Learners’ well-being, equity and inclusion
Why well-being, equity and inclusion matter
Learners have the right to the best possible health and protection from harm. Good well-being is fundamental to learners’ progress and achievement. Learners need to experience physical, psychological, emotional and social well-being in order to thrive and engage successfully with their education, society and the opportunities that life presents.
Good levels of well-being empower learners to take responsibility for their own lives and to have a positive influence on the lives of others. An equitable and inclusive school takes account of and responds to the unique challenges that present themselves to individual learners, enabling them to make good progress.
Provision, monitoring and partnerships
The school values all members of its community equally and supports them to achieve high levels of physical, psychological, social and emotional well-being. It provides high quality support for learners with additional needs and mitigates the impact of social disadvantage successfully.
The school positively promotes and celebrates diversity within and beyond its community. Learners’ well-being is central to teaching and learning experiences at all times. All staff demonstrate a commitment to learners’ well-being through modelling positive behaviour and relationships.
The school ensures that learners develop a secure understanding of factors that affect their well-being and the well-being of others. It supports learners to make informed choices and decisions about matters that affect them and others.
Partnerships with parents and other agencies have a positive impact on learners’ school experience and their well-being. The school enables all learners to develop positive attitudes to learning and to make the best possible progress.
Reflection and dialogue prompts
How well does school support learners to develop as:
- Ambitious, Capable Learners
- Ethical, informed citizens
- Enterprising, Creative Contributors
- Healthy, confident individuals?
How well does the school support learners’ progress in relation to ‘what matters’ in the health and well-being AOLE?
How well does the school promote the health and well-being of learners?
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- Is there a whole school approach to promote the health and well-being of all learners?
- Do all members of the school community understand and, through their actions, support this approach? How do we know?
- How well is the development of learners’ well-being built into our teaching, curriculum and other learning experiences?
- How well do we support progression in learners’ well-being to ensure that they become increasingly independent and competent in terms of regulating their emotions and behaviours?
- How well do we support progression in learners’ well-being to ensure that learners grow in self-awareness and in the way they think about how their actions impact on others?
- How well do we support progression in learners’ well-being to ensure that they understand that issues dealt with can be revisited and explored in more depth as their understanding becomes more sophisticated?
- How well do we support progression in learners’ well-being to ensure that this aligns with the milestones of child development?
- Does the school review the effectiveness of its strategy regularly to inform further improvements? What has happened as a result and how do we know?
How well does the school promote positive attitudes to school and enjoyment of learning for all?
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- How well do we enable learners to influence how and what they learn?
- How well do we develop independent learning skills?
- How well do we develop learners’ ability to use assessment for learning strategies to support them to learn independently and to develop resilience in learning?
- How well do we support learners to shape their school environment, its ethos and cultures?
- Do we have well understood and effective processes for ensuring high rates of learner attendance?
How well do we support learners to develop healthy relationships?
How well do we implement strategies for resolving conflicts involving learners?
How well do we ensure that learners are safe?
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- Do we have well understood and effective processes that support high standards of learner behaviour?
- Do we have a well-understood and effective approach for relationships and sexuality education?
- How much time and importance do we attach to developing learners’ understanding of the importance and benefits of positive relationships?
- How well do relationships support learners to develop confidence and self-esteem?
- How well do we develop learners’ understanding of healthy digital relationships?
- Do we provide sufficient opportunities for learners to develop and apply their knowledge of healthy relationships in their work across the curriculum?
- How well do we draw upon the diversity within our school community to develop learners’ understanding of relationships within and across different cultures and faiths?
- How effective are the school’s safeguarding arrangements?
How successful are we in establishing an inclusive learning environment?
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- How well do we ensure that all learners have equitable access to learning experiences and resources?
- How well do we make adjustments to ensure the inclusion of learners needing additional support to access opportunities?
- How well do we recognise, promote, celebrate and learn from diversity within and beyond the school community?
- Do all staff promote equality and diversity at every opportunity?
- Do we have well understood and effective processes to promote and respect people in relation to protected characteristics?
- How well does the school assess the likely impact on protected groups of policies and practices when these are proposed, reviewed or revised?
- How well does the school monitor the actual and ongoing impact of its policies and practices on protected groups?
How well does the school meet the needs of all learners, including those with additional learning needs and those who may require extra support?
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- How well do learners with ALN attain and make progress?
- How well does the school identify learners’ ALN and implement effective interventions?
- How well do teaching and learning experiences meet learners’ ALN and the needs of those who may require extra support?
- How effectively do teachers monitor and review the attainment and progress of learners with ALN?
- How well does the school engage with parents, carers and families of learners with ALN and those who require extra support?
- How well does the school collaborate with external agencies to meet the needs of learner, including those with ALN?
- Do leaders provide a strong vision that promotes the achievement and inclusion of all learner, including those with ALN and those who may require extra support?
- How does the school develop the knowledge and understanding of all staff in relation to learner with ALN and those who require extra support?
- How well does the school evaluate the progress and attainment of learner with ALN and those who may require extra support?
