As the country took to the ballot boxes on June 23 to cast their votes, it became clear a deep social and generational divide had emerged. The majority of young people voted in and the majority of older people voted out. Their future decided for them, how will our young people respond?
After the referendum, complaints filed to police online hate crime reporting site True Vision increased five-fold. How are the public responding and what role do we have as educators to promote acceptance?
At Gainsborough Primary School, situated in Hackney, east London, we have been seeking innovative solutions. A large vibrant, primary school and nursery in Hackney Wick, Gainsborough serves a diverse, urban community. The school has grown to three forms of entry in years 1 to 6, with two forms in nursery, reception and year 4. In 2014, Gainsborough and St John and St James’ CE Primary forged a partnership to share leadership and teaching and learning models of good practice. St John and St James is a well-established, outstanding local primary with a Teaching School, forming part of the Primary Advantage Federation of six schools.
This partnership, along with the appointment of executive headteacher Jenna Clark in February 2015, has broadened Gainsborough’s horizons. I joined the team in January 2016 as head of school at Gainsborough.
There are currently more than 550 pupils on roll, 61 per cent of whom are known to be eligible for free school meals. The school’s deprivation indicator is 0.56, and the school’s IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) score is 45, which places the school in the 80th percentile. Ninety-two per cent of pupils are from minority ethnic groups and approximately 46 per cent of pupils’ first language is not English.
Gainsborough goals
Gainsborough Primary is a co-operative learning community where all achievements are celebrated and valued. Staff develop learners’ resilience and leaders are committed to ensuring pupils will leave Gainsborough as citizens of the world; life-long learners and thinkers.
The code of conduct is based on the Gainsborough Goals. These are a set of statements linked to the UNICEF Children’s Rights in School. Part of UNICEF’s Rights Respecting Schools programme, these values underpin every aspect of the school community. Each of the Gainsborough Goals are directly linked to one of the UNICEF children’s rights. Gainsborough’s inclusive approach to learning ensures all pupils engage in a broad and balanced curriculum.
Collaboration and cooperation
As schools across England continued to report tension within their community, Gainsborough looked at creative ways to promote community cohesion using four key approaches:
- Leadership and community cohesion.
- The pastoral team.
- The curriculum.
- Whole-school events and parental engagement.
The senior leadership team worked closely with the pastoral team to engage with harder to reach parts of the school community and understood the importance of whole-school events, changing assembly times as a supportive measure for parents. Parents and carers also responded to an increased senior leader presence at the start and end of the school day.
Attendance
Leaders carried out essential detailed analysis of attendance across the whole school. The senior leadership team, attendance officer and pastoral team introduced robust procedures to tackle attendance, while ensuring that the wider needs of the community were being met.
Incentive-based attendance assemblies were introduced alongside rigorous tracking of attendance and monitoring. Leaders at all levels also assumed greater responsibility for attendance.
Classroom teachers were briefed on attendance targets by year group leaders during weekly phase meetings, and assistant headteachers were responsible for meeting parents of children whose attendance fell below 95 per cent.
The greatest impact was seen in the reduction of persistent absentees over time as learning mentors began to make home visits when children did not attend school, (offering extended services to parents and referring to professionals where appropriate).
More formal meetings were also held alongside weekly coffee mornings where parents could discuss a range of topics with year group leaders including attendance. This strategic approach has seen attendance rise from 94 to 96 per cent over time.
SEND
In the spirit of distributed leadership, assistant headteachers in each phase of the school were asked to meet with the pastoral team weekly to ensure all groups of learners, including those with SEN, were able to meet their full potential.
The executive headteacher and I then met with the pastoral team to discuss the most high-profile children and ensure appropriate intervention was in place for each child and their family. Where appropriate senior leaders would also attend professionals’ meetings; new proformas were introduced, enabling the pastoral team to capture sensitive information and share these details more effectively with teaching staff, headship, external agencies and parents/carers.
Using the curriculum
Teachers and leaders frequently used the curriculum as a vehicle to promote discussion, understanding and acceptance. Specifically after the Brexit vote, during the summer term, year 6 pupils studied Refugee Boy by Jamaican author, Benjamin Zephaniah. The text follows Alem’s story. Alem’s parents are from Ethiopia and Eretria. Set against the backdrop of the civil war, the children followed Alem’s journey from Africa to England.
As the story unfolds the pupils learn more of Alem’s displacement, as he moves from living with a loving family, to suddenly finding himself alone in the UK. Through a range of classroom activities (writing postcards home to Alem’s family, diary entries, and report writing), the children are able to sympathise with Alem’s position.
Through deeper exploration of the text, pupils were able to grasp challenging concepts. Teachers drew upon the children’s experiences during wider classroom discussion, enabling pupils to sympathise with viewpoints other than their own on a range of complex issues such as immigration. This particular unit of work engaged and enthused even the most reluctant writer, developing an awareness of the world beyond their doorstep and the need to be sensitive to and accepting of our fellow human.
Whole-school events
The school now celebrates high levels of parental engagement at celebration and curriculum events. Again, in light of the referendum result, the leadership team were sensitive to the need for more whole-school events, in particular those which would promote community cohesion.
As such, in the summer term, pupils in key stage 1 and 2 participated in Spanish week. Children had the opportunity take part in art lessons and emulate the work of Frieda Kahlo. They also enjoyed Spanish music lessons, film sessions, flamenco workshops and took part in a whole-school poetry task celebrating Spanish culture.
Conclusion
Collaboration and cooperation is at the very heart of the school’s ethos and its approach to the curriculum. It is clear that operating as a community of schools has benefited the wider school community, through greater community cohesion, increased parental engagement and raised standards. This is a school community that has realised there is strength in unity.
- Laura McPhee is head of school at Gainsborough Primary School in east London. Gainsborough Primary works in partnership with Primary Advantage, a federation of six schools.