Raising aspirations for Muslim girls’ education by removing perceived barriers

Information about the school

There are currently 40 pupils in the school. This includes eight pupils in the primary phase and thirty two pupils in the secondary phase. Pupils are mostly from the local area in Cardiff.

Almost all pupils come from minority ethnic groups including Arab, Pakistani, Somali and West Indian. A few pupils speak English as an additional language. The school is non-selective, and entry is based upon the school’s ability to meet the needs of the pupil. It provides an education with a Muslim ethos and a curriculum that includes the teaching of Arabic, the Qur’an and Islamic Studies. The school’s motto is ‘Learn, Enhance, Achieve’.

Context and background to the effective or innovative practice

Since opening in 2016, the school has had an exceptionally caring and nurturing ethos based on the Islamic values of mutual respect and strong, positive relationships between pupils, staff and the wider community. The school motto ‘Learn, Enhance, Achieve’ is embedded in all aspects of the school’s approach and is reflected in the nurturing environment and high expectations of pupils established by teachers.

The school identified that a nurturing environment was integral to establishing a positive relationship between pupils, their peers and teachers and positively affected pupil learning and development. With this ethos/culture in mind, the school developed a wide range of strategies to raise the aspirations of pupils and remove perceived barriers to girls’ education. The monthly teacher meetings where each pupil’s progress, concerns, targets and pastoral care are discussed were crucial to the development of the strategies. Over time, these strategies evolved using feedback from pupils and teachers.

Description of nature of strategy or activity

A key priority for the school is to raise the confidence of pupils by showing them the impact of pupil voice on the work of the school. This is mainly through the school’s focus groups encouraging pupils to have an influence. For example, ‘Student Observers of Learner’ (SOLs) observe lessons and give feedback that influences classroom practice, curriculum resources and trips. This feedback is included in the well-rounded teacher appraisal process that takes account of pupil progress, teachers’ self-evaluations and professional reflections, and the outcomes of leaders’ monitoring.  Another focus group, called the Motivating Active Mentors (MAMs), motivates its peers by initiating incentive trips and giving feedback to teachers on the most motivational reward systems.

Central to the school’s nurturing approach is the highly tailored curriculum that removes perceived barriers to girls’ education and raises pupil aspiration. The school has developed this curriculum to increase educational outcomes and enrich the learning experiences of pupils. This is achieved through offering a wide range of educational experiences outside the classroom while supporting the Islamic faith of the pupils. For example, in PE lessons pupils participate in self-defence lessons, which are conducted in a female-only sports hall allowing the pupils to be comfortable and confident participating. Also, pupils work closely with organisations to promote inclusivity and understanding of Muslim girls. Examples include their recent collaboration with the South Wales Police to create a uniform for Muslim female officers and with the Welsh Rugby Union ‘Jersey for all’ campaign.

A key priority to the school is breaking perceived barriers of Muslim girls’ education outside of and within the pupils’ communities. The school’s approach to this is to provide enriching experiences or workshops beyond the classroom environment, whilst always having pupils’ Islamic identity in mind. These experiences serve as an opportunity for pupils and community members alike, to recognise and value difference when they encounter people with beliefs different from their own. For example, through participating in a workshop at Wild Thing Café, pupils learnt about veganism. Additionally, these experiences create a subtle shift in the perception of girls’ education.  Whilst recognising and valuing the Islamic identity of its pupils, the school is providing unique opportunities and visiting places that many female pupils would not usually get to experience fully, such as trips to Ogmore, where the pupils swam in their Islamic outer garments (hijabs). The school often rents out whole establishments to offer a comfortable, female-only environment for them to remove their hijabs, for example renting out the entire trampolining park and an overnight camping trip for teachers and pupils, allowing both to participate fully in activities. Again, while this increases pupil confidence, it also serves as an opportunity for members of the wider community outside of the school to meet and become acquainted with young Muslim girls. These experiences aim to develop an ethos of upholding their faith while gaining worthwhile positive experiences.

At the heart of the school’s approach to raising the aspirations of girls is the strong and shared understanding by all stakeholders of its holistic and nurturing approach. The school adopts several strategies for this approach.

• The Intervention Plan is created for pupils who have significant weaknesses or are performing lower than expected.  In the monthly meetings, all teachers share each individual pupil’s progress, concerns and targets and devise an intervention plan if necessary. The pupil is set goals according to their needs and provided with support consisting of either in-class enhancements or online courses that are accessed at school and home. This plan is monitored and reviewed regularly until the desired outcome is met.

• The Motivation Plan is based upon the school’s holistic approach to nurturing.  It highlights areas of personal development for the pupil to reach their highest potential and raise their aspirations. It is a collaborative dialogue between the pupil and teacher to identify where pupils need to be motivated. For example, a Year 11 pupil was demotivated due to the stress and pressures of exams. A motivation plan is devised to help alleviate stresses and bring balance into her revision timetable plans.
• The Positive behaviour report is a holistic and nurturing variant to the commonly used ‘behavioural report’ used in schools. It evolved from witnessing the humiliation pupils felt by the standard ‘behavioural reports’; thus a collaborative and more holistic approach was created to achieve the desired outcome. The goal of the report is ultimately for pupils to learn from their mistakes and improve, but the school also wanted to give pupils the skills to be independent learners rather than just telling them what to do. The school emphasises the importance of the partnership between the school, pupils and parents, by involving parents throughout this process and subsequent meetings. The pupil then devises their own targets in collaboration with their parent and teacher. Every day for a fortnight, the teacher swill record whether the pupil met their targets or not and another parent meeting is held to review at the end of the fortnight. If the targets are not met, they are reviewed and adjusted accordingly, until improvements are made. The encouraging modifications on the ‘behavioural report’ and the approach to tackling the areas of weaknesses promote pupil ownership of their learning and improvements, which in turn increases their self-confidence and esteem, encouraging them to take pride in their participation.
• An Enhancement booklet was created for each individual pupil to be a hub of positive comments from teachers throughout the year. It also allows for termly self-grading by the individual pupil.  At the end of the year, the pupils take the booklets home along with their school report and they serve as an additional personal record of their achievements both academically and socially.
• The key stage 4 pack is given to Year 10 pupils at the start of the year and consists of tools to help them build transferable skills they need for the world of work or further education. The subject grade booklets offer a space for pupils to evaluate their assessments, looking at what went well and what they need to revise. It helps pupils to take responsibility for their learning and develop self-monitoring skills and perseverance. It also contains a reflective journal that documents pupil learning successes and mistakes, and eating and sleeping habits to monitor the impact of these on their academic progress.  These elements of independent learning help pupils to develop confidence and resilience.  

What impact has this work had on provision and learners’ standards?

In the most recent PASS survey carried out by the school, nearly all pupils had a positive attitude towards learning and are happy in school.  Questionnaires devised by the school for both pupils and parents highlighted that the school is providing a nurturing and positive learning environment both within and outside the classroom. The school’s recent IGCSE results show a marked improvement, which can partly be attributed to the various plans that have been put in place to meet the needs of every individual learner. The school has also seen an impact on pupils’ aspirations, as a result of increasing educational activities and pupil voice.

How have you shared your good practice?

The school shares good practice with all stakeholders, on social websites such as Twitter and Facebook and the school website.