
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
2| BELLFIELD JUNIOR SCHOOL
an understanding of what the job
really entailed. An important factor
was that we were rated “good” by
Ofsted in the March of my first year as
headteacher, which provided us with
an excellent foundation upon which to
create our vision for the future.
Around 33 per cent of our students
have issues at home and require
additional support, while 29 per cent
have special educational needs. In
order to help our children thrive, we
wanted to build on three strengths
that our knowledge of the children
had showed many lacked: resilience,
aspiration and social communication.
This wasn’t to say that they didn’t
want to succeed or couldn’t deal with
some of the pressures they faced,
but we wanted every child to believe
that no level of success was beyond
them. As such, “love of learning” has
become our priority. By researching,
reviewing and implementing new
strategies and methods, we increased
our children’s engagement in their
own learning and we have seen
how, when a child truly takes hold of
their education, the best outcomes
canfollow.
“Yes I can”
One of the first things we hoped to
achieve was the creation of a “Yes I
can” attitude throughout the school.
During the Paralympics in 2016, I came
across the song “Yes I can”, which
celebrated people achieving incredible
things, despite circumstances that
could have caused them to give up.
This really inspired us, and it received
a fantastic reception from the children
when we showed it to them.
We then looked to further empower
and encourage our children by
giving them an increased stake in
their own learning and amplifying
the student voice. Now, as well as
the school council, there’s eco and
garden committees, digital leaders,
play leaders and a library committee,
and children help organise community
events during the holidays. For
example, a group of children hosted a
Christmas dinner for the local homeless
community, where they prepared and
served an entire meal, before cleaning
up afterwards, as well as entertaining
and talking to their guests. This was
great to witness, and it is testament to
how our children have embraced the
new culture we have tried to instil.
A broad and balanced
curriculum
Creating a delicate balance between
academic excellence and vocational
ambition is a challenge for any school,
but by adapting the existing curriculum
we are finding an equilibrium.
Subjects aren’t held to be superior
over others and classes such as PSHEE
and Philosophy for Children are not
pushed aside. As a result, outcomes in
behaviour, engagement and completed
work are improving.
It is evident that the children want
to be part of the school culture and
this has been clearly shown by the
number of students signing up for our
Indonesian delegates
visit while looking to
develop a link with
Birmingham schools
We wanted to
build on three
strengths:
resilience,
aspiration and
social
communication
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