Oakwood Junior School’s commitment to the arts and to inclusion has been recognised with two separate awards.
The school in Alvaston has earned its Arts Mark Gold Award and the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status.
The Arts Mark Gold Award follows a lengthy submission process which had to show how art was incorporated across all areas of the school’s curriculum.
Tiegan Carter, Arts Lead at the school, part of the Odyssey Collaborative Trust, has dedicated her time to improving art at the school and putting together the submission for the Arts Mark award.
She looked for any opportunities to bring art into other areas of schoolwork, creating pieces of art to mark Black History Month, and other key topics at the school. She also identified opportunities to enter children’s work into competitions and 84 children were successful in getting their work published in a book. The book, called Perfect Pets, features illustrations of the children’s ‘ideal’ pet. The school is currently working with the same company on a ‘Monster Madness’ competition to hopefully have more illustrations published.
For Ms Carter, art had to be embedded across the school and not just one area of work.
She said: “A lot of schools struggle to make time for art. With me being an art leader, I monitor how much time is given to art and I know how much the children love art and creating things.
“One comment, from a child with special education needs, will really stay with me,” added Ms Carter. “She said how art makes her feel free. For me, art is up there with reading and writing as a way for children to find out about the world and to express themselves.”
The school said that achieving the Arts Mark demonstrated it understands the importance of art and how much it benefits children’s social, emotional and mental wellbeing.
Meanwhile, staff and pupils are also celebrating another achievement in being awarded the Inclusive School Award with Centre of Excellence status through the IQM (Inclusion Quality Mark).
There are three levels to the award, beginning with the IQM Inclusive School Award. Oakwood Junior School bypassed this level and was given the IQM Centre of Excellence from the start.
A final higher award level is available to the school as it continues to grow and develop their practice in conjunction with other like-minded schools – IQM Flagship School Award.
Oakwood Junior School is now working to become a Flagship School, which involves being assessed every year for the next three years.
Among the positive work the school does to improve inclusion, which was highlighted in the report, was the work of well-being dog Ron.
“Ron comes into the school and can welcome the pupils,” said Nicola Fray who owns Ron, the Springer-Spaniel.
The report highlighted the important role Ron plays at school. Assessors stated pupils commented on how they could ‘go and play with Ron, he has made people feel more confident to share their feelings and he makes upset children happy’ and that ‘If he sees you crying, he will lie next to you.’ Students also said: “The dog really likes books; he will let you read to him.”
Assessors also mentioned how staff and students were friendly and proud of their school while praise was given for the school’s ‘open door policy’. That policy means senior leaders are available to staff and pupils throughout the day and greet parents in the morning.
The assessors commented: “This open-door ethos extends to Odyssey Collaborative Trust as, for example, the CEO runs drop-in sessions for staff.”
The wellbeing of staff and investment into their training and development was also praised, as well as measures put in place to support children with special education needs and/or disabilities.
Mrs Fray said: “This mark really demonstrates the importance of inclusion to us and that it runs throughout everything we do. Now, we are committed to working towards the next level of being a flagship school.”
Ian Dewes, Chief Executive Officer of Odyssey Collaborative Trust, said: “These awards are testament to the genuine commitment of Oakwood Junior School to the arts and to inclusion. These are not awards you can earn from pockets of work, they are a symbol of embedded policies and practices which are part of the fabric of the school.”
