Page 4 - Belinging Schools Teach First

3. Enablers of Inclusive Culture and Practice:

•Committed Governance: The trust and/or governing body plays a crucial role in shaping and
sustaining the inclusive ethos, holding leaders accountable.

•Transformational, Distributed, and Strategic Leadership: Leaders in these schools are values-
driven ("transformational"), empower staff to make decisions ("distributed"), and strategically
embed inclusive practices. The Principal of Jacob Gardiner describes their MAT as "courageously
inclusive," a sentiment echoed by a Head of Year who notes, "...inclusion is one of the first things

that mentioned… so it’s sort of like spoken about all the time and it gets to the point where you
live and breath it.“

•Consistency and Flexibility: Balancing consistent approaches with the flexibility to respond to
individual student needs is a key element. This requires significant investment in CPD for staff to
understand and implement this nuanced approach.

•Professional Trust: Staff feel trusted and empowered to make decisions in the best interests of
students, contributing to a high-trust culture. At Greenway, staff are encouraged to experiment
and are given autonomy, with the Principal stating he wants staff to feel safe to experiment,

"even if that means sometimes getting things wrong.“

•Communication and Joined-up Working: Effective communication and collaboration are crucial

for shared understanding and consistent practice. Shilton Valley emphasizes developing "the
same vocabulary... that develops our practice in a consistent way, but not in a factory model,
repetitive way.“

•Deliberative Sense-Making and Diverse Perspectives: Leaders and staff actively seek out
different perspectives and engage in thoughtful reflection to understand complex issues related
to inclusion. Shilton Valley's specialist team meetings exemplify this, where different teams bring
their insights to 'solution-focused' discussions.

•Outward Facing - Community Linked: Schools actively work with external partners, including
the Local Authority, other schools, and community organizations, to enrich their inclusive
practice and ensure student support.