Creating a Culture of Belonging and Inclusion at Lingfield School

Lingfield Primary School is a two-form entry school located in the picturesque village of East Surrey, an area best known for its racecourse. The school serves a vibrant and diverse community, including families from professional backgrounds, manual workers, small business owners, and Traveller communities. Staff work tirelessly to ensure that every child and family feels valued and included.

The school’s aims are simple:

• Create a school full of happy, health, independent learners who know how to keep themselves and others safe
• Provide great teaching and memorable learning
• Live each day by the shared principles set out in the school’s Culture Deck

This clear message is underpinned by three core values – Respect, Resilience, and Relationships – which permeate every aspect of school life and form the foundation of its Personal Best mission. Pupils and staff alike are encouraged to strive for their Personal Best, a message that is consistently reinforced throughout the school.

Leaders at Lingfield have made it a priority to build strong relationships with families from their diverse community. Although this could seem like a tricky task for a larger-than-average school, staff have managed to build and maintain a close community feeling. They do this by meeting regularly with parents and keeping an open line of communication, ensuring that parents and carers always feel listened to. Headteacher, Cassie Puplett, promotes a ‘we’re all in this together’ ethos with honesty and mutual respect at the heart of each interaction, developing a strong level of trust between families and the school.

Every aspect of school life at Lingfield is guided by a needs-led approach. Whether this be pupils’ learning needs, family support needs or staff needs, this approach shapes everything the leadership team do. With a growing number of pupils requiring different levels of specialist support, the school’s knowledgeable SENCO, Natalie Hadleigh, recognised that the school needed to rethink its approach to inclusion, to ensure that every learner could access the curriculum.

Specialist teachers were employed and a therapies team built around them so that learning needs could be accommodated on site, with pupils benefitting from a mixture of mainstream and specialist provision. The school has a school-based Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) and a dedicated Thrive practitioner, providing trauma-informed support to those who need it. Pupil needs are reviewed regularly, and provision is adapted to suit – some may attend specialist sessions on a short-term basis, and others find that it works best as a more permanent set-up. Around 170 children benefited from the specialist provision offer last academic year. Services such as Autism Outreach for Schools have been utilised to provide support around inclusive whole-school practice, as well as training for staff working with individual pupils. Leaders are now in the process of creating inclusion data sets to track vulnerable learners in each year group and identify needs as they emerge.

A large leadership team is vital to the school’s inclusive approach, with members not being class-based so that they are available for family meetings and to step in when teachers may need support in class. Leaders can dedicate time to their specific areas, allowing them to fully focus on what is needed. Although experts in their individual fields, leaders work very much as a team, with shared aims achieved by strong communication and support available to all.

Most of the staff at Lingfield have been at the school for many years, and there is a real family atmosphere amongst the team. Staff retention is excellent and, as a South Farnham SCITT Ambassador School, the school employs many of their trainees. Teachers and TAs are championed and supported as they progress and pursue accreditations and qualifications.

Staff training is purposeful and evidence-based, with the school’s ethos and values embedded. This is reflected in the school’s Culture Deck, outlining a set of guiding principles to inform practice, encourage self-evaluation and drive personal development. Staff are encouraged to take risks and learn from the best, drawing inspiration from both national and international approaches. Consistency is important throughout the school, with every classroom featuring the same displays, routines and shared values. Staff know that it takes time and effort to embed practices that will truly make a difference, and learners feel secure in knowing exactly what to expect when they come to school. Lesson resources are accessible, with visual timetables displayed in classrooms, and everything clearly labelled and readily available.

Teaching is driven by Contexts for Learning, with either a science, history or geography lens. The key concepts of Legacy, Transformation, Process and Comparison are threads that link learning across year groups and phases to provide a connected and sequenced curriculum. This makes learning more relatable and accessible. These contexts provide: exploration of ancient civilisations, different cultures and traditions; insight into how countries and communities are similar and different; opportunities to investigate and experiment in science. Where authentic representation of significant figures from diverse backgrounds are relevant, the school uses high quality texts to share their impact on the world.
Diversity is actively celebrated at Lingfield. Teachers select books and significant figures relevant to the school community, ensuring pupils can see themselves reflected in the curriculum. Playtimes are designed to be enjoyable for all children, with designated areas for arts and crafts, quiet zones for calm play, and lively spaces for sport. A range of jobs are showcased to reflect the diversity of professions in the local area.

While leaders acknowledge that creating an inclusive culture has been a long journey, Lingfield now has a strong foundation for preparing every pupil for success in the real world. By striving for their Personal Best and being equipped with the tools to overcome barriers, children are encouraged to celebrate their strengths and differences.
The school remains outward facing and committed to continuous improvement through research and reading. Staff regularly review and adapt provision to meet emerging needs, ensuring that every learner feels supported. Looking ahead, Cassie plans to strengthen parent voice to build on the already strong family partnerships. There are also exciting plans to introduce the OPAL programme at playtimes, further enhancing the quality of play and making it as inclusive as possible.