The primary academy, which is part of the Academy Transformation Trust, received the award at a ceremony held at The Institute of Directors in London on Tuesday 11th October. The academy has been recognised for its inspirational inclusion work, following a meticulous audit from IQM assessors, and has also been recommended as a Centre of Excellence for inclusion.

Established in 2004, the IQM is the national standard for assessing schools and academies based on its recognised framework on inclusion. The academy’s special educational needs co-ordinator, Joe Westwood, registered Jubilee Academy Mossley for the IQM just 12 months ago. Since then, she has analysed the performance of the whole academy to ensure inclusion is paramount, and interviewed pupils, parents and governors to look at ways in which the academy could be improved.

In June, only seven months since registering, the academy was visited by an assessor, whose report stated that “the school not only provides effective teaching and learning, but it places significant value on the personal characteristics of the learner”. The report also highlighted Joe’s work, describing her as “inspirational, effective and a great example of how the academy can make a difference”.

Jennie Westley, principal at Jubilee Academy Mossley, said: “We’re extremely proud to receive the Inclusion Quality Mark. We keep the vision of ‘Together we will succeed’ in the forefront of our teaching, and this is evident in the assessor’s findings. Reading the report and finding out we’d been recommended as a Centre of Excellence for inclusion was the icing on the cake.”

The assessors report went on to further commend the academy support staff, emphasising how well trained they are and stating that “the children are very well supported by the staff team and extremely well guided by the SENCO, whose positive personality enthuses staff and children alike”.