Woodfield School in Kingsbury, London has achieved the Inclusive School Award.
Significant Development
Woodfield School remains part of the Compass Learning Partnership and provides education placements currently for 187 pupils (including 47 in the V1 Form) aged 11-19, with ASD, MLD and severe learning difficulties.
Since last year’s assessment, there has been significant development of the 2 pathways which pupils can follow. Pathway 1 (Living my life) focuses on life and independence skills – communication, cognition, maths, science and IT. Pathway 2 (Independence and Employment) focuses on life skills and supported vocational skills – communication and English, maths, science, ICT.
Ofsted carried out a Section 5 inspection in March 2023 and the school retained its Outstanding status. Our Assessor discussed the focus on assessment and the plan to address evidencing the impact of the new curriculum on individual progress.
The team has phased out the use of Classroom Monitor and now uses EFL for all pupils, including Skills Builder which is now fully embedded. The team has forged links with other special schools who are working on the challenge of how to benchmark, evidence and assess progress in a post P levels environment.
A key development is Compass Futures, a Trust-wide college provision for 16-19 year olds currently, but which is expanding to cater for 16-25 year olds. This is currently based at Village School but moving to another space within the Trust portfolio. The team has secured support from an external consultant to develop this provision.
New Assessment Policy
Policies have been reviewed to reflect the new and developing curriculum offer, and the focus on linking personal aspirations as far as possible to personalised vocational opportunities. There is now a Quality of Education policy rather than Teaching and Learning policy.
There is a new Assessment policy which focuses on developing a meaningful process that meets individual needs and reflects the curriculum and curriculum intent. There is a clear intent to assess less in more detail using MAPP (mapping and assessing pupils progress) and ‘milestones’ which reflect a clear, linear sequence of progression.
MAPP covers 4 areas: Prompting (how much support is needed); Fluency (is the skill performed smoothly and at speed); Maintenance (can the pupil still perform the skill after a break); Generalisation (can the pupil still perform the skill within varying contexts, resources).
Milestones are broader and have replaced PLGs and Targets. Each pupil has a review of their learning journey each term in each subject which captures progress towards milestones.
The KS4 – Vocational education offer includes: Site Maintenance; Animal Care and Cattery; Horticulture; Egg Business; Catering and Hospitality; Health and Beauty; Media; Fashion Design; Sports.
KS5 includes all of the above and: Sports Leaders Award; Music Development – Radio Woodfield; Librarian; Administration; Bike Maintenance.
The strengthening partnership with the farm and the well-established farm rotation is supporting the school’s bid for the Education Farm Award (the school has been shortlisted).
The team has built development partnerships with Manor School, Shaftesbury High School (Brent) and with Woodfield Manor in Ghana. Pupils are actively involved in fund raising with their sister school in Ghana and there are discussions underway about possible teacher exchanges.
Community of Lifelong Learners
Woodfield’s core values, including the Bill of Rights and the strategic priorities are focussed on Creating a Community of Lifelong Learners. The reception area is due to be re-developed in the summer break to showcase these values and the clear intent to provide personalised opportunities for every pupil.
There is a key focus on developing the reading strategy to be used across the school consistently, including phonics and sight reading, with CPD to support all colleagues to deliver effectively.
Displays throughout the school reflect the determination to ensure that the curriculum remains robust, purposeful and meaningful. Throughout the Learning Walk, it was evident that the high expectations of staff are reflecting aspirations and what pupils can achieve. There are examples throughout of how the curriculum captures the interests of pupils and builds on them. The pupils talk about ambition and aspiration and talk confidently with a sense of what they want to achieve and be able to do.
Relationships are extremely positive and expectations around behaviour are consistently supported and high, reflecting the focus on wellbeing and mental health. Attendance at 95% with 0 exclusions is clear evidence of the impact of the aspirational and personalised curriculum offer.
Staff Value the Wellbeing Initatives
Staff clearly value the wellbeing initiatives and are hugely supportive of the drive towards a genuinely personalised approach to matching aspirations to vocational opportunities. Staff have access to support and if desired, clinical supervision through the Smart clinic (provided by the Trust).
As part of the Compass Futures college provision, all pupils will achieve accreditations towards their future pathways and aspirations. This will include continuation of the work towards completion of the quality in careers standard and monitoring of Gatsby Benchmarking across the school.
Vocational learning spaces continue to be developed to better meet the needs of the pupils, including plans to update the food tech space and the outdoor spaces which stalled through the pandemic. The possibilities of introducing forest schools to re-develop the space and compliment the opportunities for horticulture provided by the polytunnel was discussed.
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.