Abbey College achieves two prestigious awards and becomes a Centre of Excellence
Staff and students at Abbey College are delighted to announce the achievement of two highly esteemed awards: The Learning Outside the Classroom (LOTC) Silver Mark from the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom, and the Centre of Excellence Award (COE) from the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM).
In July 2024, Abbey College was awarded the Inclusive School Award by the IQM for exemplifying the principles of inclusion. The school was commended for prompting diversity, raising achievement for all students, creating a nurturing environment for success, and enhancing its inclusive practices.
The IQM praised Abbey College, highlighting that “most prominently inclusivity is seen in the staff’s knowledge of the students,” through holding “regular meetings across all departments in the school to contribute to unified quality education and support.”
Following this achievement, Abbey College has joined a select group of 240 schools across the UK to be named a Centre of Excellence by the IQM. This accolade reflects the school's outstanding dedication to inclusion. Abbey College met rigorous criteria to attain this accolade, including classroom research activities exploring inclusive practice, sharing and disseminating good practices between schools, and implementing an annual development plan.
In addition to the Centre of Excellence achievement, Abbey College was recently awarded the Silver Learning Outside the Classroom Mark, which the UK charity, Council for Learning Outside the Classroom awards. The charity supports educators in schools and other organisations to access opportunities and benefits that come from learning beyond the classroom, whether these experiences happen inside or outside, or in locations close to home or further afield.
Abbey College students actively participated in a range of activities beyond the classroom, including musical and drama productions, residential programmes with the Combined Cadet Force (CCF), and the bi-annual world challenge, this year saw students travel to Borneo.
Andy Christoforou, Headteacher at Abbey College said: “We are thrilled to have received these two prestigious awards. Becoming a Centre of Excellence is a testament to the tireless efforts of our staff and community to ensure inclusion remains at the heart of our educational approach.”
He added: “Achieving the LOTC Silver mark is an outstanding accomplishment. We are committed to embedding opportunities for our students to learn beyond the classroom throughout the curriculum.
"These experiences are invaluable at shaping our students into well-rounded individuals and providing learning opportunities beyond what can be taught inside the classroom.”