At Brooke Weston Trust, one of our core focus areas is helping all pupils to achieve their full potential. As part of this, we are committed to developing an education service that provides equality of opportunity and high achievement for each and every one of our pupils.

Our specialist SEN unit provisions play an important role in delivering this commitment, providing education, support and facilities for over 100 children with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans at both primary and secondary level.

Gemma Cushing Vice principal and manager of the Special provision, at Beanfield Primary School and Clare Robinson, Unit Manager at Corby Business Academy, have been involved in the successful running of our two unit provisions and we caught up with them to find out about how their important work promotes the Trust’s values of providing ambition for all.

How would you describe the unit provision?

Speaking about the purpose of the unit provision, Gemma said: “The Special provision at Beanfield Primary School offers up to 55 pupils aged between 4-11 years who have Severe Learning Disabilities (SLD) or Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) a carefully structured bespoke teaching and learning plan alongside opportunities for inclusion into wider school life to support our high aspirations for all pupils to achieve, regardless of their starting points.”

Clare said: “Catering for over 75 pupils aged between 11-18, the unit provision at Corby Business Academy offers discrete and personalised care for young people with a range of learning difficulties including cognitive or communication impairment and autism. Many of our pupils who access this provision have complex needs, so it’s important that we offer small group sizes and specialist teaching, enabling them to thrive in an environment that’s inclusive and caring”.

How do you promote an inclusive culture across both the unit provision and the main school?

Both schools adapt the National Curriculum in terms of pace, level and delivery to ensure they meet the individual needs of the pupil, whilst keeping a focus on offering carefully structured access to the main school curriculum where appropriate. Gemma said: “Some of the work at the provision has to be independent from the main school to ensure we’re supporting the specific needs of our children. However, we have always tried to follow an inclusive culture throughout the whole school, allowing us to embed some of our practices alongside mainstream education.

“As part of this inclusivity, we ensure all our pupils at Beanfield have access to a broad, balanced, creative and relevant curriculum. Each of our unit provision classes has a link mainstream class and a link teacher. This allows our teaching staff within the unit to work alongside the main school staff on joint curriculum initiatives, training days and where possible, opportunities to involve main school pupils in aspects of life of the special provision.”

Claire added: “Due to the complexity of our pupils’ needs at secondary level, it’s rare that they will go into mainstream lessons. However, we work closely alongside the main school to ensure our pupils feel integrated into academy life and have access to as many enrichment activities and whole academy curriculum days as possible. For example, we’ve started working collaboratively with our nurture groups at Key Stage 3 and as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, we held a garden party outside where the Year 7 and 8 Nurture Groups joined us. Pupils also enjoyed a recent event Celebrating a 100 years of BBC storytelling and some of our KS3 children enjoyed a collaborative History trip with mainstream pupils. In addition, our Key Stage 4 pupils have been participating in work experience across different areas of the Academy.”

How do you get parents involved with the provision?

One part of the unit provision that makes it an effective learning environment is through the establishment of strong and supportive partnership with the parents, ensuring that the voice of the child is heard and that they get the best out of their academic education. Gemma said: “Many of our children are non-verbal, so in order for us to be inclusive, we have to adapt our learning through the use of objects, symbols and the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). This means that even if a child cannot verbally speak, they’re still able to communicate their needs, ideas and opinions to us.

“In turn, this helps establish a successful partnership with our parents and carers as the more we can support our pupils to communicate, the more effectively we can provide feedback to parents on progress and attainment.”

Claire added: “As part of our strong focus on the personal development of pupils, it is important to us that we liaise with the parents too as their child moves through the key transitions. This includes close contact and communication so we have a shared understanding of how we can offer our parents support. For example, in lockdown we spoke to parents regularly, conducting weekly well-being check ins. We also have an annual review with parents to assess and discuss their child’s progress against the EHC plan and their academic targets. Working collaboratively with pupils and their parents, we aim to achieve a shared understanding ensuring the best outcomes and life chances for the pupil’s future."

Students and staff across Brooke Weston Trust schools paid their respects to those who lost their lives during special services and initiatives to commemorate Remembrance Day.

Earlier in the week, cadets from all of our Northamptonshire schools, joined Corby Business Academy to participate in a Combined Cadet Force (CCF), Remembrance Parade. Andrew Campbell, CEO of Brooke Weston Trust, attended the event and our newest recruits were presented with half-star badges in recognition of their services with the cadets so far. 

