Hazelwood Integrated College is a high-performing, all-ability, integrated school, that serves an area of deprivation in Belfast.
Integrated schools make up 7% of schools in Northern Ireland and bring together children from Catholic, Protestant, and other backgrounds. The school challenges sectarianism, promotes high expectations, practices holistic inclusivity, and firmly believes that your circumstances and where you are from do not determine your future or your potential to be a valuable contributor to society.
Our current enrolment is 1,095 students and approximately 60% of our intake is entitled to free school meals. A unique feature of Hazelwood is that we have 41 looked after children, the highest number of any school in Northern Ireland. And 91 of our students currently have statements of SEN.
Over the past 10 years, we have been consistently oversubscribed and in 2020 we were the most oversubscribed school in the area, even ahead of local grammar schools.
At Hazelwood, a huge focus is placed on community engagement. Over the past number of years, we have been contributing to local food banks and to more than 90 of our own families in need. In addition to this, we are also providing food and fuel to the “working poor” among our school staff.
For the past two years, we have provided free school meals for all students during the month of December. This has been very well-received by parents and students alike and has really benefited our families experiencing financial hardship due to cost-of-living increases. This scheme is operating again this December.
Throughout the whole academic year for the past three years we have also provided an award-winning free Breakfast Club for all students to help ease the financial burden on our families and to ensure our students are prepared for learning with a healthy breakfast.
The college nurse has reported a drop in minor ailments being presented during morning lessons. This seems to be directly linked to the introduction of the Breakfast Club.
The college has an active and impactful Parent Teacher Association, which, during the current cost-of-living crisis has facilitated a uniform-swap shop for our families.
Hazelwood is the only school in Northern Ireland to have an on-site social worker and youth worker. This year, we have also introduced a school mental health nurse. This unique welfare system provides an additional layer of support for our most vulnerable students and promotes early intervention strategies to prevent situations from escalating.
We have various targeted groups operating throughout the school to support pupils with various issues, ranging from mental health to period poverty. Our college LGBTQ group, Gay Straight Whatever, thrives. The college also places a huge focus on anti-bullying strategies and, in 2022, one of our teachers won the Post-Primary Anti-Bullying Ambassador Award for Northern Ireland.
Hazelwood has a dedicated additional educational needs (AEN) department. Our AEN support curriculum focuses on the student’s entire school experience by creating bespoke, flexible support programmes to meet each student’s individual needs.
All AEN students are encouraged to achieve their potential. Interventions include traditional literacy and numeracy support, but also emotional intelligence, self-esteem, healthy relationships, relaxation, mindfulness, talking therapies, and autism spectrum disorder support programmes.
By enriching the full student experience, both academically and holistically, we are encouraging our students to be ambitious and optimistic about their life chances. Our AEN Nurture Hub was the first accredited Secondary School Nurture Hub in the UK.
We place a huge emphasis on student voice and our Student Leadership Team has led numerous initiatives to improve student wellbeing throughout the school. Examples include the introduction of a book vending machine and improvements in student facilities.
Students have the opportunity to have regular meetings with our principal where they discuss any particular areas of concern or areas for student leadership development. Our Students’ Council is extremely proactive throughout the school, for example acting as Bus Mentors, Breakfast Club Monitors, Peer Mentors, and Departmental Prefects. Our student leadership capacity is developing all the time and this year we have students participating in the Young Citizens’ Bar Mock Trial Competition.
A member of staff has also been seconded to the senior leadership team with specific responsibility for promoting active citizenship links between our student leadership team and the local community. Both our staff and student leadership teams have been able to benefit from professional coaching.
We have extremely high expectations in terms of our achievements and standards. Our college’s leadership team was the first of any school in the UK accredited as Associate Members of the Association of Education Advisers. The college was also selected as one of only 12 schools to participate in the Pilot Programme for Joint Consultative Committees, supporting positive industrial relations in schools. We are a “best practice school” for the NICCEA exam processes and were involved in the formulation of 2021 guidance.
Over the past five years, we have been consistently in the Department of Education’s median to upper quartiles for students achieving five good GCSEs, including English and maths. The most recent results for this category were outstanding, at an incredible 73%. Overall performance outcomes post-Covid have been excellent and well above average for comparable schools, with 74% of year 12 students achieving an A* to C in maths and 87% achieving an A* to C in English.
We are delighted to have been selected as the Secondary School of the Year in the Tes Schools Awards earlier this year, as we recognise the incredible work that our fellow shortlisted schools have been achieving. It is fantastic to get such incredible recognition for the work we do daily. Our students, staff, governors, parents, and indeed our whole school community, are thoroughly deserving of this award.
- Bronagh McLaughlin is curriculum operations manager at Hazelwood Integrated College in Belfast, which won the Secondary School of the Year award at the Tes Schools Awards 2022. Visit www.tes.com/schools-awards/winners