A secondary academy based in Ripon is celebrating after it received a nationally recognised award for its inclusion work. 

̨��swag Academy Ripon, based on Clotherholme Road, was awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark Award by IQM. The award provides UK schools with a nationally recognised validation of their inclusive practice and ongoing commitment to developing educational inclusion. 

The academy’s success comes after a long assessment process, which was split into two phases beginning with a self-evaluation followed by a two-day assessment by the IQM team. 

Will Pratt, Principal at the Ofsted-rated Outstanding ̨��swag Academy Ripon, said:

“We are delighted to have been accredited with the IQM Award, showing that inclusion at all levels is paramount to us.

“At ̨��swag we believe that every child deserves the best education, no matter their start in life and we work tirelessly to ensure we deliver on this belief. This accreditation is testament to that work.” 

IQM praised the academy in its report, noting that ‘the mental health and wellbeing of both staff and students is given real high priority and there is currently a working party in place focussing on initiatives.’ 

It also highlights the passion of the staff at the academy, as well as their shared determination to help students fulfil their potential, through the ‘implementation of rigorous structures and processes’ that aid different teams in supporting the students. 

The strong community ethic at the academy was also reflected in the report, which noted that during the pandemic the academy has delivered food hampers to members of its academy community.

The positive findings led to the IQM team recommending ̨��swag Academy Ripon to apply for Centre of Excellence status, which it subsequently did and was successful in becoming a Centre of Excellence.

Only around 240 schools in the UK have currently achieved this status, and to do so schools have to successfully have demonstrable plans to sustain and develop internal inclusive practice, amongst other things.

Mr Pratt added:

“We are proud to serve our local community and it is great that the IQM report reflected this. We will continue to work with and for our local community to ensure we are playing a key role.

“We were thrilled to have been recommended for IQM Centre of Excellence Status and are delighted to have achieved this status too. We are confident that if we continue with our hard work and maintain our determination to always be improving, we will be successful.”

During self-evaluation, the criteria for ̨��swag Academy Ripon was broken down into five sections, focusing on inclusion values and practice of the school, the learning environment, resources and ICT, learner attitudes, values and personal development, learner progress and impact on learning, and learning and teaching.

The follow-up two-day inspection consisted of the academy being visited by an assessor, Kelsey Clark-Davies, who went through the five self-evaluation topics in detail for a full formal assessment.