Will Adams Academy has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Personalise Timetables to Support Students
This was our Assessor’s third visit to the Will Adams Academy as they did the first IQM Assessment and their Centre of Excellence (COE) review last year. Our Assessor met with the Acting Headteacher who gave a brief overview of what had happened since the last review of the academy. The academy had become part of the new Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) in April 2022 following a staff restructure exercise that left the academy short of key staff. The Headteacher and Business Manager left suddenly last October and the Acting Headteacher was asked, with no advance notice, to take on the role in the short term. This she did and with the support of an Executive Headteacher managed to keep everything going and managed to introduce many new initiatives.
However, the financial situation of the academy meant that they had to do another staffing restructure and many members of staff including the Acting Headteacher accepted voluntary redundancy. This was something that came from the Local Authority rather than the new Trust. The Pupil Admission Number (PAN) for the academy was reduced from 55 to 35 despite the demand for places from local schools; this was the reason for the restructure.
The Medway Authority has an expectation that students who attend the academy will eventually return to mainstream school but the reality is that this does not happen. The Acting Headteacher and the SENCo explained there are a lot of undiagnosed needs that have not been addressed and supported. Some students need therapeutic care and they need an alternative timetable. Indeed, they have had to personalise many timetables to support students with a range of needs. Therefore, there are many different timetables and curriculums. Some students just want to do English and maths so they can take up apprenticeships and get on courses of their choice. The academy provides great support in relation to careers education and guidance and almost all students have post 16 destinations.
Experienced Educator
The new Head of School has already been working in the academy; he is working in another Alternative Provision who are part of the Trust. He has a background in careers and will bring this expertise to the academy and he has been working with students on developing their life skills. Students have really taken to him and like working with him. One of the issues identified by the Local Authority and the Trust was the lack of male members of staff. Since the largest number of students are boys, it was felt important to recruit more men.
The Executive Headteacher now leads two APs and is able to ensure the two provisions collaborate and share staffing, resources and training opportunities for staff.
She is an experienced educator, she has been working in schools for 24 years and has been in AP for 16 years. She had been a Deputy Headteacher in Thanet and Dover and then took on a school that had gone into Special Measures and worked with staff to get it out of this category. She has a passion for AP and is excited to be the Executive Headteacher.
The Department for Education made the decision that all PRUs need to become academies and they jumped before they were pushed. Joining the AP Trust has been very positive for the academy and other provision. She said they are great and have the same values and principles and same moral purpose. As the Safeguarding Lead with the Trust, she was asked to do a safeguarding audit on the Will Adams Academy and she was asked to keep an eye on the academy after the Headteacher left suddenly and to support the Acting Headteacher in her role. She has really enjoyed working with her and is very sorry she is leaving as she has done a great job.
Expansion plans
The Trust is planning to expand and the Executive Headteacher has been very involved in the planning for this. There are a number of new projects being planned and the Assessment Centre is up and running successfully and they are hoping the Local Authority will sign a three year contract and this will allow them to do more outreach work.
The vision for the future is that they do not want to grow AP in Medway and Kent and they want to look at upstream work so schools can work with those students to include them successfully in mainstream. The schools will purchase the outreach work that will help to fund the work.
The new Headteacher will work closely with the Assistant Headteacher (already in post) who will act as his Deputy. The Executive Headteacher will be there to guide and advise and support but will not be micro-managing them. The future is looking positive for the Will Adams Academy.
Passionate About Role
The next meeting was with the academy’s art teacher, she is passionate about the role art plays in the curriculum. She is also passionate about the rights of the child and social justice and she is totally committed to her students.
Our Assessor was able to see the GCSE art work produced by students and looked at their large portfolios of art work (they do not work in sketch books). The standard of work is really impressive and the teacher explained that some students had been doing art for only a year, the output and standard of work is of a very high standard.
The teacher talked through a presentation about the UNICEF Gold award. This had been discussed previously and our Assessor had spoken to some of the Rights Respecting (RR) ambassador students last year. They take their roles very seriously and have been very proactive and all subject areas are expected to include aspects of their framework in their curriculum. Lots of RR activities go on in form time and there are various international days and celebrations to highlight different issues throughout the year. The teacher explained she meets the Year 11 ambassadors every Friday afternoon and they give of their time freely to publicise what they are doing and to raise money for different charities. They have delivered information about the award to other schools and got good feedback. This was a positive experience for the students.
The teacher described all the charity work students have been involved in. They, for example, filled two minibuses and a car with donations for Ukraine. Sports leaders deliver regular sessions for a local primary school. As a result, one student secured a paid job for the summer coaching younger pupils. They put hampers together for children and families at Christmas by working with the local church. They also took part in the Shoe Box appeal.
Develop Empathy in Students
The academy aims to develop empathy in students and to help them develop as active citizens in their community. They participated in the Medway Youth Council 2022 at Kent College and students were able to say what young people need in the community. Their teacher said they are engaged fully in it. Our Assessor was told about one case study of a student who left last year and got an apprenticeship because the student worked really hard to get 4s in English and maths. The student comes in regularly to talk to other students and to help motivate them to do the same.
