Inclusion Policy

ABINGDON PRIMARY SCHOOL

INCLUSION POLICY

 

Including; THE SINGLE EQUALITIES, DIVERSITY AND COHESION SCHEME

 

INTRODUCTION

Inclusion is about creating a sense of belonging for all teachers and pupils.  For a child to feel included, they have to feel that they are an integral and important part of the school.  There is a requirement to feel wanted, valued, successful and happy.

At Abingdon Primary school we celebrate diversity not just within our own school but also with other schools in the local area.  We are a cohesive school, actively teaching our children how to work together as a team through our PSHE and Learning without Limits curriculum – preparing them for life beyond Primary School.

RATIONALE

Abingdon Primary School values the individuality of all children. We are committed to giving all our children every opportunity to achieve the highest of standards. We do this by taking into account the pupils’ varied life experiences and needs. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum and have high expectations of all of our children. The achievements, attitudes and wellbeing of all our children matter. This policy helps to ensure that the school promotes the individuality of all our children, irrespective of ethnicity, attainment, age, disability, gender or background.

AIMS:

Abingdon Primary School aims to be an inclusive school. We actively seek to remove the barriers to learning and participation that can hinder or exclude individual pupils or groups of pupils. This means that equality of opportunity must be a reality for all our children. We make this a reality through the attention we pay to the different individuals and groups of children within our school:

• Girls and boys;
• Pupils from minority faiths, ethnicities, travellers, asylum seekers, refugees;
• Children who need support to learn English as an additional language;
• Children with additional learning needs;
• Gifted and talented children;
• Travellers;
• Asylum seekers;
• Children with special educational needs.
• Pupils who are subject to Child Protection or Child in Need plans
• Pupils who are at risk of disaffection or exclusion, young carers, sick children, children from families under stress
• Pupils with emotional and behavioural difficulties

Planning and Learning

Our staff plan a curriculum that meets the specific needs of individuals and groups of children. When planning, teachers set high expectations and provide opportunities for all pupils to achieve. Teachers need to be aware that pupils bring different experiences, interests and strengths to school which influence the way they learn. Teachers plan their approaches to teaching and learning so that all pupils can take part in lessons fully and effectively and using a ‘learning without limits’ approach to teaching ensures all children have the opportunity to take control of their own learning.

To ensure that they meet the full range of pupils’ needs, teachers should be aware of the requirements of the equal opportunities legislation that covers race, gender and disability. Teachers need to ensure that teaching assistants have access to relevant planning so that they can support the children appropriately. Teachers should take specific action to respond to pupils’ diverse needs by:

• Creating effective learning environments;
• Securing their motivation and concentration;
• Providing equality of opportunity through teaching approaches;
• Using appropriate assessment approaches;
• Setting targets for learning;
• Developing positive relationships with children;
• Setting appropriate learning challenges;
• Responding to the diverse needs of the children;
• Overcoming potential barriers to learning and assessment for individuals and groups of pupils;
• Providing other curricular opportunities to meet the needs of individuals or groups of children;
• Commitment to the Core aims for Children and Young People (Every Child Matters).

Teacher lesson plans include details of differentiation for G&T and SEN. This can take many forms including:

G&T

• Tasks which demand higher-order thinking skills;
• Access to advanced resources and materials which support the level of challenge;
• Extension – not ‘more of the same’ but more appropriate work;
• Stimulating lessons that have pace so that pupils are motivated by challenge;
• Creative learning tasks which have a degree of open-endedness and uncertainty to permit pupils to impose meaning, make reasoned judgements or produce multiple solutions;
• The opportunity to take risks in an organised way and sometimes to fail and to work collaboratively;
• Learning which involves authentic tasks and opportunity for choice and personalisation.

We recognise that such learning experiences benefit all students, not just those identified as Gifted and Talented. Therefore, although at times Gifted and Talented children will be offered special learning experiences, most often teachers use an ‘open door’ or inclusive model of provision in which all students get an opportunity to participate in the above.

EAL

• Access to dual language texts, posters and displays;
• Access to word banks;
• Opportunity for visual literacy techniques such as reading pictures and drama;
• Provide opportunity for higher order thinking;
• Opportunity for discussion and cooperative learning;
• Opportunities to communicate in their first/home language with teachers and teaching assistants;
• Display artefacts and materials which reflect the children’s home background;
• Encourage children to write their own dual texts, when appropriate;
• Participate in Black History Month, Refugee Week and Traveller History Month;
• Plan learning opportunities in lessons which reflect ethnic minority backgrounds.

Because most of the students at Abingdon Primary School have English as Additional Language, teachers include EAL teaching strategies with all students in all lessons. We believe that children learn English best when they are working collaboratively with English speaking children, so it is not our practice to withdraw children who are just beginning to learn English, however some of these children receive EAL Support from an experienced dual language Teaching Assistant for 30 minutes per day.

SEN

• As above, but in addition:
• Differentiated learning objectives and success criteria;
• Hands on equipment;
• Multi-sensory learning opportunities;
• Extra adult support;
• Additional visual cues;
• Learning opportunities which reflect Personalised Learning targets;
• Mixed ability and homogeneous groupings;
• Specialised targets which are reflected in planning;
• Differentiated homework.

