The governors and staff have embraced a new way of working, a way that ranks social inclusion as highly as the dynamic and challenging curriculum that we deliver.

Members of the Limbrick Coordination Group:

•  Sure Start
•  West Midland Police
•  R.S.V.P.
•  Leisure Services
•  Health promotion Services
•  Business in the Community
•  Health Development Unit.
•  Warwick Arts Centre
•  Midlands Sports Centre
•  Fire Service
•  Primary Care Trust
•  Childcare Development Team
•  Area Co-ordination
•  Arts Exchange
•  Library Service
•  Residents Association
•  Warwickshire Wildlife Trust
•  St Oswald's Church
•  Limbrick Wood Church
•  Community Education
•  SHADOW
•  Adult Education
•  Severn Trent Water

The School's Mission Statement

We feel there is no privilege or responsibility greater than guiding the learning of children. At Limbrick Wood we will provide a caring, secure and challenging environment, where children and staff can develop fully sharing their expertise and growing in confidence. In our school community we will foster academic, spiritual and physical growth.

The school environment will offer positive support to all, it acknowledges the strengths, abilities and skills of the individual and encourages them to share these and enhance the life of the school community. We will provide a structured environment, which will encourage self-discipline, recognition of authority, self esteem, respect for others and the world about us. We recognise the place of our school in the community, the place of our children within that community and value the support it can give us.

Ofsted and Limbrick Wood

In the recent inspection, Ofsted devoted an extra inspection day to the work done by the school on inclusion and community links.

Their findings in both areas were reported as examples of outstanding practice to be published on their website.

“The school engages as fully as possible the community through a multi-service approach; that includes adult education, health and ongoing work with parents”

The report went on to highlight the strong sense of inclusion that permeates the school, and how community service providers believe that the school offers them a very effective base for their work.

“The school is making very efficient use of available resources, whilst becoming an increasing asset to the community itself and increasing the involvement of parents in school life.”

The Ofsted report highlighted how this work had a direct influence upon the standards of attainment within the school. The inspectors commented upon the quality of relationships of all stakeholders and how the school's ethos helped to combat the effects that social deprivation had upon a school community.

Areas for Future Development 

Early Years

Full Time Nursery Provision

Limbrick Wood has run full time nursery provision for three years. The school was part of pilot project set up with support from the LEA. When the funding ceased in the second year the school worked in partnership with Sure Start to provide children in the area with nursery provision. The school has since obtained funding through the New Opportunities Fund in an attempt to sustain the current level of support for the next three years.

Staff within our school have developed considerable expertise for children from deprived areas, and the curriculum offered is both challenging and nurturing. It is also totally compatible with the Early Learning Goals.

The school is anxious to continue and develop this project further. Our assessments demonstrate that our children make better progress with this provision than they did when they attended part time. We are also keen to continue to support our parents who find the provision a great asset as they are able to pursue further education and/or employment.

Flexible Intake to Early Years

The school would seek to develop further our method of intake into the Foundation Stage. Currently there is only one point of entry and that is at the start of the academic year when the child is three years old. Our experience shows us that some children with autumn birthdays would benefit from being able to start nursery earlier than waiting a full year before they can attend. We believe that the current practice restricts the opportunities for some of these children and while this would not suit all children, we feel that many would benefit. Current research shows that acquisition of language for very young children in deprived areas can seriously disadvantage them right through their lives. Our nursery offers a rich provision of language that can support children and help reduce their disadvantage when measured against children from more affluent areas. In short, the earlier we can get our children and the longer we have to work with them, the better their life chances

Wraparound

Limbrick Wood currently operates a breakfast club and an after school club. We would seek to develop further how we respond to different needs by looking at new ways of working.

The school day in essence has remained unchanged for the past hundred years. However, the society in which we live is evolving and changing and schools must adapt in order to respond to the current aspirations of families. At Limbrick Wood we would work with the community to determine the current demand ways to meet it, including; remaining open for greater parts of the day and during holidays.

Closer Links with Sure Start.

