| Description of good practice: |
In a fully accessible environment at the heart of a changing inner city multi-ethnic community, Cleves Primary School lives out the dream of a mainstream school place for any child. Key factors towards achieving this are:
a) a deeply rooted ethos of valuing and celebrating diversity,
b) innovative staffing structure & curriculum delivery and
c) strong partnerships with outside agencies as well as with the governing body, parents and the local community.
This is very obvious from the organization and management of the school and the variety of equipment and resources available. Over 82% of pupils on roll come from a variety of ethnic minority communities and have a first language that is not English. The children speak 29 different languages; other than English the main first languages are Bengali, Urdu and a variety of African languages.The aims of the school include providing an environment where each child of every race, gender, class and learning need is truly recognized, accepted and valued.
All policies and procedures take into account the diversity of children, staff and community that use the school; for example, the behavior policy is based on developing relationships that take into account issues associated with children with challenging behavior. The ethos of the school is based on the celebration of difference. This is reflected in every aspect of school life, for example the organization and structure, the curriculum and the learning environment. The ethos of the school is for children to work together and support each other. Children work and learn in groups that include all the children.
There are a number of organizational and management structures that promote inclusion throughout the school. For example, there is a playtime at lunchtime but there are no playtimes in the morning or afternoon; instead, many opportunities for physical activities and social interaction are built into the daily curriculum. The wings have access to the PE (Physical Education) Hall for a whole day so that there is adequate time for children to develop self-help skills. Lunchtime is seen as part of the curriculum with lots of adults supporting children and having lunch with them. The curriculum organization is structured in a similar way to a secondary school, for example staff planning and teaching a curriculum area for several weeks with the children moving to the area dedicated for that subject.
With regard to the physical environment, the school is a single storied building with full access to all teaching and toilet areas for children and adults with mobility difficulties. There are specialist hygiene facilities, which allow for medical and other personal needs of pupils and adults to be met with dignity. The design of the school building is unconventional, in that the school has four Open Plan Wings: Early Years (Nursery and Reception groups), Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2), Key Stage 2A (years 3 and 4) and Key Stage 2B (years 5 and 6). The school also has a practical room with a kiln and facilities for clay work, two
strong rooms and a multipurpose dining hall as well as a separate large hall with a sprung floor, which has a wide range of PE apparatus. There is also a specialist sensory studio that is timetabled for all children to use, a soft playroom in the Early Years Wing, a ball pool in the foyer and a relaxation room for each wing to use. Finally, the playground has recently been developed and now has a stage, seats, musical instruments, climbing wall, goal posts, climbing frames and more.
For all purposes the wings are viewed as one large classroom with five defined curriculum areas and a team of staff who work together to plan and teach the curriculum. The organization of the wings enables children to learn through experience in a rigorous approach to the curriculum. There is a balance between directed activities for literacy and numeracy and opportunities for children to plan when, not if, they undertake activities in other curriculum areas. Staff ensures that experiential activities have the same place and status in the curriculum as abstract activities. The children use a daily diary to record or
evaluate their learning. This enables all to take full part in the range of learning opportunities, gives staff an additional form of record keeping as well as an opportunity to discuss with the children the process of evaluation and to celebrate the children’s achievements. To ensure that the curriculum is appropriate and that the children are making progress and achievements, the school has adopted a rigorous process of monitoring and evaluation.
Contrary to the established UK system of one teacher in charge of a class of about 30 children and Learning Support Assistants providing one-to-one support for individual children, the staffing structure at Cleves is flexible: multi-disciplinary teams of teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants are led by Assistant Head Teachers to facilitate the learning of all children. This creative arrangement benefits everyone. Staff plans together to organize a differentiated curriculum that offers the best in good primary practice to all children. |
