Editorial

A voice for the UK inclusion movement

Contents

3School visit: Monega Primary Richard Rieser, World of Inclusion

7SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan: Right Kind of Pupil, Right Place, Right Price. Sharon Smith, Parent & Researcher

9Inclusive Education in Newham

Interview with Linda Jordan

15 Inclusive Solutions: “Don’t defend inclusion, make them defend segregation”

Q&A with Maresa MacKeith

20Ofsted emphasis on ‘improving’ school standards undermines inclusion

Melody Powell & Michelle Daley

22 Intersectional approaches to inclusive education under UNCRPD

Maresa MacKeith & Michelle Daley

24 A Creative Exploration for Young Disabled People across the UK. UK Disability History Month

25Legal Question: School exclusions

Navin Kikabhai & Victoria Higgins

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Welcome to Inclusion Now 66, with inclusive education news for summer 2023. Opening this edition, Richard Rieser reports back on his visit to Monega Primary School in the London Borough of Newham, “a shining example of how inclusion can become a reality in schools. If the Government were to learn from Monega’s inclusive practice, they would put inclusive values and practice at the heart of their SEND Plan of Action.” (Page 3)

The Government’s current action plan side-lines discussion about mainstream education for Disabled people and meets more extreme expectations we had about the emphasis on segregation. In Sharon Smith’s article (page 7) on the SEND Improvement plan, she argues and the ‘apparent’ shift to inclusion, is not a real shift at all, from a parent’s perspective.

On a local level, ALLFIE and others are campaigning on a local government level for greater inclusion strategy and policy in Local Authorities. On page 9, Linda Jordan discusses inclusion in the London Borough of Newham, how it began - a retrospective.

On page 15 we hear from Inclusive Solutions, as magazine partners Colin and Derek join Maresa Mackeith for a Q&A about their inclusive practices.

Inclusive schools, like Melody Powell’s previous one, are downgraded because they don’t meet Ofsted tick boxes. Melody and ALLFIE's Michelle Daley, highlight school intake discrimination (page 20).

Maresa and Michelle look at intersectional approaches to inclusive education under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Page 22). Maresa’s own experience highlights what the UNCRPD is calling for and why we need Article 24 implemented in law, to achieve mainstream inclusive education as a right for all in the UK.

UK Disability History Month have launched a creative exploration for Young Disabled people. Richard Rieser explains how to enter (page 24).

Rounding up, in the Legal Question ALLFIE's Navin Kikabhai and Victoria Higgins, Simpson Millar, tackle school exclusions (Page 25).

Monega Primary: ‘Inclusion is our core value’

By Richard Rieser,

World

of

Inclusion

In May this year, Richard Rieser visited Monega Primary School in the London Borough of Newham. The school’s vision and ethos statements is: ‘A happy, inclusive, caring school, where every child matters’. Our approach encourages all children to be enthusiastic lifelong learners.’

Monega Primary school is housed in an old School Board, triple decker, brick-built school from the 1900s. Located in Manor Park, Newham, it serves a diverse catchment area, with 40 languages spoken. Monega has 700 children in three forms per year group and two nursery classes. The school has 42 pupils with complex needs and 70 pupils on the SEN register. In the four years since joining Boleyn Academy Trust, Monega, which is committed to providing an inclusive, high-quality education for all, has

Katie Ives, the SENCO and the assistant head teacher, who learned her craft as an inclusive educator at Tollgate School (See issue 50 Summer 2018 for an article on the school), explains why Monega’s commitment to pupils with SEND is a highly successful aspect of work across the school:

“All on SEND Register have Individual Education Plans with half-termly targets. All of them have a personalised package of support delivered in the mainstream classes with withdrawal kept to