Inclusive practice at Chalvedon School and Sixth Form College
Chalvedon School and Sixth Form College is in Essex local authority (LA). There are 20 children of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) heritage at the school, aged between 11 and 17. Barbara Laney is the head of pupil learning support.
Attendance and continuity
Barbara says that ‘flexibility’ is the key to success at Chalvedon. The school accepts young people into any year group and tries to accommodate their attendance needs. For example, one pupil who had never previously attended secondary school now attends two days a week, mornings only, in Year 7.
Barbara works with the headteacher, other teachers at the school, and the LA Education Welfare Service to ensure pupil continuity. At the same time, they have to deal with the pressures of league tables and attendance figures.
New teacher induction
The school encourages its staff to have a very positive attitude to GRT children, who have been attending for over 20 years. As part of all new teachers’ induction they receive a booklet My Mother Said which outlines the school’s positive policy of welcoming and including young people of GRT heritage.
Demonstrating the ethos through school displays
The school gives GRT culture and traditions a high profile, using three large display boards to promote them. The school has won a curriculum award for its positive promotion of GRT culture.
Vocational courses
The school provides vocational courses to promote work-based learning. One example of this is the boy who had never attended secondary school until Year 10, when he attended a bricklaying course for half day at college and one day at home. Working through the school, he has achieved NVQ levels 1 and 2.
Another example of the school’s willingness to be flexible and to work in partnership with parents is a boy in Year 8 who has been educated at home but needs GCSEs as he wants to become a farrier. As he is too young for GCSE, he continues to be educated at home one day per week learning maths, English, drawing and ICT. The school acts as the learner’s ‘base’ to access vocational opportunities and examinations as well as associated vocational lessons.
School leadership
A driving force for the school’s inclusive practices is the headteacher’s commitment to equality of opportunity. Pupils are educated out of their year group if necessary. One student who stared in Year 7 had a sister starting at the same time who should have been in Year 9, but because of the gaps in her learning, she joined the same year group as her sister and they took their GCSEs together.
The elder sister, who was a Band 1 student studied English, maths, science and art, is now a teaching assistant in a feeder primary school and at Chalvedon for one day a week. She is employed by the Excellence Cluster. She has written a book together with Barbara about her Traveller lifestyle and culture.
Parental and community links
The school now has a second generation of students of GRT heritage, whose parents they taught as children.
The school rarely receives negative local or national press but when they do, they get the children to respond personally.
The school is welcoming to a very diverse population of children. The presence of GRT pupils is celebrated and they have become an established part of the school community. There is much that we can learn from the school’s open, flexible and inclusive approach to diversity.
