Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Engineering College in Skelmersdale, Lancashire has achieved the Inclusive School Award with Flagship status for the third time.
A Superbly Inclusive Ethos
Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Engineering College is an oversubscribed Catholic school with a superbly inclusive ethos. It has a well-deserved reputation for high standards and academic achievement, as well as a caring and nurturing and inclusive setting that supports all students, families, and staff. Its inclusive ethos is best understood when you visit the school and feel the warm, nurturing approach in person. Their inclusive vision is based on a superb understanding of needs and the relationships between all stakeholders. It is a vibrant, ever-changing, and developing community with a happy, family-orientated environment where many exciting things happen in and out of the classroom. It is a school that celebrates each student, embraces and values differences, and this is reflected by the fact that the students are listened to and respected, they feel they belong and continue to achieve and grow. It is an outstanding inclusive school whose inclusive nature is deeply founded in its ethos and vision, which will continue to grow and evolve under the stewardship of the newly appointed Headteacher.
Proud Of Their School
Conversions with staff, pupils, and a parent Governor reinforced the view that there is an immense level of pride felt by all stakeholders in their school. Staff engage and work with their peers and the students and their families to meet needs, often going above and beyond what is expected of them and in this regard they are exceptional. Their superb results in this regard are achieved through a firmly held belief in inclusive education and a belief in a true partnership with families and carers, and, when needed, external partners providing superb levels of advice, support, and care. This was evidenced in meetings not only with staff but with pupils as well and seen during a short tour of the newly expanded inclusion suite. Staff take immense pride in providing superb pastoral care, actively promoting equality and diversity, and thereby ensuring that Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic College is an extremely welcoming, inclusive, and caring school. Students enjoy participating in school as it is a happy, friendly, stimulating, and vibrant learning environment with a clear focus on helping everyone to develop their potential, whatever that might be and helping to ensure they will become positive members of their community and society. Inclusion occurs naturally and is ingrained in every aspect of the school due entirely to the efforts of the staff, led by the newly appointed Headteacher and her Leadership Team. Students are at the heart of an encouraging and challenging curriculum and environment where everyone recognises and celebrates differences, communicates the importance of learning, and believes that everyone can achieve, and this is underpinned by extremely positive and trusting relationships with parents and the local community.
Staff Have Passion
Discussions with members of staff focus on key aspects of the school and its inclusive nature allowing a highly positive picture to emerge. The passion of the staff, who see what they do as a vocation, shone through formally and informally and clearly demonstrated the outstanding education and support that is offered across the school setting. This is a true community school where exceptional collaboration, teamwork and support are among the reasons the school is so successful, with staff who naturally promote equality and diversity.
Everyone Is Supported
All meetings and discussions held clearly demonstrated the inclusiveness of the school and the superb levels of support offered, not only to students but to families and to staff. Staff were very professional, enthusiastic, and extremely knowledgeable about the subjects they taught, their students and their roles in the school and in the literacy strategy as part of the ongoing Flagship Project. Each meeting, where appropriate, was supported by relevant data and evidence such as the school’s Literacy Policy, a guide to using reading age data in the classroom, KS3 reading test results and data on reading intervention cohorts, Academic Study Support Impact tracking, the use of Tier 2 Vocabulary, Words of the Week, The Reading for Purpose document that included background on the programme, templates and examples, and the Teaching and Learning Strategy Document. Staff were open to suggestions for improvement, and it will be of interest to see if any have been taken forward and if so, what impact they have had. All of the above support the understanding that Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic College is a superbly inclusive place to learn and work.
Find out more about the IQM Inclusive School Award
If your school is interested in obtaining the IQM Inclusive School Award or you wish to talk to a member of the IQM team please telephone:
028 7127 7857 (9.00 am to 5.00 pm)
or email: [email protected] for further details.
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