Lawrence Community Primary School

has been awarded
 

Inclusion Quality Mark's
 

Inclusive School Award
with Centre of Excellence status

Overall Evaluation

I had the great pleasure of visiting Lawrence Community Primary School and spending time immersed in the life of the school. From the outset, it was clear that inclusion is not just a concept at Lawrence—it is a lived experience. The school motto, “Where everyone is valued,” resonates throughout the corridors, classrooms, and community interactions. There is a calm, welcoming atmosphere across the site, where relationships between adults and pupils are characterised by respect, warmth, and care.

Lawrence is a large, vibrant two-form entry primary school situated in the Smithdown Ward of Liverpool—an area ranked among the 20% most deprived nationally. Despite this, the school radiates a strong sense of hope, ambition and togetherness. With over 80% of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds and 52% eligible for Pupil Premium funding, the school serves an incredibly diverse community. A striking 83% of children speak English as an additional language, and many pupils arrive mid-phase various levels of prior education. Leaders and staff respond to these challenges with compassion, determination and intelligent adaptation. The Headteacher described the school as, “a welcoming place where pupils can feel that things are fair”. This idea of fairness and equality was evident in all the pupils spoken to throughout my visit and is a foundation of the school that all staff buy into.

The Senior Leadership Team is child centred, reflective, and deeply committed to providing an inclusive, tailored and aspirational education for all pupils. Systems are robust, but never at the expense of humanity. A recurring theme throughout my visit was seeing that it is normal practice for staff to regularly go above and beyond, in a wide variety of ways for the children and their families simply because it is the right thing to do.

The safeguarding culture is strong, seen not just in procedures, but in the daily interactions between staff and children. Safeguarding is viewed as a shared privilege and responsibility. Pupils know whom they can talk to, and staff are ever vigilant, nurturing a culture of openness and trust.

Teaching at Lawrence is underpinned by the principles of Quality First Teaching. Classrooms are language-rich, visually stimulating and thoughtfully structured to reflect high expectations for all. Teachers use adaptive strategies, pre-teaching vocabulary, and structured feedback to carefully to meet the needs of each learner. The curriculum is ambitious and inclusive, blending knowledge and skills with a genuine commitment to character development. Subject leaders are empowered to shape their areas and are given protected time to monitor and evolve provision through pupil voice and book study.

Staff at Lawrence are confident, enthusiastic and passionate about inclusion. Teaching assistants, learning mentors, and the inclusion team play a vital role in ensuring that every child has what they need to thrive. The Rainbow Room and Sensory Room are excellent examples of provision designed around the individual needs of pupils, allowing access to learning in a dignified and meaningful way.

Leaders have embedded a deep culture of professional reflection and ensure staff have protected time together in staff meeting time to fulfil this. A wonderful example of inclusion is seeing how staff meet the EAL needs of pupils in advance of lessons to ensure they can access all the lessons taught within the classroom. This method means pupils with significant language barriers are able to sit alongside their peers and access all the lessons. CPD is highly valued, and there is a healthy balance of support and challenge throughout the school.

Pupils too are reflective, articulate, and proud of their achievements. They talked with excitement about residential trips, enrichment opportunities, and the ways in which the school helps them feel safe and successful. They were able to verbalise their bespoke targets and what they were working on in order to meet their goals. Children are encouraged to revisit work throughout the year to celebrate progress and create positive mindsets. Pupils have a variety of responsibilities throughout the school including Peer Mentors, EAL Buddies, Bully Buster and Culture Club all of which make a real difference within school.

In response to the diversity of backgrounds within the school, the wider curriculum is extremely rich and inclusive. Pupils were able to discuss how diversity was their strength and that difference in gender, race and culture was something they valued in each other. From the celebration of different cultures and languages, to the involvement of external partners like the Anthony Walker Foundation, Lawrence actively helps children to see themselves as part of a wider, interconnected world. British values, respect for difference, and social justice are not tokenistic—they are foundational.

Attendance is a key priority and has resulted in pupils who are proud of their attendance. They proudly show their attendance badges and are offered the chance to win books and sometimes larger prizes. The warm welcome that children get to coming to school every day provides both the children and their families with reassurance that the children are loved and cared for whilst at school and school. Once again staff go above and beyond to deliver education to the community. Staff can recount many times where they have been in contact and even educating pupils who were not present in the country. These initiatives combined result in a school who are above average in attendance when compared to other Liverpool schools despite being in one of Liverpool’s most deprived areas.

The leadership’s commitment to continual improvement, and the collaborative ethos among staff, pupils and governors make it a beacon of inclusive education in Liverpool.

I am of the opinion that the school fully meets the standard required by the Inclusion Quality Mark's Inclusive School Award. There are only minor areas requiring development and the school is aware of these. I recommend that the school be awarded the Inclusive School Award and be reassessed in three years.

I also recommend that the school should consider applying for Centre of Excellence status subject to the inclusion within its plans of the appropriate areas for development and the completion of the Centre of Excellence documentation. If the school chooses to pursue this status and it were to be awarded the school would be subject to annual review from this point forwards.

Assessor: Mr Alexander Coughlin  

Findings confirmed by Inclusion Quality Mark (UK) Ltd: