Trinity Church of England School continues to move from strength to strength in terms of its superb inclusive practice, the school fully meets the standard required by the Inclusion Quality Mark to pursue Flagship School status.
Trinity Church of England school is an all-through school, split over two sites (Primary and Secondary) educating over 1000 pupils across Lewisham and Greenwich from the age of 4 to 16.
The school continues to be led by the Executive Headteacher David Lucas, who leads a committed and stable staff team, most of whom have worked at Trinity CE School for several years.
The school is Christian in character and is faith-inspired, and its vision and values drive all that they do and are underpinned by Christian teachings of ‘Learning-Loving-Living’ and that these teachings inspire all “our Trinity family to thrive.”
It clearly states that they are “a school that welcomes families from all faiths and none” and that, “every pupil matters, every lesson counts, and every teacher is committed.” These messages were seen woven into every conversation, policy and interaction IQM experienced within the school.
The school is on a constant journey of learning and improvement to do the best for its community; ‘our family,’ as it refers to all who are a part. Regular consultations with parents and pupils mean the school is acting on embedding practice that it has learned will make a positive difference.
For example, pupils in the Secondary Phase gave feedback on story times being too long and lining up systems not working. They were listened to and both were amended in light of the pupils’ feedback. Pupils spoke about staff who know them, who are “good at catching on if something is wrong, you do not even need to tell them.” Pupils also spoke about the peer mentoring system that is in place with real enthusiasm. They said that they were trained and well matched to younger pupils, for example, helping quieter pupils to socialise with other pupils.
Lots of planning and hard work goes into organising events that are based on accurate information and feedback and aim to have the maximum, positive impact for its pupils and their families. The school listens to what staff, Governors, parents and pupils are saying. This has led to events like ‘Culture Day’ and ‘Careers Week.’ During pupil voice meetings, pupils spoke about, ‘Culture Day’, with real ownership. In planning the Careers Week, senior staff spoke about the amount of research that had gone into organising the event and used this, and their knowledge of the pupils, to offer meaningful experiences where relevant opportunities and positive role models, some of whom were ex-pupils, were an integral part.
The school works hard to help all feel included with routine practices like ‘no hands up’ so that staff can target, and carefully scaffold learning to support understanding and build confidence. The school’s targeted inclusion offer is agile and well-evaluated. Staff training is constant and practice is quality assured. The school makes excellent use of its partners to continually review practice that is not yielding the impacts they know they can make. Pupils know and appreciate the supportive and inclusive teaching and learning approach. Primary pupils spoke about staff being nice and helpful, especially “if you are stuck.”
Wellbeing and Mental Health Team
The school recognises that it reflects the national picture of an increase in poor mental wellbeing. It has an excellent Wellbeing and Mental Health Team that offers a range of provisions and support for pupils and their families. However, the school knows that wellbeing support has to be something that all staff are highly tuned into and that it has to be a Wave 1, QFT strategy. The success of this was evident by comments made during the Secondary pupil voice session where pupils spoke about staff who are, “aware of us and how we are. They notice if you are a little different. You do not have to approach someone to say that you are not feeling good, they just notice and come to you.”
The working relationship between SALT providers and the school is excellent. The school knew that what they had in place was not good enough, so they acted and procured a new provider. Now the partnership is yielding excellent impacts for their children and leading to further reflections to offer yet more benefits. Again, here is another example of the school making the best use of its partners, speaking to therapists about individuals and what else can be tried, using the expertise of the therapists to maximise the efficiency of EHCP applications and secure the right support for the individuals who need and deserve it.
The school benefits from the stability of staff who are committed to improving what they offer as an experience constantly. Staff are extremely proud of and committed to embedding practices that help all their pupils and families to thrive in an atmosphere of kindness and love that recognises the benefits of togetherness. The SLT are accessible and well-informed. The stability amongst the team has meant that there are excellent and in-depth practices and procedures in place and support to onboard new staff.
Trinity is a positive, hard-working and very inclusively proactive place to work and learn. Their constant strive for success for all their pupils is heartwarming and inspiring. They should not have to think about marketing to secure places in Reception and Year 7, families should be queuing around the block!
However, people are busy and may not realise what an amazing experience for all children this school offers. So, Trinity does need to be a little more “evangelical” about spreading ‘its’ word so that they can continue to positively impact the lives of its community in the way that it deserves.