We are delighted to announce our success on receiving the Gold Award for the 'Excellence for Employee Wellbeing' by One Education Ltd. The assessor looked into our policies and procedures and met a number of our school staff throughout her visit. At Pioneer House the wellbeing of our fabulous school team if of paramount importance to us and we are delighted this has been recognised.

As our assessor stated on our report November 2023:

Wow!! So happy for you that you can now call that glitter you sprinkle GOLD!! Staff I met were  very aware of how lucky they are with access to the required resources, skills & knowledge to give the best possible support to your pupils and I really was blown away by how much pride they all take in their roles. The work towards reducing workload and ensuring that training and CPD is relevant and focused was also appreciated and recognised by staff, something to be really proud of. Here are some of my favourite quotes from my interviews today:

"We are one big team here"

"There is a true open-door policy, no-one is unapproachable if you need anything"

"I feel so lucky to work at Pioneer"

"I have never had that "Sunday night dread" feeling working here, I love coming into work"

"There is no greater reward than seeing the difference we make for our students"

"I am so proud to be part of something as great as this school"

At Pioneer House we are proud to be working towards being an Artsmark Certified School. Artsmark is the only creative quality standard for schools and education settings, accredited by Arts Council England. Artsmark aims to:

Support the health and wellbeing of pupils with arts, culture and creativity. 

Ensure every young person can be creative and have access to a diverse and high-quality cultural education. 

Our Artsmark Journey

We began our Artsmark Journey in May 2023, when we pledged our commitment to raising the quality and engagement in arts at Pioneer House. Over the next two years, as a whole school, we will be working towards:

Ensuring our arts curriculum is a positive and inclusive experience for all pupils. We want to engage and empower our young people, and demonstrate to them equity, relevance and diversity for all.

Pupils and staff will be committed to striving for excellence and innovation. Staff will be able to develop creative young people through embedded, quality, staff development.

Developing belonging and ownership in the arts, by building local connections and developing cultural entitlement for all children and young people.

What will this look like at Pioneer House?

Develop ownership and belonging by creating consistent ways of sharing work and achievements with parents, students and other stakeholders.

• Reviewing the arts curriculum and how we can include events and inclusive artists.
• Linking our arts curriculum to our IQM outcomes.
• Continuing to invite parents to KS3 termly concerts.
• Begin to hold gallery evenings in community café.
• Share students artwork in wider community.
• Display student artwork around school.

Develop further links with practitioners and organisations who are a part of the Manchester arts community, to help them understand our students as potential employees.

• Strengthen our relationships with BreakDance Manchester and Digit Music.
• Offer quality first, research led training to practitioners who work with our students.
• Produce case studies on impact of this on students.
• Share case studies with wider arts community.
• Develop good practice guidebook for future practitioners.
• Advocate for students through community platforms.
• Continue to work with Arts programs, including RET, Manchester Hip Hop Archive, CREATE.

Upskill our teachers in music and art specific skills, and how the arts can support important employability skills.

• Offer quality Art and Music CPD to staff.
• Carry out supportive creative arts learning walks.
• Facilitate peer observations of art and music lessons to support good practise being shared.
• Enhance employability skills and cross curricular links within the arts curriculum.

If you would like to learn more about Artsmark please follow the link below;

https://www.artsmark.org.uk

Students at Pioneer House care deeply about environmental issues and have a strong desire to actively protect our planet. We have an Eco-Committee who are dedicated to recycling, saving energy and making our school as eco-friendly as possible.

Students have been very busy bringing about positive change whilst on our Eco Schools journey and are working towards being accredited for all the school achievements and the positive impact of their hard work.

Our Aim is to be awarded the coveted Eco-Schools Green Flag.

The Eco-Schools Green Flag is an international accreditation that recognises efforts to raise environmental awareness amongst young people, whilst taking action to make their school more sustainable.

The Eco-Schools programme was established in 1994 and is now delivered in more than 70 countries across the globe. The programme prompts young people to explore a variety of environmental issues, including climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. Pupils are then empowered to plan and deliver environmental actions in their school, local community, and beyond.

Since Pioneer House have begun working towards an Eco-Schools Green Flag, some notable achievements have included planting, recycling, food waste composting, seed sowing, and more.

At Pioneer House we are working closely in partnership with the Manchester Healthy Schools Team tackling health inequalities and improving the health and wellbeing of all of our students.

A Healthy School: Is one that promotes physical, social, emotional and mental health and helps equip pupils, staff and families with the skills and attitudes to make informed decisions about their health. Is successful in supporting pupils to do their best and build on their achievements; it is committed to ongoing improvement and development and recognises the importance of investing in health and wellbeing to assist in the process of raising children and young people’s achievement levels. This involves the whole school community, parents, governors, staff and pupils in improving children’s health, wellbeing and happiness, helping them to get the most out of life.

