Inclusive education often looks very different in different schools. What is important for our school, is what it looks like for us.
At West Rainton Primary School, it means supporting all pupils to learn, contribute and participate in all aspects of school life, alongside their peers as much as possible. They should have the same opportunities, regardless of their needs or abilities. Our curriculum includes not only the formal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum and/or the National Curriculum, but also a range of additional opportunities to enrich the experiences of all pupils. It is fundamentally important to us that our pupils grow up to be happy, well-rounded individuals, regardless of their differences. The curriculum also include the social aspects that are essential for lifelong learning, personal growth and development of independence. Our status as an early adopter of the new ‘Relationships and Health Education’ curriculum really supported our already well-embedded ethos, and was highly commended during meetings with leaders of others schools with the ‘Centre of Excellence’ award for inclusion.
At West Rainton Primary School we are committed to equality. We aim for every pupil to fulfil their potential, no matter what their needs are. Our school is committed to anti-discriminatory practice to promote equality of opportunity and valuing diversity for all children and families. We aim to:
- Provide a secure, welcoming and accessible environment in which all our children can flourish and in which all contributions are considered and valued.
- Include and value the contribution of all families to our understanding of equality and diversity, as knowing and embracing our diversity is fundamental to us.
- Provide positive non-stereotyping information about gender roles, diverse ethnic and cultural groups and disabled people.
- Improve our knowledge and understanding of issues of anti-discriminatory practice, promoting equality and valuing diversity; we actively encourage our pupils to be upstanding members of our school family and to be proactive in this.
- Make inclusion a thread that runs through all of the activities of the school, and embrace it as the very heartbeat of our school.
- Ensure that decisions are informed by the insights of parents and those of young children themselves.
- Fully support our families in understanding what is on offer, how they can be supported, and offer discussions on a friendly, approachable level, to ensure that ‘jargon’ is explained well.
- Have high ambitions and set stretching targets for pupils.
- Track their individual progress towards these goals.
- Keep under review the additional or different provision that is made for them.
- Promote positive outcomes in the wider areas of personal and social development and ensure that the approaches used are based on the best possible evidence and are having the required impact of progress.