assessor to see the pupils in their environment and observe how they interact with each other and the adults. It is evident that the pupils are familiar and comfortable with the class routine and aware of the school’s expectations of their behaviour.
The school has clearly a well-established behaviour management practice that uses highly structured routines and incorporates therapeutic methods to manage pupils’ behaviour. When individual pupils struggle with behaving according to the school’s rules and staff expectations, there are plans in place to support them with self-regulation. These interventions are there to deal immediately with the events as they occur but also to provide pastoral care and educate the pupils and develop their self-control. Those pupils who have problems with their behaviour are given first-class support to help overcome their difficulties. All the right procedures are in place to make sure all staff and visitors know what to do if they are concerned about a pupil’s well-being.
The school is proactive in making sure that children attend lessons regularly and considers each case on an individual basis. Strong positive relationships and trust between the school and parents, confirmed by the parent during the assessment who said “Teachers are easily approachable. If there is a problem, all you need to do is to ring: they really care.” This inclusive attitude is demonstrated further via the school website where navigation was found to be parent and user friendly. It is designed to be helpful in directing all to what it is they need to find out about provision in Tor Bank.
Calm Informal Atmosphere
The Vice-Principal took our Assessor on a tour of the site. They were able to drop in on a Tiny Tots session in full flow. These relaxed sessions are a perfect opportunity to meet with other parents/carers who have children with additional needs, have some support from the empathetic staff at Tor Bank and this allows for busy carers to engage with kindred others with a much-needed hot cup of tea/coffee in the hand. One of the parents in Tiny Tots spoke about the support that has been given to her family. She spoke about the calm informal atmosphere and how it was great for parents to mix freely with each other and to speak on ‘the same level’ with caring and interested staff. She spoke about how children are seen as individuals with bespoke levels of support developed to meet the children’s needs most effectively.
“I don’t know what I would do without them.” A parent described how proactive, sensitive and kind the staff are towards her and her family. She said they recommended courses for her to attend, signposted her to different agencies and communicate often and effectively with her. She values the school’s input immensely.
On a visit to the playground, our Assessor had the chance to meet and observe the young learners at play. The pupils spoken with were very articulate, polite, and enthusiastic; keen to explain all the opportunities that they have and how these opportunities prepare them for adult life. They are proud members of Tor Bank and appreciative of the staff and all of their efforts to make their learning fun and challenging. The Student Council is a powerful meaningful organisation in this school, which is innovative and stretching, with one pupil commenting on how “it’s nice to help the school to improve more”.
Effective Role Models
Staff are effective role models; they understand and fully engage with the inclusion agenda promoting high standards. Staff work very well together and learning support assistants always know exactly what to do, partly because teachers’ planning is so good, but also because they use their initiative to move around the class and help those pupils who need it. They take professional responsibility for individual needs of learners within their classes to ensure that pupils are happy, confident, tolerant and resilient by offering a creative, appropriately challenging curriculum through which the children can take risks, develop skills and broaden their knowledge of the world around them.
Lessons are fun and interesting, so that pupils are really involved in their learning, including some of the most challenging pupils in the school. All staff use signs, symbols and other methods of alternative communication such as switches, surface book-pros interactive whiteboards and tablets exceptionally well to make lessons accessible to all. Teachers take care to make sure pupils are in the right frame of mind to learn, either by planning for calm transitions after playtime, or perhaps by just making sure pupils feel physically comfortable.
The Principal and Vice-Principal have high expectations of staff which ensures the best possible outcomes for every pupil. As well as the excellent teamwork, staff’s very good relationships and empathy with pupils is the cornerstone of the school’s success. Teachers plan work that helps pupils understand what they are being taught. The impact of the inclusive ethos developed by leaders means that staff feel valued and involved in planning for the future. One clear, measurable outcome of prioritising inclusion is evidenced by their high performing pupils’ and by their phenomenal achievements along the way.
The staff hold and value their collective growth mindset – they never stand still or rest on their laurels. Where there is always a new initiative or development that will enhance the lives of the pupils and they are always keen to follow that route.
Our Assessor concluded, “It was a very pleasurable day, being able to discuss practice with Tor Bank School which is an inspirational and very inclusive school. The enthusiasm and commitment from the staff was great to witness. The success of the whole-school Teams’ project was evident, and I wish the school well as it embarks on its next project.’’
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.