Exeter students have been celebrating LGBT+ History Month this month and are taking part in LGBT+ History Month runs for the whole of February that was first celebrated in 2005. The overall aim of LGBT+ History month is to promote equality and diversity for the benefit of the public.  This is done by increasing the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT+”) people, their history, lives and their experiences in the curriculum and culture of educational and other institutions, and the wider community. 

At West Exe School, part of the Ted Wragg Trust family of schools, Year 8 and Year 10 have been learning about gender identity and equality though the West Exe Baccalaureate and displays have been put up around the school highlighting the contributions the LGBT+ community has made to medicine, science and health care.

Students in Years 7 to 10 are taking part in a competition to design the official LGBT+ History Month badge for 2025, the final entries from each year group will be selected to represent West Exe School in the nationwide competition.  The winning design will be made into the official badge for 2025 and sold across the UK, each year there is an official badge for LGBT+ History Month which helps raise awareness and funds. 

Teachers at the school are taking time out of their lessons to encourage discussions on certain individuals that have made an impact on their subject areas, for example, in History students have learnt of the challenges and impact Alan Turing made during World War II, in Geography, students have learnt of Mary Anning’s groundbreaking work in palaeontology and in Maths students have looked at Cecil Belfield Clarkes mathematical formulas for medicating children safely.

At Queen Elizabeth’s School in Crediton, also part of the Ted Wragg Trust, students have had assemblies and undertaken activities to aid in the understanding of the different key terms and some of the history behind the creation of LGBT+ History month. 

Surveys have shown that pupils in schools with strong positive messaging about being LGBT+ have drastically improved wellbeing and feel safer – regardless of whether they are LGBT+ or not.

 Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“At the Ted Wragg Trust we pride ourselves on our inclusivity and as such I was delighted to hear about the effort several of our Exeter schools have put into raising awareness of LGBT+ History Month.  It’s absolutely right that schools should be raising awareness and advancing education on matters affecting the LGBT+ community.”

  

 

Several students from West Exe School, part of our family of schools, recently took part in Philosothon UK.

A Philosothon is a friendly “competition” between small teams in which students participate in a series of “Communities of Inquiry” and are judged by the quality of their participation. Students are asked to consider open-ended questions which require an extended response and typically involve appeal to more than one discipline. 

Students are asked to have a conversation in mixed age group teams about a clearly defined philosophical or ethical issue. They are judged by professional philosophers from local universities on the level of their engagement with the topic and with each other.

Following on from their impressive performance in the University of Oxford Schools’ Debating Competition, Mia Wyatt and Amelie Walch in Year 10, joined together with Year 11s Poppy O’Neale and Evie Kane and Year 9s Flo Richardson and Klara Oczko to represent West Exe School at Philosothon UK. 

The whole team was amazing, making some really insightful comments and respectfully challenging or questioning the views of the students from the other competing schools. At the end of the evening, Evie came second in her age-range scoring a fantastic 77/100, agonisingly missing out on finishing joint first by one point.

Julie Fossey, Headteacher at West Exe School said:

“I am so proud of every student who represented West Exe at Philosothon UK, they did fantastically well. The critical thinking aspects that philosophy promotes are relevant to all sorts of issues and careers in modern day life and it was lovely to see our students taking part in this competition. 

At West Exe we know it’s not just what you know that’s important but your ability to question information and come to your own conclusions and embracing philosophy is a great way of promoting that.”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust said:

“It’s brilliant to hear how well the students from West Exe did at Philosothon UK, everyone at our Trust is so proud of their efforts and achievements at this national platform.”

Children and staff at Isca Academy in Exeter, part of the Ted Wragg Trust family of schools, have been marking Children’s Mental Health Week by shining a spotlight on the work of their therapy dog, Missy.  Missy is a 70kg St Bernard and may be Britain’s biggest therapy dog!  

