Equality of opportunity starts with education. This means that no matter where one starts from, their ability to succeed is defined by their merit rather than their social status. As the leader of Kingsford Community School, a co-educational inner city Local Authority comprehensive, catering for 1500 pupils aged eleven to sixteen in Newham, an area of high social and economic deprivation, with high levels of linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity, the issue of access and inclusion is an ever-present concern, challenge and obligatory duty to be addressed. Engagement with the Achievement for All, ‘Achieving Schools’ programme has made an important contribution to facilitating improved life chances and social mobility for my pupils, as well as ensuring positive engagement with the education process, for the young people entrusted to the teaching, guidance and leadership of our staff team. This includes pupils who have some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
Equality of opportunity starts with education. This means that no matter where one starts from, their ability to succeed is defined by their merit rather than their social status. As the leader of Kingsford Community School, a co-educational inner city Local Authority comprehensive, catering for 1500 pupils aged eleven to sixteen in Newham, an area of high social and economic deprivation, with high levels of linguistic, ethnic and cultural diversity, the issue of access and inclusion is an ever-present concern, challenge and obligatory duty to be addressed. Engagement with the Achievement for All, ‘Achieving Schools’ programme has made an important contribution to facilitating improved life chances and social mobility for my pupils, as well as ensuring positive engagement with the education process, for the young people entrusted to the teaching, guidance and leadership of our staff team. This includes pupils who have some of the most challenging circumstances imaginable.
A great source of pride for me is that the work the school has undertaken with Achievement for All has been influential in Kingsford gaining the Inclusion Quality Mark as a Centre of Excellence – a title that few mainstream schools in the country can boast, as most of the schools with this accreditation tend to be schools who cater entirely for pupils with special educational needs. With over 80 per cent of my students possessing English as an Additional Language (EAL), the delivery of teaching in a language that is not a pupil’s mother tongue presents several challenges, particularly in relation to engaging parents. An Achievement for All protocol has helped us to consider the frameworks we use for parent engagement and participation. Achievement for All’s ‘structured conversation’ approach has been transforming in this respect. Through this strategy, Kingsford has been able to establish a school-wide approach and philosophy of listening and receiving information from the parents of the twenty percent of our cohort whose progress is of greatest concern. This diverse cohort includes pupils with EAL needs, most able pupils, those with SEND needs, as well as middle-prior attainers. Given the high percentage of pupils entitled to the Pupil Premium at Kingsford, all those students targeted are entitled to the pupil premium. Through the structured conversation framework, we have been able to more effectively engage not only parents of these pupils, but indeed, all parents. It is well known that there is a direct correlation between increasing parental engagement and improved attendance, behaviour and student achievement, and the consequence of adopting the approaches of the ‘Achieving Schools’ framework, has meant that pupil progress outcomes are well above the national average despite their starting points being well below.
Kingsford implemented ‘structured conversation’ training to prepare all of our staff in how to best to approach those hard to reach parents who may be working full time, may have social exclusion challenges, mental health problems or are suspicious of education due to their prior experiences. This training has increased confidence and effectiveness across teaching and support staff and made the school rethink how we welcome and receive parents, allowing us to address where we could do better. One of the key lessons to arise from the application of the structured conversation framework was that taking a non-judgemental and supportive approach in the way we conversed with parents pays dividends. Indeed, a recent survey of SEND and Most Able parents revealed total confidence in SEND and Most Able provision with a hundred percent of those parents surveyed praising the extraordinary academic and welfare provision at Kingsford Community School.
The Education Policy Institute’s figures reveal that on average, forty percent of the overall gap between disadvantaged 16 year olds and their peers has already emerged by the age of five. In light of damning evidence such as this, it seems that destiny has already spoken by the time that our Year Seven intake reach us. However, at Kingsford, like school across our country, our determination and dedication to our students is unwavering, as outlined in our inclusion mission statement: ‘Every Student, Every Lesson, Every Day’ and our school motto ‘Aspire, Succeed, Be Excellent!’. This means that every student is worthy of help, of encouragement, of opportunity, of challenge and of success in their learning at all times. Through using the Achievement for All analysis tools, that is precisely what all staff in the school plan for.
Thus, Kingsford has been able to target its lowest twenty per cent of achievers through the thoughtful and personalised support gained from Achievement for All. Kingsford’s cohort has over 70 per cent of pupils who are entitled to the pupil premium and while I celebrate the richly diverse school community, many members of my school community live in complex and chaotic circumstances where their parents are not best able to support and encourage their academic development. For children coming from homes such as these, the school has to take on more than the role of an educator, it has to become family, it has to nurture the aspirations, well-being (emotional, physical, mental and otherwise) and in some cases, the humanity of its children. Where the child’s wellbeing may not be paramount in the home, whether that is due to poverty, disadvantage or special educational needs and disabilities, it has to be in school. It falls to us as educators to encourage personal growth, fuel ambition, nurture confidence and most importantly, inspire excellence. In this way, education becomes the key to overcoming the restrictions that are placed on a child’s success. We strive to make these ideals tantamount to the delivery of teaching, learning, guidance and character development at Kingsford Community School, and we know that it is essential that we consistently recognise and implement these vital ideals because, as previously stated, equality of opportunity begins with education.