School boasts new prestigious ‘flagship’ status

Polegate School has become a ‘Flagship School’ – the only school in East Sussex to hold the award, according to the governors.

External IQM assessors examined the school as an inclusive environment, looking for every child gaining access to every activity in school.

The Inclusion Quality Mark covers absolutely everything in school, from students with special learning needs to the most able and those needing more help with literacy and numeracy.

The assessor said, “In addition to the excellent work on the behaviour strategy, a lot of excellent work has taken place since the last IQM Flagship review and this has once again been a very positive year for the school, with many achievements prior to lockdown, including an outstanding inspection by OFSTED in January.

“During and since lockdown the school has managed the many challenges it has faced with its positive ‘can do’ approach focused on the needs of the whole school community including children, families and staff.”

Headteacher Claire Martin-O’Donghue said, “I am incredibly proud of the whole school community: staff, governors, parents and pupils who all embrace our vision and support us in being the forward thinking and positive school that we pride ourselves on being. This recognises everyone’s achievements.

“This continues to be an exceptionally forward thinking, positive school with very high expectations of all alongside very high levels of support.

“It continues to be a reflective community where very interesting work takes place to meet the needs of all its pupils and the community it serves.

“On a wider level, the school trains new teachers, its own staff and a wide variety of staff from other schools in the area through its Teaching School programme, which has also gone from strength to strength this year.

“Any challenge such as those faced recently through COVID-19, is taken on in a clear, positive and coherent way.

“The school never stands still and is always striving to do better.

“Its motto, ‘Learning without limits’, is a genuine description of the ethos of this school, which has inclusion at the heart of all its work.

“The inspirational leadership of the headteacher along with the inclusion leader and senior team ensures that the work of the school continues to thrive with the needs of children always at its core.”

The co-chairs of the Governing Board, Jan Meyer and Richard Harper, added, “The school is proud to be the only school in East Sussex to hold the award and to achieve this in an exceptionally challenging year when the school also received an outstanding Ofsted grading is remarkable and credit to the marvellous team at Polegate.”