Children’s Mental Health Week runs from the 5th to the 11th of February and this year’s theme is “My Voice Matters.”  Now in its 10th year, Place2Be, the children’s mental health charity, launched the first ever Children’s Mental Health Week back in 2015 to highlight the importance of young people’s mental health. One in six children are likely to have a mental health problem and the awareness week is designed to empower, equip and give a voice to all young people in the UK. 

Missy has been on a mission at Isca Academy over the last 16 months, to transform lives and make the school one of the best schools for any child to attend in Britain.  Missy belongs to Isca’s Headteacher Vicki Joyce, they started their journey together at Isca in September 2022.

Since then, Missy has become an incredibly popular ‘staff’ member, boosting the wellbeing of staff and scholars across her school.  With rave reviews from children, parents and staff alike, she has even been described as a “Godsend” by one mum whose 11-year-old has been nurtured through anxiety into settling into ‘the big school’.  

New Year 7 scholar Ellie, 11, who started in September, said:

“It makes me want to come into school even more and then sit with her, stroke her, and give her treats and Missy helps a lot. I think more people should have that too”.

Ellie’s mum Eadaoin said: 

“Actually, if it wasn’t for Missy, half the time Ellie wouldn’t come in. She struggles quite a bit with it and has done for a while so Missy has been an absolute Godsend.

“As soon as she gets through the door and sees Missy her whole demeanour changes and she says ‘I want to go in and see Missy.’”

Missy aids those struggling with anxiety to come into school, greets the 1000 scholars into their classes, helps boost reading, literacy, and learning, and even eases any worries for those sitting exams.

The popular pooch is just one of many ways the school is striving to put the wellbeing of their young people at the forefront of everything they do, starting with the joyful and musical welcome children get each morning by staff and continuing with appreciations and celebrations throughout their lessons. Isca’s core values of Inspiration, Success, Community & Ambition are at the heart of all they do.  

Missy is an integral part of living out these values, but she is supported by a wide team, including elected Scholar Health Ambassadors that work with staff to improve wellbeing even further, so that every child feels safe, happy, and supported on their Isca journey. Most recently this has involved wellbeing drop-in sessions in response to student feedback.

A Lincoln University research paper into therapy dogs concluded that dog-assisted interventions can reduce stress levels in school children, with effects lasting over the school term.  It is hoped that their findings will provide a basis for widespread changes in educational practice, including public policy change so that more children benefit from therapy dogs such as Missy. 

Mrs Vicki Joyce, Headteacher at Isca Academy said:

“Missy has been an absolute star. First thing in the morning she will greet and meet children and parents. She then has break and lunch duty enjoying time with many of our children.  We have reading and literacy sessions, so she is able to develop children’s literacy skills. There is also a lot of sleeping that goes on as well!

“Missy is a big dog with a massive heart, making a huge positive impact across the school with calmness off the scale that makes everyone feel relaxed. As a school we take our scholars’ mental wellbeing very seriously and she is boosting wellbeing in so many ways.”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Trust said:

“At the Ted Wragg Trust we take children’s mental health seriously all year round and it’s brilliant to hear about everything Isca Academy is doing to support students in this area.  School dogs are a wonderful addition across a number of our schools and we have found their presence to be hugely beneficial.”

 

  

Year 6 pupils at Marine Academy Primary in Plymouth, part of our Trust, have watched an inspiring webcast with Hedi Argent MBE,  organised by the Holocaust Education Trust and hosted by Natasha Kaplinsky OBE, where Hedi provided a testimony of her survival during the Holocaust.  The children found the session incredibly moving and it complemented their History learning about Civil Rights and 20^th Century Conflict effectively.

The webcast was designed to have them learn more, and reflect on, the holocaust after Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) on Saturday the 27th of January.  The 27th of January marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp and the theme of this year’s HMD was the fragility of freedom.

