Leadership and management  

Your encouraging and inclusive curriculum is woven like a golden thread throughout everything you do at Blueberry Park. If I could describe your school in one word, it would be “community”. Your commitment to the emotional health and wellbeing of all stakeholders is unambiguous. The empathy and support you demonstrate for your whole school community is tremendous, and you clearly know the needs and challenges of both the wider community and individual children and families well. Another word that came up repeatedly was ‘nurture,’ and this is applied particularly to your pupils, but to all members of your wider community including your staff team.  

Staff team and ethos 

 Staff feel valued and work as a whole school team to support pupils, the wider community and each other. Staff benefit from your flexible and appreciative approach, and investment has been made in Smart Clinic and INSET to support staff to be proactive with their own wellbeing. Listening to staff voice is central to your culture, enabling them to develop and thrive. Staff wellbeing is on the agenda of all SLT and governors' meetings. Staff appraisal includes a wellbeing discussion, and the close supportive networks which exist are invaluable. Your representative governor also identified the importance of supporting headteacher wellbeing and ensuring that all staff are supported. 

Pupils 

Pupils have a great knowledge and understanding of health and wellbeing. They know who to go to should they feel worried or anxious and were able to talk about, and identify, trusted adults.  They speak well about diversity including different families and are positive about school being a welcoming and inclusive place, and speak warmly about how their teachers support them to make progress and to be healthier.  They say that school helps them to be safe, healthy and strong through the curriculum including PSHE, PE and DT lessons. There are also a wide-range of extra-curricular activities and opportunities which are tailored to attract high uptake and meet a wide range of mental and physical needs.  

Lunchtimes and playtimes are seen as opportunities for children to continue to learn and develop their health and wellbeing. Some children require further input e.g. mindfulness, calm start and other initiatives, and staff are alert to these needs.  

Y3 have been identified as requiring some additional support and this has been put in place. Your Pastoral Care Lead is tremendously proactive in meeting the needs of all pupils and looking across indicators to ensure that children and families are able to fully access the provision available to them.  

You work closely with a range of organisations who you have chosen specifically because of the needs of your pupils e.g. the Anthony Walker Foundation, Priority Youth, The Peace Foundation, Merseyside Police, the RAISE team, YPAS and others.  

Children’s voice is listened to through a range of pupil voice opportunities, and independence, responsibility and good citizenship are all prioritised to support pupils to thrive now and in the future. 

Parents and the Wider Community 

The school population has changed overtime, and with it the parent demographic. More recently, parents have been more engaged, and this is testament to the priority given to parental voice by the school. In light of a traumatic incident in the community, extra support was provided for parents and the wider community, and they were reassured by this.  

Parents are asked what their community needs, and their replies are listened to and valued. There is a weekly newsletter which includes key health and wellbeing messages, a monthly online parents newsletter, and communications via text and email. There is also a Thursday morning informal meeting for families.  

Parents whose children attended the school were effusive in their praise, and indeed one ex-pupil continues to return to participate in Priority Youth on a Thursday. I understand that he is not the only one to do so.  

Environment 

The environment supports learning throughout. There are many displays both in classrooms and corridors promoting emotional health and wellbeing. The books and other resources represent our diverse community and your sensory room has been developed in response to pupil voice.  

Next steps 

Continue to embed and develop the Hearts Programme which is already underway and beginning to have an impact 

Parent RSE/PSHE in-school meeting 

Working with AWF to understand the importance of inclusion and language around race and racism 

Work with parents and staff to increase understanding of the potential impact of accessing age-inappropriate online content

Ensure that all stake-holders are clear about how their voice has been listened to and acted upon.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone on behalf of School improvement Liverpool for the school’s strong commitment towards improving the health and wellbeing of your whole school community. I would also like to wish you and your school every success on the next stage of its journey.