Table Of ContentROUTLEDGE REVIVALS
Learning and Inclusion
The Cleves School Experience
Priscilla Alderson
Routledge Revivals
Learning and Inclusion
Mainstream schools are consistently faced with numerous and often contradictory requirements, both
to achieve high results and to be inclusive and incorporate children of every ability. This title, first
published in 1999, describes how one renowned inclusive community school, Cleves School,
responds to the challenges faced by themselves and other schools. Specifically, Priscilla Alderson
shows how methods of inclusive learning can be incorporated with those designed to improve stan
dards of achievement for every child. Practical and comprehensive, this title remains applicable to
the challenges currently faced within the British education system.
This page intentionally left blank
Learning and Inclusion
The Cleves School Experience
Priscilla Alderson
¡3 ; Routledge
■ a § m J Taylor & Francis Group
First published in 1999
by David Fulton Publishers Ltd
This edition first published in 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, 0X14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routlcdgc
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Rout I edge ts an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 1999 Priscilla Alderson
The right of Priscilla Alderson to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in
the original copies may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and welcomes correspondence from those they have been
unable to contact.
A Library of Congress record exists under LC control number: 00551352
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-72254-4 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-1-315-85822-7 (ebk)
LEARNING AND
INCLUSION
The Cleves School
Experience
Edited by Priscilla Alderson.
Written by staff and pupils of the
Cleves School, Newham, London
David Fulton Publishers
David Fulton Publishers Ltd
The Chiswick Centre, 414 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5TF
www.fultonpublishers.co.uk
First published in Great Britain in 1999 by David Fulton Publishers
Note: The rights of Priscilla Alderson to be identified as the authors of this
work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
David Fulton Publishers is a division of Granada Learning Limited, part of
Granada pic.
Copyright © Priscilla Alderson 1999
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 1-85346-609-3
Pages from this book may be photocopied for use only in purchasing
institution. Otherwise, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior
permission of the publishers.
Typeset by Textype Typesetters, Cambridge
Printed and bound in Great Britain
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. An inclusive community school 6
3. Active learning 27
4. Being friends and being equals: relationships and rules 44
5. Fun 64
6. The Cleves School experience: conclusion 73
Appendices:
1. Implementing the aims of Cleves School 75
2. Extracts from the 1998 OFSTED Report 79
3. The Newham LEA Inclusion Charter and extracts 84
from the Audit
Bibliography 90
This page intentionally left blank
Chapter 1
Introduction
New challenges to schools can be seen as attempts to stretch Facing new
schools in opposite and even contradictory directions. The challenges
National Curriculum over the past decade has expanded the areas
of formal knowledge which children have to learn, and the
abilities they have to demonstrate during assessments. Schools are
expected to achieve the best possible average results in tests and
exams (DfEE 1997a). This can seem to conflict with policies to
include every child, of any ability, in mainstream schools (DfEE
1997b). The school day must be highly organised if the curriculum
is to be covered. Each primary school teacher must have a breadth
and depth of knowledge of many topics. Here, the flow of
knowledge is mainly seen as from adults to children. Yet teachers
also have to encourage the children's original and questioning
thinking, their creativity and social, moral and spiritual
awareness. All these flourish in less formal settings, with time to
reflect and explore, drawing on children's own ideas rather than
'delivering' education to them. Schools are expected to encourage
a strong sense of corporate identity and loyalty yet also to
welcome outsiders and newcomers. There are tensions in many
school prospectuses between their stated aims that pupils must
conform to strict rules and behaviour codes, but also expectations
that children will become responsible and independent, able to
think critically and to take initiatives (Griffith 1998).
This book describes how one primary school approaches these
challenges and works to resolve the tensions in ways that can
benefit every child and teacher. Methods of raising standards in
one area, such as literacy, behaviour, the inclusion of disabled
children, or induction and continuity when new staff and pupils
arrive, can work to the benefit of all the other areas.
i