The Rights Respecting ambassadors send out regular questionnaires to students and they give advice on staying safe online. In the last survey, 100% of students said they had been cyber stalked and 67% thought they could be anonymous on line.
Behaviour in the academy is generally good and students are respectful of staff and of each other. The academy’s approach to behaviour is about reflection rather than consequences.
The next meeting was with a Year 10 student who is currently being reintegrated into school. She has been attending the academy for two months and was previously attending a school in South East London. Her family was moved out of their housing in the area but is now back in this part of London. In the meantime, she has been enrolled at a local school and the reports from there have been very good.
Both staff and students at the school gave her a warm welcome and the mainstream school had provided a buddy to help her to settle in. She did not want to come to the school but her mum had made her. She was provided a mentor at the new school and now goes there regularly. She did four days last week and has two days next week. However, she is now commuting from London and has to secure a new school near to her new home. She has a disciplinary hearing next week and will find out whether she is able to return to the previous school but is expecting to have to find a new school.
Our Assessor met the academy’s SENCo who came to the school as a PE teacher, then became Assistant SENCo, did her SENCo qualification and is now the substantive SENCo. She was the Acting Deputy Headteacher because the substantive Deputy Headteacher was the Acting Headteacher! From September, she has been the Senior Assistant Headteacher and named SENCo and will work alongside the new Head of School. She is excited about the way the academy is moving forward into the next stage of its development.
Staff Well-Being is a Priority
Students who are referred to the academy do not have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) but some have undiagnosed needs and she has put some applications in for plans for some students. They do work with other schools though the Assessment Centre recently set up by the Local Authority to assess students who have been out of school for some time. Medway identified a gap and wanted the academy to take on students through the Fair Access Panel process. Therefore, they set up the four week assessment academy. The students are not necessarily excluded from school; some may have arrived from other countries or other areas and arrive with little information. The Assessment Centre identifies their strengths and their support needs. Before assessment the students need to be enrolled in a named mainstream school (the Fair Access Protocol (FAP) decides who is the named school) and they share the information so they can be successfully included in the mainstream school.
The SENCo and other staff from the academy do outreach work with mainstream schools on behavioural and emotional issues but feel they need the capacity to continue with that. She wanted our Assessor to understand that Will Adams Academy is not a behavioural school and the students have so many different needs. A school counsellor comes to the school two days a week and she is very popular with students.
Staff wellbeing and mental health are also a priority and the Trust provides a counselling service and have signposted a few websites for mental health. The staff work collaboratively and support each other.
A new project and initiative are underway. A mix of students (Years 7 to 11) have been attending the Will Adams Academy on a 12 week trial period and 10 have come through so far. One has successfully reintegrated back to mainstream and one Year 7 is going to another AP for a while.
The Assessment Centre has a number of professionals working together. There is a specialist Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) mentor who is very well trained and experienced, a Speech and Language specialist and a school counsellor. They all work one day a week along with two assessment leads. The assessments take place over a four week period and those being assessed will see all of these people over the four weeks and will have interventions in between.
The key focus is to hear their voice and hear what they say and what they think they need. The Assessment Centre produces a report that is 15 pages long and this goes back to the school FAP and the named school so they can implement the advice and guidance provided to support the child.
The SENCo was asked how she will manage her roles as SENCo and the challenges of being a Senior Assistant Headteacher next year. She explained that a new trainee SENCo and a new Welfare Lead have been appointed and will add capacity to the team.
The SENCo said that the planned changes and those that have already happened are phenomenal and she is delighted that Medway is actually listening and offering training on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to mainstream schools. They are now doing more outreach work with staff and different groups of children. They are confident in the new Headteacher and the new staff joining the school but are of course sorry to say goodbye to the Acting Headteacher and others that have left.
Safe Haven
Next year the academy will have a shortened day staring with a magic breakfast and four lessons. They have a short break and lunch and finish at 2:30pm. This will leave time for training and support for staff. They want to work in parallel with the other AP and they can travel to participate in training and collaborative activities.
The SENCo explained that relationships are key to everything that happens in the Will Adams Academy.
The Will Adams Academy continues to provide a safe haven for youngsters who have not been able to continue with their mainstream education. They have had a very difficult year and have seen much change including the change of Headteacher at very short notice. Staff have worked together and have worked with the Alternative Provision Trust to continue their work and plan the next phase of development.
The Acting Headteacher is to be congratulated for her work; she went from being a very new Deputy Headteacher when she found herself as Acting Headteacher at a very difficult time. She should be proud of what she has achieved in the last year. The Trust and, particularly, the Executive Headteacher have also been very supportive and very forward thinking. The Executive Headteacher also deserves congratulations for her work. In fact, all staff who work in the academy have done a remarkable job supporting vulnerable students in a time of great turbulence.
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: admin@iqmaward.com for further details.
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• Our inaugural National Inclusion Conference will take place on the 27th November, for further details click here.