• Northgate High School and Sixth Form is an excellent example of inclusive practice in a secondary setting. Every student is valued and the school endeavours to celebrate their unique abilities, recognise every achievement and help them to move on to be responsible global citizens.
• Northgate sees its role as extending far beyond the school gates, reaching out to the community, providing expert contributions at local and national levels and welcoming all manner of groups into the school to share their expertise or to provide opportunities for their students.
• Northgate is a cosmopolitan community. The school has made strenuous efforts to ensure it is a harmonious, integrated, environment for all, which has included working very closely with external community groups, embracing other cultures into the school.

• The Governing Board is broad and highly skilled.
• Governors reflected on the success of school leaders and the school, attributing it to, “appointing people who are passionate about children and allowing them the responsibility to flourish”.
• Northgate leadership’s commitment to continuously improve the school is exemplified in their project to create a whole school culture change to create the best possible behaviour standards. Behaviour is excellent and low-level disruption is of little concern. 

• The teachers at Northgate work collegiately. They have very high aspirations for students, the school and themselves.
• Several staff have been acknowledged at the national level for their contribution to subject development.
• Northgate displays determination to provide teaching and learning adaptations that are of benefit to all students, including those who have a Special Educational Need.
• Students with emotional challenges, resulting from a variety of causes, were very well protected and supported.
• The school's implicit and explicit enthusiasm for reading to inspire students can be seen all around the school, not just in the English Department. Departments display books (fiction and non-fiction) that include references to or are inspired by their subject.

• The curriculum is deliberately designed to reference the culture and identity of its students. The school has a constant focus on providing students with references that they can personally relate to.
• Curriculum monitoring and development are dynamic and involve observation, data, surveys and objective reviews from external, invited associates whenever possible.
• Action Research is at the heart of curriculum and pedagogy development at Northgate.
• Subject leaders have gone to a great deal of trouble to ensure that scientists, artists, engineers, writers and others are represented by all genders and all ethnicities, providing students with role models who are like them, thereby ensuring they do not feel excluded from any profession or ambition.
• Not content with simply ensuring their curriculum plan reflects diversity, several departments have successfully campaigned for changes to exam study syllabuses.
• The breadth of the study curriculum is particularly impressive, with 34 subjects on offer at Key Stage 4 (KS4). Year 11 options include pathways that feature more practical or creative options, aiming to provide all students with the greatest opportunity to engage happily in their learning.
• Northgate’s provision for students with English as an Additional Language  is very thorough. The Romanian and Roma communities in school have benefitted from a programme aimed at raising aspiration and achievement. Via an exchange visit programme, followed by pen pal arrangements, the importance and understanding of Romania as a whole was raised.

• Work experience and careers provision are excellent.
• The school has created strong relationships with local employers.
• The ‘Aspire’ programme prepares sixth form students for their next steps, so that they are highly equipped to succeed at interviews, including entrance interviews for Russell Group Universities. This has helped students gain places at Russell Group and Oxbridge Universities, and enter medical training programmes.
• The Careers Fair attracts over 50 stall holders. Employers want to come because they know the school values them. They realise that young people who understand and value diversity and sustainability make good employees and are the sort of people they want in their organisations.

• Northgate’s links with the wider local, national and international communities are superb, truly symbiotic and key components in enabling inclusivity to flourish.
• The Emeritus Professor of European History at the University of Essex attended the assessment to speak about his partnership with the school regarding inclusivity and the Dora Love Award. He was keen to share his belief that, “diversity at Northgate is a lived experience” and how he admires the school’s work to, “‘usualise’ diversity and integrate it so it is part of the normal curriculum”.
• A large group of community supporters came into school for the assessment, representing charities, disability support organisations, social and youth campaign groups and cultural and belief organisations. Their passionate endorsement of the school’s work on inclusion and the energy they are willing to expend on assisting with this mission was inspiring. One commented:

“The staff are so talented and so able to embrace everyone and help them become better citizens”, continuing, “there are not many schools like this, who take risks and who try new things”.