Other activities included a Remembrance assembly held at Brooke Weston Academy. Students who are part of The Brooke Weston Trust Combined Cadet Force led the assembly with a special presentation about the importance of Remembrance Day and why we wear the poppy as a mark of respect. Staff and students observed a minute’s silence as the poignant tune The Last Post was played while the cadets stood to attention and saluted.  

The courage and sacrifice of those who served their countries were also acknowledged with a special mention made to Lance Corporal James Ashworth, from Corby, who was 23 years old when he died in the line of duty. His conduct in putting himself in front to protect his colleagues was rewarded with the Victoria Cross (VC), the first award of honour given since 2006.

At Thomas Clarkson Academy, students and staff were able to gather together as a whole school on Friday morning to mark Armistice Day with a special service.

It has been three years since everyone was able to join the event, which was led by Principal Richard Scott. He said: “It was wonderful to be able to have the whole academy together for such a special event. We have missed the annual service and hope it has prompted our students to ask questions and learn more about Armistice Day and what it means.”

The service included a reading from Assistant Principal, Jon Siracusano who read a touching tribute written by Brooke Scott, a student at the school whose dad Lee died in Afghanistan while serving in the army. Brooke’s mum Nikki founded the charity ‘Scotty’s Little Soldiers’ which helps the children and families of those who have died while serving the country. 

At Kettering Science Academy, Tony Segalini, Principal at the school led six assemblies, one to each year group on the importance of Remembrance Day. Students learnt more about the Pals Battalions, the awful casualties at the Battle of Somme and remembered those from the UK and across the Commonwealth who gave their lives for our freedom.

Students at Corby Technical School held a special assembly which was streamed live to all tutor rooms. This was led by the school’s CCF students who read poetry by Laurence Binyon and John McCrae and observed a two-minute silence following The Last Post. Students then spent time in their tutor groups learning about the significance of Armistice Day and listening to Nimrod by Edward Elgar, which is played at the cenotaph every year. 

At Beanfield Primary School, children who attend various organisations such as Scouts, Rainbows and St John’s Ambulance took pride in participating in Remembrance assemblies. The respect of all the children was highlighted throughout the morning and filled staff with a huge amount of pride.

As part of Gretton Primary School’s annual traditions, the school participated in a fundraising initiative for the Royal British Legion. Donations to the Poppy Appeal helps provide ongoing vital support to the Armed Forces community, ensuring their unique contribution is never forgotten.

Staff and students at Peckover Primary School all came together for a Remembrance service to remember lost ones. Children at the school all made their poppies which they proudly wore throughout the service and also included a rendition of The Last Post which was played by Mrs Tombleson, with representatives from 15^th Wisbech Scout Group attending the service to act as flagbearers.

At Compass Primary Academy, the school also held a Remembrance assembly and a two-minute silence to remember and honour those who lost their lives in World War 1 and the following conflicts. The school invited all children who are in the Girlguiding or Scouting movements to come to school wearing their Rainbow, Brownie, Guide, Beavers, Cub or Scout uniform to act as representatives from their local community groups.

This week, the school restaurants were transformed with a variety of decorations as pupils across BWT enjoyed celebrating Halloween by tucking into some spooky delights.

As part of the celebrations, Brooke Weston Academy held a ‘guess the pumpkin weight’ competition with the winner receiving a free lunch every day for one week and many staff across the Trust enjoyed dressing up for the theme.

Thank you to all the Catering staff for the hard work and time taken to make this a Halloween to remember.

Halloween is just one of the days our recently appointed Head of Catering, Theresa Jackson has helped to organise. Theresa alongside the help of her brilliant catering team, have put together a theme calendar to map out the culturally significant days of the year. For each theme, restaurant staff will be providing decorations for schools to help bring the themes to life. This will enhance the learning experience and allow children a taste of different cultures they might not be familiar with.

There are many more exciting theme days to come including Chinese New Year, Eid and Children in Need which we look forward to celebrating with schools across the Trust.

If you have any ideas to further enhance our catering services, please contact Theresa.Jackson@brookewestontrust.org so that we can build them into our future menu plans for the Trust.