The school has an excellent record of working together with Sure Start. There have been several joint initiatives that have been extremely successful, these include; mother and toddler sessions, parent support sessions as well as the work done with the nursery. We would wish to build upon this in the future and create even greater ties. Our foundation stage teachers could offer expertise with Early Years curriculum issues as well as offering their support for teaching and learning issues. As Sure Start evolves into a Children's Centre it is essential that we share a common approach to supporting our community and work together.

Learning Opportunities

Lifelong Learning

We recognise that for our children to succeed it is vital that parents are involved and supportive of their children's learning. Some of our parents feel that they have missed learning opportunities when they were at school and would welcome the chance to revisit their own learning. Currently, Limbrick Wood is involved with several agencies that provide adult classes. The school has developed a Community Classroom within the building specifically for this purpose and we run many classes for parents. However, it is very difficult to effectively involve our community as there are years of mistrust and prejudice to overcome. We have found that the most effective approach is where parents either see a direct link to their children or where the class is resourced is such a way that they can see direct gain for themselves. For instance when we ran ‘Footsteps into books', the sessions were resourced with book tokens for children, this was one of our most successful classes.

We would like to develop further the lifelong learning opportunities that we provide by looking at ways that we can directly support our community needs. This may mean that we have to remain open during the evenings and during the holidays in order that we can meet this need. There would also be a need for classes to be resourced in such a way that they are free at the point of entry and demonstrate quite clearly how they will benefit students both in the short and long term.

Extended Opening Times

The availability of the school as a resource for our community is currently limited to the times that we open for our pupils. We would seek to extend these periods in order that there are opportunities for community meetings, drop in sessions and that social events can take place. This would be in addition to extra learning opportunities that would be taking place.

The school currently enjoys a positive view from the local community; we would seek to build upon this by offering it as a true community resource that they could value and use.

Developed Play Areas

Limbrick Wood site offers a large, safe environment in which children can access a range of sporting activities. Currently this is restricted to pupils of the school. However, the school would like to open its grounds for more general use at evenings, weekends and holidays.

The school has been involved with other agencies in running holiday clubs on the school site. We would like to develop our provision to enable learning, sporting and social activities to take place.

Development of ICT

The school currently runs ICT classes for our parents. The take up on this provision is variable and we would like to build upon our current practice. The acquisition of ICT skills is extremely important to the life chances of everyone in our community. A current barrier to learning is not only in training, but also in the ability for people to access hardware. The most effective learning is carried out through the “little and often” approach, however, if parents do not have computers at home, learning is restricted. We would like to pilot an approach where trainees could access a laptop computer for their personal use while undertaking a course of study. This would enable them to learn skills within the school and practice them in their own time at home. We believe that the current practice of access at the training site and at the public library discriminates against people from disadvantaged areas.

Health Professionals  

A team of health professionals, allocated to school at specific times, to provide a 'drop - in,' facility alongside a more structured appointments system which builds working relationships with families to provide ongoing support. A sort of one-stop shop.

School Nurse

Our current requirements are poorly met due to the high level of need in school. A school-based nurse would be well placed to take a proactive approach in areas such as personal hygiene, head lice and soiling. The nurse could support children and their families in this way.

Health Visitor

Working alongside our experienced Foundation team, this would be a powerful partnership to encourage families to access the expertise available to ensure that young children thrive and develop as they should.

Speech Therapist

Too many of our children are unable to communicate effectively on entry to Nursery. This can be a problem throughout their school life. They need regular, focused support to develop language skills. A speech therapist allocated to school for a certain number of hours each week would provide valuable support for children and their families.

The presence of health professionals in school on a regular basis would encourage older children to feel more at ease and less threatened by these services. There could be curriculum input which would improve the life chances of our children by early intervention on issues such as healthy eating, sex education and teenage pregnancy - all key issues in this area.

Pupil and Community

Welfare Services

Social Services

The team at Coundon regularly use our premises for meetings, reviews and child therapy. We would like to build upon this strong foundation and provide a base for a Family Support worker to be proactive within the community. We feel that regular sessions on issues such as parenting skills, behaviour management and the importance of routines and boundaries would be of great use to parents and children. There could also be advice sessions for the wider community at specific times.