• The school’s annual ‘Great Get Together Community Day’ inspired by Jo Cox and carrying her statement that, “we are far more united and have far more in common than divides us”, symbolises the multicultural and multi-faceted nature of the community cohesion in the school.

• The newsletters are packed with photographs and articles illustrating the breadth and quantity of events students participate in, from expeditions, performances, sporting achievements, charity events, visits from businesses, workshops exploring different cultures and school trips.
• The latest annual school production of ‘West Side Story’ involved 120 students and included those with a range of needs and abilities.
• Year 10 students have the opportunity to complete the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award as an extra-curricular activity and approximately 100 students take up the challenge. The sports offer at Northgate is significant and rounded allowing students to compete to a high standard and participate for fun.
• Competition success includes winning the football county cup for both boys' and girls’ teams. The partnership with Ipswich Town Football Club is highly valued, for the work ethic that presentations by their players inspire, and the opportunity for students to experience the Club’s facilities.
• Northgate has won the Dora Love Prize three times and one of the co-founders responsible for the project stated, “we do not know what to do with Northgate, they are so far ahead of other entries. We are looking at making them pathfinders, with a role advising other schools”.

• The school Site Manager has ensured every part of the school is accessible to those with physical challenges.
• The Site Team develop positive relationships with students and spot students struggling with emotional matters.
• The school provides Assisted Technology for those students who could benefit. A quantity of iPads is available for loan to identified students, thereby ensuring that finance is never a barrier to access.
• The learning environment is vibrant and well-organised. Displays feature a combination of information aids, student work and key vocabulary.
• Displays depict all ethnicities and gender profiles in the school, giving students visual examples of people ‘like them’ and aiming to raise belief in an individual’s achievement.
• The environment was calm and respectful and, whilst also enthusiastically vibrant, devoid of any raised voices. Students were pleased to engage with staff around the site and proudly share their learning.

• The school’s contribution to teacher training is highly commendable and they are a key part of the teacher training system in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex.
• Recently qualified teachers and ECTs interviewed during the assessment were very complimentary about the quality and quantity of support they received at Northgate.

“The school gives a great deal of importance to training, which makes us feel valued”.

“It is a really nice, supportive place and the career development opportunities are fantastic”.

 

• Northgate School has excellent staff retention and prides itself on being as flexible as possible, seeking to accommodate personal circumstances and the need to retain talent. 89% of staff who took paternal leave returned to work at the school, citing the school’s willingness to be flexible as the key ingredient.
• Another staff member felt that, “the leaders look for ways to keep us motivated and progressing” and “never say no to a request for training”, "leaders are considerate of [staff] workload and wellbeing".
• As a result of extensive training for teaching assistants, and their inclusion in the continuing professional development provided for teachers, the impact of support staff is maximised, leading to the school’s achievement of the Best Practice for Teaching Assistants Award.

• Student voice contributes to change at Northgate. As one student reflected,

“We are always told that we can be whatever we want to be and the school is always open to requests to change things or add facilities. My favourite thing is that I feel like an important person here”.

• Students informed the Assessor that they, “are included in everything and we have the chance to make a difference”.
• They described how proud they were that the school includes, “loads of different cultures and religions” and is, “a very diverse place”.  “No matter where you are from, no one is treated differently here”.
• Girls spoke particularly about their inclusion in all sports and how women leaders were included in their learning.
• It was evident from discussions with many students during this assessment that inclusivity and diversity were embedded, as students fluently and without being self-conscious used language to describe ethnicity, cultural difference and gender equality. They are proud to attend a school that is, “very inclusive and community orientated” and feel empowered.

• Parents and carers are positive about the school. They appreciate the myriad of after-school clubs, including those that provide homework help in a supportive and quiet place with access to facilities such as printers and computers. They commended the school's open-mindedness, stating, “they make everyone who comes through the door believe it is their community”.

“Northgate has courage. It stands by its values and stands up for our children”.

“The children are never excluded from anything because of money and my child was inspired to believe they could do anything”.