Hedi Argent was born in 1929, and lived in a suburb of Vienna in Austria, the anti-Jewish laws and backlash that accompanied Hitler’s annexation of Austria in 1938 were something Hedi remembers very well.  She remembers seeing Jews being made to scrub the pavements and having stones thrown at them. Hedi’s family arrived in England in 1939 and stayed in a safe house.  After the war, Hedi and her parents wrote to the Red Cross to try and find their extended family; they found out that most of their other family members in Europe had been murdered during the Holocaust.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust encourages remembrance in a world scarred by genocide, they promote and support Holocaust Memorial Day  to remember the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, alongside the millions of people murdered under Nazi persecution of other groups and during more recent genocides. 

Nicola Keeler and Georgina Reid Co Headteachers at Marine Academy Primary said:

“It’s really important for children to learn about the Holocaust and understand the history of our society.  It is of course a sensitive topic, but children are resilient, and it was helpful for them to hear Hedi Argent’s inspiring story, which they clearly found incredibly moving.”

Moira Marder, CEO of the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust said:

“It’s only right for schools to take action to mark Holocaust Memorial Day and I was glad to hear that Marine Academy Primary made sure to educate their children about this in a sensitive and reflective manner.”

Kylie Rio-Wood, Trust Leader for Speech and Language and Lead Speech and Language Therapist at the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust tells us more. 

It was revealed this month that almost two million school children are behind their peers in talking and understanding, the highest on record.  Different reasons have been attributed to this jump, from the pandemic to the use of screens. However, the main takeaway is that thousands of children are now waiting over a year for speech and language therapy. 

As the trust leader for speech and language at the Ted Wragg Multi-Academy Trust and the trust’s lead speech and language therapist, I believe schools are going to have to invest more in services like speech and language therapy (SALT). These have traditionally been provided or commissioned by local authorities, but now have long waiting lists, and the state of council finances nationwide suggest these will only get longer. 

Children who do not receive SALT in a timely manner can see both their wellbeing and outcomes suffer. Their development can stall, leading to poorer mental health and even unemployment in adulthood.  For children who need it, SALT can transform life chances by supporting them to access education properly and to manage socially.   

Responding to the headline figures in The Times, Speech and Language UK’s chief executive, Jane Harris called on schools to put in place group programmes to help children with communication needs. This is what we have been doing trust-wide. Our team currently consists of a SALT assistant and three specialist TAs in Speech and Language.  We’ve conducted speech and language screenings for two years and are working towards every child in every school in our trust being screened for speech and language needs and supported by us if needed.    

I started this work by creating an informal assessment which covers areas of speech and language that, from evidence, a 4-year-old would be expected to be able to reach. We use this screening tool to assess children who start in reception, and from this we create booster sessions for children who have fallen short in certain areas. The SALT team run these sessions so that teachers don’t have to.  

We then use an online assessment programme called Secondary Language Link, which is a unique, comprehensive package for supporting students with speech, language and communication needs.  The package combines a robust standardised assessment with planned and fully-resourced, targeted small-group interventions and a staff training toolkit.  We use this to screen every year 7 in all of our schools, and then run intervention groups as required. 

Thanks to both of these screenings we are also able to identify any children with very significant needs who would meet the NHS SALT threshold. This allows us to refer them to this service sooner rather than later. It also means we can signpost other NHS services we think may help such as GPs,  audiologists, and ear, nose and throat specialists.  

Our Trust has also invested in an external provider of virtual SALT assessments and therapy for children in other year groups who staff are concerned about and think they might benefit from further support.  These assessments can then also be used to help support any education, health and care plan (EHCP) referrals.  

Taken together, all of this means more children than ever are being seen and supported, and much sooner than would otherwise be the case, which benefits everyone. It helps children catch up with their peers, supports teachers to deliver the best classroom experience for all pupils, and alleviates pressure on public services in the long term.  

More Multi-Academy Trusts doing this sort of work internally or collaborating with each other to share these services would also reduce demand on local authority services, to the benefit of students in non-academised schools. 

But above all, it’s clear how much children benefit personally from support with speech, language and communication needs. With almost two million children in need of that support, I hope more trusts will collaborate and consider how they can take a lead on this pressing issue.