How well does the school meet the needs of all learners, for example vulnerable learners (including those who are disadvantaged by poverty)?
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- How well do vulnerable learners attain and make progress?
- How effectively do teachers assess, monitor and track the progress of these learners?
- How well do teachers deploy effective strategies to address the needs of vulnerable learners?
- How effective are policies/practices to reward and praise achievement to raise the self-esteem and self-confidence of vulnerable learners?
- How effectively does the school provide engaging and relevant learning experiences, including targeted interventions that meet the needs of these learners?
- How well does the school manage key transitions between phases or between schools for vulnerable learners?
- How effective are out of school time programmes or extended services in engaging and supporting vulnerable learners?
- How well does the school engage with parents, carers and families of vulnerable learners?
- How well does the school collaborate with the community and external agencies to meet the needs of all learners, including vulnerable learners?
- How well do leaders provide a strong vision that promotes a culture of equity and a shared moral purpose to ensure that all learners will achieve?
- How well does the school develop the knowledge and understanding of all staff in relation to how best to ensure that vulnerable learners make effective progress?
- How well does the school evaluate the impact of its strategies and approaches to improve the outcomes of vulnerable learners, including the use of any targeted resource?
How successful are we in ensuring that learners have sufficient opportunities to be physically active and healthy?
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- How well does our curriculum provision support learners to be physically active and healthy?
- How well do our school ethos, environment and expectations support learners to be physically active and healthy?
How well do we listen to learners and enable learners to influence matters that affect them?
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- How well do we meet the statutory rights of all learners?
- How well do we enable learners to influence curriculum design and learning experiences?
- How well do we and enable learners to engage with additional experiences and opportunities at school?
- How well do we involve individual learners with respect to any extra support they may need?
How well do we monitor all aspects of learners’ well-being?
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- How effective are processes to gather, analyse and share information at individual, group, cohort and whole school level?
- What information do we gather and why?
- How well do we monitor attendance?
- How well do we monitor behaviour, including allegations of bullying, harassment or discrimination?
- How effective are processes to gather information about specific groups of learners such as those eligible for free school meals, those with additional learning needs or those with protected characteristics?
- How effective is our use of surveys that ask for learners’ views about their health and well-being?
How well do we engage with parents/carers to enhance their children’s well-being?
How well do we work with external agencies to support learners’ well-being?
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- How well do we work with services such as health, police, social services, youth offending services, counselling services, Careers Wales to support learners’ well-being?
- How well do we work with local and national charities and community groups to support learners’ well-being?
- How well do we work with private sector organisations such as local business to support learners’ well-being?
- How well do we work with other education providers such as local cluster schools, non-maintained settings, specialist schools, further education institutions, higher education institutions or work based learning providers to support learners’ well-being?
- How well does the school involve external agencies in directly providing learning experiences about well-being to enhance the school’s own provision?
How successfully do we promote and uphold the rights of children and young people?
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- Do we have well understood and effective approaches to promote learners’ rights?
- Do we have well understood and effective approaches to uphold learners’ rights?
- Do we take appropriate account of and promote successfully the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child?
How well do environment and facilities contribute to good health and well-being?
These might include:
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- A secure and safe school site
- Well maintained buildings and resources
- Dining facilities
- Toilets
- Spaces to play
- Spaces to relax and socialise
- Sports facilities
- Toilet facilities
- Spaces for counselling or other therapeutic work
Common misconceptions/ unhelpful behaviours
- Academic success and good rates of attendance means that learners’ well-being must be good
- Well-being and ALN is the sole responsibility of specific staff in our school
- Responding to learners well-being and/or additional learning needs does not require investing in professional learning of staff
- Well-being is only supported through PSE and other specialist lessons
- Well-being is good if the school provides many interventions
- Learners’ well-being must always be quantifiable
- Responding to additional learning needs of learners does not require working partnerships; we can do it ourselves
Tools and approaches
Additional Learning Needs
- ALN Transformational Programme – Frequently asked questions (WG February 2019)
Relevant guidance for learners with additional learning needs and those who may require extra support
- Inclusion and pupil support (WG March 2016)
- Family and community engagement toolkit for schools in Wales (WG 2016)
- Keeping learners safe (WG January 2015)
- Person-centred reviews toolkit (WG August 2015)
Other Welsh Government guidance
- Respecting others: anti-bullying guidance (new version out soon following recent consultation)
- Relationships and sexuality education guidance (new statutory guidance expected following recent consultation)
- Guidance for substance misuse education
- Healthy eating in maintained schools
Estyn supplementary guidance
- Additional learning needs
- Reducing the impact of poverty on educational attainment and well-being
- Healthy living
- Equality, human rights and English as an additional language
- Welsh Network of Healthy School Schemes National Quality Award
- School Health Research Network (SHRN) Student Health and Well-being Survey, based on the World Health Organization’s collaborative Health Behaviour of School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey
- Eco-Schools
- WLGA’s Healthy Eating in Schools - Evidence Guide and Toolkit