The Excel and Exceed Centre is the specialist provider of education for all young people admitted to Cygnet Hospital Bury.
It has recently been accredited with the Carnegie School of Education Coaching, Mentoring & Professional Learning in Education Silver Award. School Manager Jayne Rowlands said this accreditation showcases the positive work of the school to enable its students to be “the very best they can be”.
In order to achieve the accreditation, staff had to demonstrate competencies in four key areas:
- Encouraging and enabling collaborative conversation;
- Building capacity in the work of educators and leaders to create contexts which support inclusive career-long and profession-wide learning;
- Working to break down barriers to professional development through positive engagement with the education sector and allied practitioners;
- Increasing the opportunities for educational change through enhanced professional agency and wellbeing.
The report stated: “Excel and Exceed Centre has presented a detailed profile of evidence that demonstrates they are at a Silver level across all four competencies of the Coaching, Mentoring and Professional Learning in Education Award.
“The centre has used the framework and content of the Award to excellent effect to develop their coaching, mentoring and professional learning strategies, structures, and practices.”
The report praised the school for the work it does to break down barriers to professional development and highlighted that this was where it was strongest. The school was also celebrated in the report for how it prioritised mental health amongst its community and how it engaged with other agencies such as Manchester Met University.
Jayne Rowlands, School Manager, said: “The work we have done in embedding coaching will not only promote professional and personal growth for staff but will empower our students to be the very best they can be, giving them a sense of belonging within the school community.
“On a personal level coaching is something I am passionate about, so to get a Silver Award is such an achievement. Embedding a coaching culture takes time and in March 2022 I delivered a session around my vision for coaching. This was the beginning of our journey and I feel we have come such a long way in a relatively short time in breaking down the barriers to professional development.
“Our work doesn’t end here, we will continue to build on our success and next time we will be going for gold!”
Receiving the Gold accreditation will require the school to build on its collaboration with external agencies and demonstrate they are sharing excellent practice through a range of networks and/or publications in the national arena, hosting and/or contributing to conferences.