Relate 'Time for You' Service

Our children live in a community where everyday experience includes; domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, criminal activity and family breakdown. School staff spend much of their time supporting children emotionally but are obviously not equipped to counsel children. A counsellor, in school for a day a week, could take a proactive approach, both helping children who need one to one sessions and taking groups for confidence building activities and anger management etc. There could be regular afternoon sessions for the wider community, aimed, for example, at building the confidence and independence needed to enable adults to rejoin the workforce.

Nurture and Social Inclusion

Our nurturing philosophy, with its core in the excellent practice in our nurture room, is extremely successful in building confidence and social skills in children to enable them to function more successfully in the wider world. We would like to extend this provision to adults, again building confidence and life skills which promote independence and choice. Our nurture teacher, currently undergoing the AST process, could allocate a

Community Enrichment

After -School Provision

We currently run breakfast and after- school provision to provide high quality care for children whose parents are busy people. We also run a variety of after-school activities, for example: circus skills, drama club, French club, contemporary dance, football, netball, etc. Our vision for community enrichment would include: 

Community Team Sports,

Basketball, football and many other sports could be played in our extensive grounds.

Theatre Trips,

Children, parents and community members could experience the best that theatre has to offer.

Community Away Days,

Where a trip is planned around a museum or gallery with the opportunity for families to spend quality time together during the day and meet for the journey home.

Residential Opportunities

Weekend camping or activity visits to widen experiences and give families some together time. More residential trips for children also, for example, the Farms for City Children project where children rise early and undertake the work of the farm throughout the day. For children who rarely experience examples of the work ethic, this would be an incredibly useful experience.

Networking

Education Expertise

Limbrick Wood is currently developing two Advanced Skills Teachers, working in the areas of inclusion, Special Needs and Numeracy. We already have a Leading Maths Teacher. These skills could be shared with local schools in our area to support children and families. The school could also act as a centre for schools in this part of the city as an access point for services and support. For example; children and families from Templars and Mount Nod could receive help locally rather than having to visit the City Centre or Gulson Rd. Currently, there is an Art therapist working in school, this type of expertise could be developed and shared.

day a week to work either as an outreach worker in with other local providers, or run adult sessions within the school. We would also like to extend this work to families in need of support.

At Limbrick Wood we are, daily, privy to the stress, pain and desolation that living in an area of high deprivation brings to our families. Our register of Families in Need currently lists over forty families for whom life is a daily struggle. When help is sought from outside agencies there is, inevitably, a delay before meaningful action is taken and then it is often too late. We would greatly welcome the opportunity to really be of service in times of need.

Education Training Partnership

The school is actively involved in the training of teachers; B.A.Q.T.S., P.G.C.E. and the Graduate Teacher Programme. We would wish to build upon this to promote the teaching of Special Needs, Inclusion and working in deprived communities. It is undoubtedly true that to teach successfully in areas of deprivation, teachers needs to acquire different skills. These skills should be taught at teacher training level.

The school already promotes the professional development of Teaching Assistants, we facilitate NVQ training at both Level 2 and at Level 3 (six of the school teaching assistants are currently undergoing this training). We would encourage other schools in this part of the city to access this training. The school also supports young adults through a work experience. programme.

External Environment

The recent remodelling of our school has resulted in the old building appearing dilapidated. Similarly, the high metal fences are unattractive and uninviting. Our plan would be to improve the exterior of the building by painting and develop the grounds through the use of careful planting, so that the outside reflected the warm, caring ethos within.

The school has invested heavily in the internal structure of the building, we have created new purpose built rooms and the children and parents appreciate and value this. However, if the building does not appear to be inviting and welcoming it will be more difficult to encourage the local community to come inside.

CONCLUSION

Limbrick Wood has developed a great deal over the past three years and the community now holds the school in high regard. The governors and managers have a clear vision for the future of the school and the community. We believe that a vibrant and successful school that interacts with, and supports the community, will promote real and lasting change. We have a proven record of successful partnership working, supported by an Ofsted Report that highlighted the following areas.