We offer an inclusive curriculum to ensure the best possible progress for all of our children whatever their needs or abilities. Where children have a special need, steps are taken to prevent these from becoming a barrier to learning. All of our children regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, special needs and disabilities, attainment and background, will receive an equal opportunity to succeed and reach the highest level of personal achievement.
Our aim is that every child at our school will reach their full potential. All children will receive high quality, ambitious education that stimulate curiosity and provide them with the knowledge and cultural capital they need to succeed in life. This is regardless of their circumstances, i.e. if they are considered to be a ‘Looked after Child’ (LAC), disadvantaged, ‘Gifted and Talented’ (G&T), have ‘Special Educational Needs and Disabilities’ (SEND) or are seen as having ‘English as an Additional Language’ (EAL). All our children are equipped with the tools needed to become independent, inquisitive learners, both in and out of the classroom, and for life.
Through our high quality planning, teaching and provision, we ensure that our children have access to a broad and balanced curriculum. This is differentiated according to children’s needs and enables the children to understand the relevance and purpose for learning. Our staff are skilled and made to feel empowered, through training and support, to differentiate across every curriculum area enabling children to access work across all subjects independently. Furthermore, we ensure that children are immersed in rich vocabulary in all areas of the curriculum with a key focus to developing their oral and communication skills.
Our commitment to inclusion means it is a thread that runs through every curriculum area and provision in school. It places the child at the very heart and makes the development of inclusive practices a high priority for every member of staff.
Opportunities to embed key skills and knowledge across the curriculum is intentionally planned for all children, regardless of their needs. The environment is used effectively across the school to motivate and engage all children in their learning. Our classrooms are full of visual aids, links to prior learning and examples of key learning objectives to ensure children are able to embed key concepts in their long-term memory and apply them fluently. The use of reflection is utilised through mini plenaries, mind maps and knowledge organisers to ensure that learning can be revisited independently as well as through direct teaching.
Our Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Early and prompt identification of a child’s need is key to ensuring that support is provided in a timely manner and the child’s progress is not hampered in any way. Parental engagement is also crucial in this process. Children with SEND are included in all aspects of the school day and are provided with quality first teaching. Their contributions are valued and acknowledged by all staff. An identified SEND is not regarded as a barrier for learning. Instead, scaffolds are used to maximise the child’s learning potential and outcomes. Close tracking and regular monitoring of children’s progress ensures interventions are planned and matched to the individual’s needs. The focus in Early Years is on children’s development in the prime areas of learning, particularly Communication and Language. High quality speech and language intervention, including Wellcomm and Early Talk Boost, are delivered to children to develop early language skills.
Across school, further support for children with SEND is provided through the use of additional resources to enhance children’s learning and develop independence. This includes, for example, word mats, individual time lines, visual aids, ‘now and next’ boards and ‘task slicers’ to chunk longer tasks. Children with complex needs receive additional one to one intervention to support the individual targets that are set. School works closely with external agencies such as Speech and Language, Early Years SEN Team, North Star Inclusion Team, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, etc. to develop specific targets and programmes tailored to the children’s needs.
Our Disadvantaged Children
Our pupil premium children are a high priority across school. Every member of our staff team are able to identify the disadvantaged children in their class and can identify and address children’s next steps in their learning in order to close the gap between pupil premium and non-pupil premium children. Key skills and concepts are visited regularly across all subjects and in a variety of ways to cater for all learning styles. In this way, skills and knowledge are progressively built upon, so that children gain an expanding knowledge in every subject. This knowledge and children’s ability to retain it in their long-term memory is facilitated by additional interventions for children who are underachieving, including one to one or small group pre-teaching sessions and close the gap interventions. These interventions enable children to access, revisit and re-use skills and knowledge regularly and in different contexts. Furthermore, guided and targeted teaching assistant support is planned into lessons to allow children to be supported in their understanding of a task and the progress in their learning. Children underachieving in reading are targeted for daily one to one reading with an adult. Alongside this, we have implemented a Leader Reader programme where more able pupils in Year 1-6 are selected as Leader Readers to support and develop the fluency and expression for underachieving disadvantaged children in their year group.
Our Children who have English as an Additional Language
In any class, in any subject, at any one time there will be children accessing a variety of resources to enable them to work independently and achieve their best possible outcomes, irrespective of their starting points. Children with English as an Additional Language are provided with additional resources as well as one to one or small group intervention tailored to their individual needs. All staff model good English speaking to maximise the learning potential for all children.
Our Gifted and Talented Children
We value each child and every child as a unique individual. This includes children who are more able and who are gifted and talented. Where a need is identified, we find the best ways to adapt and personalise learning opportunities. Excellent relationships are built with all children allowing staff to have a good knowledge of children’s interests and talents enabling staff to support children in developing these even further.
Our Children with Medical Needs
All pupils with medical needs in our school are supported to enable them to have full access to education, including school trips and physical education. Staff are made fully aware of how a child’s medical condition may impact on their participation in school life throughout the school day and, where required, will make reasonable adjustments to enable children to participate fully and safely.
Positive Mental Health Development
Children’s wellbeing is crucial for their physical and emotional health and for them to be able to learn. We explicitly teach strategies to cope with different emotions and others’ feelings and how best to react to them through our PSHE curriculum. All of our staff have received CPD to support pupils’ mental health, specifically focusing on the effect of the pandemic and how best to support pupils’ emotional development. We offer additional support to our children by providing targeted one to one intervention sessions to children who are experiencing mental health difficulties. This support is planned by the mental health lead and behaviour support worker and focuses on children’s identified needs. School has a fully trained Emotional Literacy Support Assistant who provides bespoke intervention for targeted children who are experiencing mental health difficulties such as anxiety, low mood and lack of self-esteem. We also recognise the important roles our parents have in promoting and supporting the mental health and wellbeing of their children, and in particular supporting their children with mental health needs. We regularly meet with parents to review their children’s emotional development and share information so that we can improve pupil outcomes.
All groups of children make good progress at our school from their starting points. Children enter our school significantly below age related expectations and leave us at the end of Year 6 with outcomes higher than national.
We are proud to have achieved the Quality Mark from ‘Achievement for All’. The final report acknowledges our caring ethos and our safe and secure environment in which all children are able to learn. It highlights the huge impact we have on the lives, experiences and life chances of all of the children in our school. We are also recognised for having a significant focus an all groups of children to ensure that no child remains unnoticed.
The involvement, inclusion and engagement of parents during and after the programme was evident through the roll out of ‘Achieve It’ conversations. These provide continuity of learning between home and school. ‘Achieve It’ conversations have continued to support our vulnerable children, giving them high priority, resulting in greater engagement and improved outcomes for those children who need it most.
Staff have high expectations for all the children in our school. Enabling them to believe that they CAN achieve better increases children’s engagement and resilience, allowing them to approach new experiences with growing confidence.
By the time our children leave County Bridge, they are enthusiastic learners who are equipped with the knowledge, skills and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.