Inclusion
At Longdendale High School, we strongly believe that every child deserves to be given the opportunity to make outstanding progress, regardless of their background or needs. We believe it is our duty to remove any barriers to learning so every child can thrive. The promotion of Respect, Resilience and Aspiration is at the core of what we promote and every day life.
The Pastoral and Inclusion teams are designed to support students throughout their school life to ensure all reach their potential, recognising that some students may need additional support in order to achieve this. This may be long term or for a short period of time. The Inclusion team at Longdendale High School is committed to enabling all students to experience and manage a broad, balanced and appropriate curriculum in line with the Tameside policy for inclusion. We use a wide range of resources and strategies to support students in order that they are able to achieve their full potential.
The Inclusion team
FORM TUTORS
All students belong to a form led by a Form Tutor. These members of staff are a first point of call for our students and for parents. They oversee concerns around attendance, illness, general wellbeing and support students with any concerns or problems regarding day-to-day school life. They are a key member of staff and first point of contact for students and parents / carers to resolve any issues.
HEADS OF YEAR AND PASTORAL SUPPORT WORKERS
Each team of Form Tutors is led by a Head of Year and supported by a Pastoral Support Worker. These members of the Inclusion Team are key in the oversight and support of students in their year group. They manage attendance, behaviour and pastoral care. Our staff are well experienced and offer advice, support or interventions and as a team work closely with a variety of external agencies to help support our students.
| Mrs J Willis | Head of Year 7 & Director of Community Partnership |
| Mrs L Kelly | Head of Year 8 |
| Mr A Boardman | Head of Year 9 |
| Mr P Rea | Head of Year 10 |
| Mr L Crompton | Head of Year 11 |
| Mr A Robinson | Pastoral Support Worker - Year 7 |
| Ms J Pauline | Pastoral Support Worker - Year 8 |
| Miss K Smith | Pastoral Support Worker - Year 9 |
| Mrs A Clare | Pastoral Support Worker - Year 10 |
| Mr C Brown | Pastoral Support Worker - Year 11 |
WIDER INCLUSION TEAM
| Mr S Taylor | Deputy Headteacher - Director of Culture |
| Mr M Hollin | Assistant Headteacher - Behaviour & Learning Strategic Lead |
| Dr A Glancey | Assistant Headteacher - Attendance Strategic Lead |
| Miss O Hamilton | Safeguarding and Mental Health Officer |
SEND STAFFING
| Mrs J Garnett | SENDCo |
| Mrs N Parker | Assistant SENDCo |
| Mrs S Shaw | Intervention Support Manager |
| Mrs T Perkins | Higher Level Teaching Assistant - Literacy |
| Ms S Bedwell | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Mrs A Naz | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Miss S Quinlan | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Mr D Fairhurst | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Miss A Forshaw | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Mrs J Turner | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
| Miss G Simpson | Legacy Teaching Assistant |
For more information on SEND and how we can support please click here.
Our provision
At Longdendale we have 5 core principles for inclusion as shown below.
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Responsive - so that all students receive the right support at the right time with dignity not deficit.
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Recognition - so that all students participate and can experience success no matter how small.
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Clarity - so that all students can engage with learning opportunities.
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Belonging - so that all students feel a part of the school community and grow together.
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Proficiency - so that all students can receive appropriate specialist support when required.
Levels of provision
We have four levels of provision which are designed to support all staff working with our students to have an ongoing, holistic understanding of the individual student and their needs. We recognise that it is important to understand our students, and their learning needs so that we can be put in place timely and targeted support that will enable them to make progress.
At Longdendale we have identified four levels of provision; our core legacy offer, the legacy plus offer, the specialist legacy offer, and the specialist legacy plus offer.
During the academic year students could move up and down our levels of provision based on their emerging needs and successful intervention. We adopt the graduated approach of assess, plan, do and review to determine if there is a need for a student to move up or down one of the provision levels through a whole school, department, and individual subject teaching lens.
Supporting students and families
The Inclusion team work with both students and their families.
Inclusion update February 2026
We also work with external agencies to secure additional support and provision, including:
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CAF process
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Annual reviews
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Multi-Agency Autism Team (MAAT team)
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Communication, Language and Autistic Spectrum Disorders (CLASS)
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MIND - Mental Health support
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Healthy Young Minds (CAMHS)
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Educational Psychologists
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Visual Impairment Team
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Hearing Impairment Team
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Speech and Language therapists
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School nurse
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Health mentor
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Early Help Team
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INSPIRE family workers
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Branching Out – Young people’s drugs and alcohol service
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Tameside sexual health team
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our team.
We're aN IQM Flagship School!
We are delighted to have been awarded Flagship School status for the quality of our inclusive provision. Only a handful of UK schools have the honour of achieving IQM Flagship School status. The award recognises those unique schools who have held IQM Centre of Excellence status for at least 3 years; and played a strong leadership role in developing inclusion best practice across a network of schools.
Longdendale was described in the report as a “superbly inclusive secondary school” as a Trust we have a shared belief that the young people of Tameside should have access to the best education provision so that the students in their care are able to realise their ambitions and thrive. The Trust is unashamedly aspirational for all students. This is encapsulated in our vision, ‘Excellence and Ambition for All’.
You can read the full report below.
