Every year around this time, the Insight Media team changes gear for a few weeks as we work with a very special school in London to produce their yearbook. No work packages, grant proposals, data analysis, random sampling or peer reviews on this job – just lots of pictures of very happy children and staff enjoying a brilliant education and excellent care.
Phoenix School is in Tower Hamlets, London, and is a very well-renowned special school for children and young people with autism. It has three main sites and works in mainstream schools in the area as well.
The school has an aspirational approach to learning for its students, with a lively and engaging curriculum, which includes a variety of sensory and therapeutic interventions as well an exciting mix of classroom lessons and off-site visits and activities.
This comprehensive approach encourages robust collaborations with various agencies, parents, and families to address the diverse needs of students. By fostering positive home-school connections through efficient communication and providing supportive training for families, this integrated method ensures a holistic support system for the children.
And part of that approach is the annual yearbook, which joyfully reflects on the many activities the students do over the year as well as celebrates their many achievements through pictures and stories from teachers and students.
We have worked with the school to produce this book since it started and have been into the classrooms and playgrounds to take photographs, speak with amazing, dedicated staff and ask the children about their life at school.
It’s a real privilege to be part of this annual celebration of Phoenix School life and always a joy to hand over the many boxes of books at the end of the summer term and see the joy on the faces of the students and their families as they leaf through the pages.
And then, for us here at Insight, it’s back to our normal world and our laser focus on research dissemination and communication, working with our brilliant partners – and, who knows, one day we may be working with partners who have been through Phoenix and appeared in the yearbook.
Working with schools like Phoenix and helping them thrive is an important part of our mission at Insight Media. Everything we do aims to amplify research outcomes, getting them heard by people who need to hear them most. We believe in the power of research, the power of education to bring about change – a chain reaction of knowledge that helps improve our understanding of the world, helping to make it better for us all. And who knows, that chain reaction could well start with a picture of a child laughing in the playground of a very special school in London.