As a Trust, we take our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion very seriously. We work with our schools to ensure that they live and breathe this commitment in every aspect of their offering, not least their catering provision. Our recently appointed Head of Catering, Theresa Jackson, who has an extensive background in both private and public sector catering, explains more about her plans to ensure that menus are more equal, diverse and inclusive across the Trust.

Why is it important that the Trust’s Catering Services reflect Equality, Diversity and Inclusion?

School is about preparing children for the modern world and as such, school life (including meal times) should reflect the diversity of our world. EDI is more than just a policy here at Brooke Weston Trust, it’s about respecting the unique needs and perspectives of all pupils at our schools.

Since your appointment in February 2022, what changes have you made within the Catering services to support EDI?

I’ve been very busy, working with my team on a new menu (launching after October half-term), which I’m really excited about. It includes more themed days that are linked to the curriculum and more appealing alternatives for those with specific dietary needs or choices. I feel passionately that school menus should represent the diversity of their communities and that provisions for dietary requirements should be vibrant, well thought-through and appealing.

How will your changes affect the catering teams within the schools?

One of the positive consequences of the new menus is the increased amount of freshly prepared meals that we’ll be able to offer. I’m keen to ensure that alternative dietary options are no longer the ‘poor relation’ of the standard offering. For example, a vegetarian or plant-based option should be just as vibrant and flavoursome as the rest of the menu. Once our catering managers have reviewed the new menus, we will then work with pupils to sample dishes and give feedback, so that we can refine and improve before launch.

What are your key focus areas around EDI in the coming months?

Providing nutritional values on food items is a really important change that I’m going to be implementing. I want pupils to know what they’re eating so that they can make informed choices. Another critical area for us is the awareness of any allergens within our offerings and importantly, which pupils have specific allergies. I’ve implemented the principles of ‘Natasha’s Law’ into our everyday ways-of-working, but I’m also hoping to work with ‘The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation’ to roll out more extensive training on this topic. It’s relevant not just for our catering staff, but also our midday supervisors and any teaching staff who might be involved in lunch service. Parents of children with allergies and intolerances put their faith in us and it’s a responsibility that I take very seriously, so I’ll be continuing to work with the foundation to improve awareness and education around this topic.

Can you give us a teaser of any upcoming Menu plans?

We’re really excited about our themed days this year. We’ve got a theme calendar to map out the culturally significant days of the year, but it’s not just about the food, it’s about the visuals in the dining rooms too! We’ll be providing decorations for schools, to help bring the themes to life – which should really enhance the learning experience and allow children a taster of different cultures they might not be familiar with. I’m particularly excited about Chinese New Year, Eid and Diwali. I know that the pupils and staff are going to really enjoy these days too.

Any advice for schools wanting to get more involved in the discussion?

I’d encourage our schools to get in touch if they have any ideas to further enhance our catering services from an EDI perspective. Corby Technical for example, recently put together a themed menu, based on ‘Countries around the World’ and it was a huge success, enabling pupils to experience new cuisines and learn more about their respective cultures. We would love to hear more great ideas so that we can build them into our future menu plans for the Trust.

A series of Open Days are being held across our secondary schools for prospective pupils in Year 6 and their parents/ carers to attend and discover what opportunities our schools can offer them.

We have five secondary schools across the Corby, Kettering and Wisbech area consisting of Brooke Weston Academy, Corby Business Academy, Corby Technical School, Kettering Science Academy and Thomas Clarkson Academy. As part of our Trust, each of our schools commit to the ‘BWT Way’ – a set of shared expectations of how our schools should be and how they should ‘feel’.

With each of our secondary schools providing a high-quality education and passionate about giving all our students the best start in life, we hope these open evenings will allow you to see the opportunities that being a part of the Brook Weston Family can offer you and gain a real insight into the supportive and welcoming environment at one of our schools.

The open evenings take place on:

• Wednesday 28^th September – 5pm to 7.30pm - Corby Business Academy
• Thursday 29^th September – 5pm -7pm - Thomas Clarkson Academy  
• Monday 3^rd October – Friday 7^th October – 9am and 1pm each day - Brooke Weston Academy
• Tuesday 11^th October – 6pm – 8pm - Kettering Science Academy

Corby Technical School’s Open Days were on Thursday 22^nd September and Tuesday 27^th September. However, you can still find out more about the school’s provision and view their online prospectus here.

For more information on individual Open Days and to contact the school’s directly, please follow the links shown above.