🤔 Did you know that children from disadvantaged communities in the UK are twice as likely as their more advantaged peers to feel they don't belong?
Overall, about 1 in 4 young people (25%) in the UK feel they do not belong in school, and this figure is rising.
Last week, I was lucky enough to work in two federated schools – an infant and junior - which were both brilliant at building a sense of belonging. Both schools served a community of higher-than-average disadvantage and used a range of strategies to build a strong sense of belonging.
✅ They offered a sensory start to the day, where children with additional needs could acclimatise to arriving in school. The staff were warm and welcoming, showing professional love to the children as they arrived. This included an opportunity to be wrapped up in fleece blankets and join in with meditation sessions. Pupils wouldn’t be sent to class until they were ready to learn.
✅ All pupils were warmly welcomed by name as they entered the school in the morning, and throughout the school day.
✅ Children with SEND or other vulnerabilities, received social skills and mental health interventions to enable them to navigate the complexities of relationships at school.
✅ Staff weren’t afraid to put their arms around the children, to offer comfort and guidance and make pupils feel cared for.
✅ Some children had important responsibilities in school – whether it was feeding the guinea pigs, showing visitors around, or getting the hall reading for assembly.
✅ All children had access to the rich extra-curricular offer, as leaders had decided to fund it for everyone, thereby overcoming potential barriers.
✅ Pupils were rarely excluded from class for interventions. Most support happened in class with their peers. When interventions had to be outside of the main lesson, they were short, and pupils were rotated so that they didn’t always miss the same activity.
✅ Suspensions were used rarely, and when they needed to happen would offer be internal. Exclusions were hardly ever used.
🤔 How do you build a sense of belonging for your pupils?
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