We are proud to announce that Pioneer House High School holds the Inclusion Quality Mark Award (IQM). This award recognises Pioneer House as a school that demonstrates a strong commitment to outstanding levels of inclusive best practice and our ongoing commitment to developing educational inclusion.

The assessor acknowledged in June 2023:

‘It is clear from the evidence submitted that the school has a deeply embedded commitment throughout the school to inclusive values and practice. The school’s core values of Community, Diversity, Learning, Wellbeing, Work and Independence really come to life as you spend time looking through the school website and speaking to all sections of the school community from pupils and parents through to teachers and Governors. Strong leadership reinforces inclusion as a priority at Pioneer House’.

‘Parents spoken to as part of the IQM assessment clearly felt that their children were cared for as individuals and that the school would also support them as parents through difficult times and beyond’.

‘I was hugely impressed by the commitment of Pioneer House to the wellbeing of the whole school community – pupils, parents and staff. The amount of work they have put into this area is significant’.

‘A strong community of belonging ethos permeates every aspect of the school’s development – the passion of the staff came across strongly in their interviews – both their desire to enable every young person to succeed and their commitment to self improvement’.

‘Students spoke with maturity about how they were able to influence change and suggest improvements at school through the School Council, but also about their responsibilities to others in their local community’.

In November 2023 Pioneer House Achieved the Rights Respecting Schools SILVER - Rights Aware Award.

At Pioneer House High School we very proud to be working towards the UNICEF Rights Respecting School Award. The Rights Respecting School Award (RRSA) is an initiative run by UNICEF UK, which encourages schools to place the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) at the forefront of its culture and curriculum.

Unicef is the world’s leading organisation working for children and young people and their rights. In 1989, governments across the world agreed that all children have the same rights by adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). These rights are based on what a child needs to survive, grow, participate and fulfil their potential.

Our Core Values

• We respect each other – Article 1
• We value the wellbeing of all staff and students – Article 12, Article 13, Article 24
• We expect the best – Article 23, 28
• We value co-operative learning – Article 15. Article 29
• We recognise that everyone is an individual and we value diversity – Article 1, Article 2. Article 8, Article 14, Article 30
• We value learning – Article 31, Article 32

What do we do at Pioneer House to promote the Rights Respecting Environment?

• Collective Worship time creates an opportunity for students to explore the Rights of the child.
• Assemblies are underpinned by our school core values and the Rights of the child.
• School Council and Steering group represent the school community and ensure that students voices are heard and reflected in school life.
• Positive behaviour support policy to promote the wellbeing and safety of all students at Pioneer House.
• Parent coffee mornings to discuss Children’s Rights with parents and carers.
• Rights Respecting celebration days organaised by School Council and Steering group.
• Opportunities to support people in our local community – food banks, Big Feed, Children in Need.

To read more about UNICEF Right Respecting Award follow the link below:

https://www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/

We are proud to announce that in Summer 2024 Pioneer House achieved FLAGSHIP STATUS Skillsbuilder Award for the second time.. 

Pioneer House have worked with Skillsbuilder over several years to build an appropriate careers and employment curriculum for SEN students in order for students to acquire, practise and build upon the 8 Essential Skills. Having earned the Skillsbuilder Gold award in 2021 for a dedication to employability skills education, Pioneer House has been further recognised for their contributions. This has included contributions within our own school as well as being recognised for the supportive work and impact with organisations and educational providers across Greater Manchester and beyond. Pioneer House are one of the first schools in the country to earn the Skillsbuilder Flagship Status! 

The flagship status is award for those modelling best practice in high-quality essential skills education and where: 

The school have fully embedded the Skills Builder Principles 

All teachers are confident educators of essential skills 

Essential skills education is fully integrated into daily practice 

The school actively support and have impact supporting other schools and organisations. 

As a school we are so proud of the work the students and staff have put into the Skills Builder activities and are delighted that this hard work has been recognised with the FLAGSHIP STATUS award.  

We have been accepted onto the Skills Builder programme for next year and can’t wait to continue and extend the fantastic work. 

We are confident that this will help students develop skills for life and will dramatically improve their employability as adults. 

“All the schools and colleges who have achieved a Skills Builder Award this year have demonstrated that they are committed to ensuring that every one of their students builds the essential skills to succeed. These essential skills have been needed more than ever this year: speaking, listening, teamwork, leadership, creativity, problem solving, aiming high, and staying positive. We congratulate them on a brilliant achievement.” 
- Tom Ravenscroft, Founder & CEO, Skills Builder Partnership 

About the Skills Builder Partnership 

The Skills Builder Partnership brings together more than 700 organisations towards a common mission: ensuring that one day, everyone builds the essential skills to succeed. We work with educators, employers and impact organisations to establish a shared language, principles and outcomes for eight essential skills which drive learning in school, underpin success in employment and foster life-long personal and professional development. Please visit www.skillsbuilder.org for more details.