Children with special educational needs have learning difficulties that call for special provision to be made. All children may have special needs at some time in their lives. Children have a learning difficulty if:

• They have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of children of the same age;
• They have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of the educational facilities that are provided for other children of the same age.

The school aims for early identification of special educational needs. This is done through monitoring of achievement and teacher observation. It is the role of the teacher to inform the SENCO of concerns regarding a child’s learning. The SENCO then ensures further assessment and support (Refer to SEN Policy for further details).

We achieve educational inclusion by continually reviewing what we do, by asking ourselves these questions:

• Do all our children achieve their best?
• Are there differences in the achievement of different groups of children?
• What are we doing for those children who we know are not achieving their best?
• Are our actions effective?
• Are we successful in promoting racial harmony and preparing pupils to live in a diverse society?

Learning and Teaching Styles

We aim to give all of our children the opportunity to succeed and reach the highest level of personal achievement. We analyse the attainment of different groups of pupils to ensure that all pupils are achieving as much as they can and to ensure we are trying to narrow any gaps. We also make ongoing assessments of each child’s progress. Teachers use this information when planning their lessons. It enables them to take into account the abilities of all their children.

When the attainment of a child falls significantly below the expected level – using formative and standardised assessments – teachers enable the child to succeed by planning work that is in line with their child’s individual needs. Where the attainment of a child significantly exceeds the expected level of attainment, teachers extend the breadth of work within the area or areas for which the child demonstrates a particular aptitude.

Equal Opportunities

Teaching and support staff are familiar with the equal opportunities legislation covering race, gender and disability.

Teachers and support staff ensure that all children:

• Feel secure and know that their contributions are valued;
• Appreciate and value the differences they see in others;
• Take responsibility for their own actions;
• Are taught in groupings that allow them all to experience success;
• Use materials that reflect a range of social and cultural backgrounds without stereotyping;
• Have a common curriculum experience that allows for a range of different learning styles;
• Have challenging targets that enable them to succeed;
• Participate fully regardless of disabilities or medical needs.

Children with Disabilities

The school is committed to providing an environment that allows these children full access to all areas of learning.

All our classroom entrances are wide enough for wheelchair access and the designated points of entry for our school also allow wheelchair access. Teachers modify teaching and learning as appropriate for these children. For example, they may give additional time to children with disabilities to complete certain activities. In their planning teachers ensure that they give children with disabilities the opportunity to develop skills in practical aspects of the curriculum.

Teachers and support staff ensure that the work undertaken by disabled children:

• Takes account of their pace of learning and the equipment they use;
• Takes account of the effort and concentration needed in oral work or when, for example, using vision aids;
• Is adapted or offers alternative activities in those subjects where children are unable to manipulate tools or equipment, or use certain types of materials;
• Allows opportunities for them to take part in educational visits and other activities linked to their studies wherever possible;
• Includes approaches that allows hearing-impaired children to learn about sound in science and music, and visually impaired children both to learn about light in science and also to use visual resources and images both in art and design and in design and technology;
• Uses assessment techniques that reflect their individual needs and abilities;
• Takes account of pupils whose disabilities impact upon their behaviour and make reasonable adjustments to accommodate this.

Disapplication and Modification

The school can, where necessary, modify or disapply the National Curriculum and its assessment arrangements. Our school policy is to do this only in exceptional circumstances. The school makes every effort to meet the learning needs of all its children, without recourse to disapplication. We achieve this through greater differentiation of the child’s work, or through the provision of additional learning resources. When necessary, we also support learning through appropriate external specialists. In such cases, teachers work closely with these specialists to support the child. In exceptional circumstances we may decide that disapplication is the correct procedure to follow. We would only do this after consultation with parents and the Local Authority (LA). The school’s governor with responsibility for special educational needs would also be involved in this process. We would ensure that every effort had been made to provide the necessary support from within the school’s resources before considering such action.

Should we go ahead with modification or disapplication, we would do so through:

• Section 364 of the Education Act (1996). This allows modification or disapplication of the National Curriculum, or elements of it, through a Statement of special educational needs;
• Section 365 of the Education Act (1996). This allows the temporary modification or disapplication of the National Curriculum, or elements of it.

Inclusion – Racism and Homophobic Bullying

The diversity of the society in which our children are living, is addressed through the planned schemes of work which reflect the programmes of study of the National Curriculum, particularly through our PSHE Curriculum. Teachers are flexible in their planning and offer appropriate challenges to all pupils, regardless of ethnic or social background. All racist and homophobic incidents are recorded and reported to the Governing Body by the Head teacher. The school contacts parents of those pupils involved in these incidents. Further details are to be found in the schools Behaviour and Anti-Bullying Policy.

Summary

At Abingdon Primary School we value each child as a unique individual. We will always continue to strive to meet the needs of all our children and seek to ensure that we meet all statutory requirements related to matters of inclusion.

 

Please refer to additional school policies for further information;

Anti-Bullying & Racism Policy

Preventing Extremism and Radicalisation Policy

Behaviour Policy

SEND policy

 

June 2015

Review June 2017