Moorside Primary School and Nursery in Ripon celebrating after winning top national award for inclusivity

The Ripon-based school, which boasts pupils from 17 different nationalities, has become the first in the county to be awarded the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM) Flagship status.

IQM was established in the United Kingdom in October 2004, with the objective of supporting both state and independent schools to become inclusive.

Children of all abilities and disabilities are valued and appreciated at the school.

Differences are celebrated and the school successfully promotes equality of opportunity and inclusion for all.

Almost ten different languages are spoken by children at the school.

It has 190 pupils on the roll of various religious beliefs and there are children whose families originate from countries such as Nigeria, Syria, Afghanistan, Poland, Pakistan, Romania, China and Latvia.

Almost 20 per cent of the school - 33 pupils - do not speak English as their first language.

Claire Rowett, Headteacher at Moorside Primary School and Nursery, said merging the junior and infants into one site five years ago created a new vision and shared goals to embed a culture of success and achievement for all within the school’s nurturing and inclusive setting.

Mrs Rowett added: “There have been increasing opportunities through our IQM work to raise pupil voice and provide them with a platform to share projects, as well as share their learning opportunities, knowledge across the curriculum, personal development opportunities and also how they keep safe, mentally and physically healthy.

"We support and celebrate diversity within our school community.

“Some of the work has also led us to achieve gold in the North Yorkshire Council’s Healthy School Awards for our efforts to improve the health, wellbeing and resilience in our school community.

“I am, as ever, extremely proud of everything that we have achieved at Moorside.

"The success that we have had has been through the tenacious hard work of all staff and governors, working with our children and their families, which we value greatly.

“Above all, we are proud of our pupils and their confidence in sharing the work we do together - they are the best ambassadors for our school.”

Amanda Newbold, North Yorkshire Council’s Assistant Director for Education and Skills, added: “The IQM award recognises the commitment by schools to provide the best education for all children irrespective of differences.

“This recognition truly reflects the wonderful work of staff, governors and, of course, the pupils at Moorside Primary School and Nursery to successfully remove barriers to learning and maximise educational experiences.

"Congratulations to all involved.”