At Norman Street Primary School, we believe that inclusion should not be something added on afterwards — it should be built into everything we do from the very start. This approach is known as inclusion by design. It means planning lessons, environments, routines, and support in ways that anticipate the needs of all children, rather than reacting only when barriers appear.
Research and national guidance describe inclusion by design as creating learning experiences that allow every child to participate, feel valued, and succeed from the outset. This means using strategies that are known to benefit a wide range of learners and embedding them into everyday classroom practice.
Evidence from the Education Endowment Foundation highlights that effective inclusive teaching relies on “familiar but powerful strategies” used purposefully and consistently.
By designing our curriculum and school experiences with inclusion in mind from the beginning, we ensure that every child — whatever their strengths, needs, or starting points — is able to thrive. This proactive, thoughtful approach reflects our core values: Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be Ready.
If you would like to know more about how we build inclusion into daily school life, please contact us — we are always happy to share our practice and answer any questions.
The start: The Loss of Love for Learning Inquiry Report – Prof Sue Roffrey.
This began when the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Education launched an Inquiry into The Loss of Love of Learning. The questions they were asking seemed to me to be fundamental to the work we do here. I submitted a detailed response, which you can read here: Pages from Evidence-Combined
I was privileged to be invited to the House of Commons for the launch of the report. This goes to the heart of what has been happening in education and indicates what needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. There isn’t much in the report that will surprise anyone. Increasing numbers of both pupils and teachers are opting out because of excessive pressures, a lack of consistent caring relationships, less opportunities for creativity, increasing inequality , a rigid, overstuffed curriculum with lessons turning into tick-box activities with little room for the ‘joyful serendipity’ that can spark curiosity and deeper learning.
“Supporting teachers is not a separate agenda from student engagement; rather it is a pre-requisite for re-injecting a love of learning into classrooms”.
You can download the report here, and also see the 188 pages of evidence that were submitted.
Discussing the report with a long-time friend and colleague, Dominic Boddington, he told me about the primary school where he is a governor – Sinclair – and what they were doing to make a difference for everyone around the school. We agreed that people needed to know more about what is possible for a school to achieve within the current constraints of finance and regulation, and learn from the example of real schools and what they are doing right now to promote a love of learning in their school. We started with Sinclair, and asked around our networks for links to other schools that people thought were doing good work that we could visit and write about. Some of you responded to this – thank you.
We made contact with the nominated schools, discussed the project with school leaders on Zoom calls, and found a community of people with enthusiasm for the project and arranged dates to visit each school and talk to heads, teachers, kids, parents …
We’ve been to all ten of the schools, written up what we found, and agreed those texts with the schools: those will go into a book to be published next year
"... It attracts children with SEN because it is spectacularly good at providing for them. A few years ago it could have been considered to be ‘coasting’ – that is providing a satisfactory education but not actively engaging children in a love of learning. Under new leadership staff found an ambition in themselves to reach for the stars and make their school the very best it could be."
Watch this space- Awaiting outcome of Inclusion Quality Mark- Centre of Excellence- news coming soon!
