Achieving excellence and enjoyment: recognising individuals, celebrating families and communities
Case Study 12 Background School: Infant school in the East Midlands
The school is a modern, multicultural inner city school built in the 1970s based in the East Midlands. It is a popular school that attracts children from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, where 30 different languages are spoken. The school is committed to ensuring that all children, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, attainment or background are encouraged to reach their full potential.
In 2005 the school joined an initiative in conjunction with Creative Partnerships which provides school children across England with the opportunity to develop creativity in learning and to take part in cultural activities of the highest quality.
This infant school serves a very diverse population in an area of significant pockets of deprivation. A high proportion of the school's children come from these areas of deprivation. Close proximity to a university campus and a teaching hospital brings children from student and short stay homes. Gujarati, Somali, Polish and Albanian are the main languages in the school. The main ethnicities and languages of new arrivals are Polish, Latvian and Congolese. Minority ethnic children form some 65% of the school population.
Turbulence and child mobility is high and a significant proportion of children enter and leave school mid-term. School turbulence figures from the beginning of the Foundation Stage to the end of Year 2 were 72% for the 2005 cohort. Turbulence for Year 2 alone was 38%.
Overall, 35% of children receive free school meals, 25% receive income support and 10% claim family tax credit/student support. A total of 40% of children are from lone-parent families and 15% of children are on the special educational needs (SEN) register, with one statemented child and a further six children undergoing the statementing process. In all, 64% of children are of dual heritage and have English as an additional language (EAL), with 30 languages spoken in the school. Three per cent of children have refugee/asylum seeker status; 5% are supported by social services; 2% are currently on the 'at risk' register/child protection with a further 15% on the school/social services file. Attendance remains below expectations at 91%.
Children's attainment on entry at the age of three varies but overall is below/well below expected levels in language and literacy, mathematics, and personal and social education. On entry into school, the children are assessed on a profile which leads onto the Foundation Stage profile using the stepping stones.
