GALLEY HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL AND NURSERY
Building belonging in a predominantly White British school community
Words by Inclusion Champion and Headteacher, Anthony McGeeney
Galley Hill Primary School is an average-sized primary school serving Nursery to Year 6 in Guisborough, North East England.
The school has:
lower-than-average levels of EAL, FSM and EHCP
higher-than-average pupil stability
a PAN of 39, with numbers growing year on year
a community that is 96% White British
Galley Hill is a strong and supportive school community with high expectations for children and a clear commitment to preparing pupils for life beyond their immediate locality.
From the outset, the school recognised something important:
Inclusion is not only work for diverse communities — it is essential in every community.
“Results illustrated that, even though we have just started our journey, staff, children and the wider community are fully engaged with the GEC Platform. They are keen to find out more, to understand how we can ensure that we make everyone feel welcome, to work together and to remove any barriers.”
Anthony McGeeney, Inclusion Champion and Headteacher
Why we engaged with the GEC Platform
“The school was keen to become GEC members in order to ensure we develop the school community, to develop equitable access to education and support tolerance for all.
We were keen to become members as the GEC values align wonderfully with ours.
We are wanting to actively engage in learning for ourselves, the children in school, as well as the wider school community, that instil respect for diversity and the importance of intolerance to anything other than respect for all.
We want to ensure that it goes beyond training ‘tick lists’ and new policies that get placed on a shared drive. We are keen to create a diverse and inclusive working environment where everyone celebrates and respects one another, ensuring we all reach our full potential without barriers.
At Galley Hill we want to ensure that children, staff and the wider community feel safe, respected and connected. GEC promises to do that and more, allowing everyone to thrive and deepen their inclusion and belonging.
We were keen to work with GEC to further reflect on inclusion and how it creates a sense of psychological safety, key to our school values, particularly in relation to the trauma of the past few years.
We were keen to build a diverse, inclusive environment for all, as increased empathy translates to increased unity and strength as a school community.”
“Children should be educated about all aspects of the world around them… The materials on the Platform are brilliant!”
Staff testimonal
Early impact across staff, pupils and community
Although Galley Hill described itself as being at the start of its inclusion journey, engagement across the school community was immediate and meaningful.
Survey insight showed strong readiness among staff and pupils to explore belonging more deeply and remove barriers where they existed.
As Headteacher Anthony McGeeney reflected:
“Results illustrated that, even though we have just started our journey, staff, children and the wider community are fully engaged with the GEC Platform. They are keen to find out more, to understand how we can ensure that we make everyone feel welcome, to work together and to remove any barriers.”
This early engagement created a strong foundation for whole-school action.
Whole-school focus: neurodiversity awareness from Early Years to Year 6
One of Galley Hill’s first priorities was strengthening understanding of neurodiversity across the entire school community.
Through the GEC+ programme, the school delivered:
a whole-school assembly introducing neurodiversity in an age-appropriate way
classroom-ready video resources for EYFS through KS2
staff CPD exploring neurodivergent learners and neurodivergent colleagues
a guided introduction to the Champion Hub implementation resources
expert support from Catrina Lowri (Director of Neuroteachers)
The assembly created a powerful moment of pupil voice and peer understanding.
One Year 2 pupil confidently shared their own dyslexia with classmates while discussing how different brains work in different ways — modelling psychological safety in action.
This helped usualise difference and strengthened empathy across year groups.
Staff confidence and professional learning
Staff reported that the Platform supported both reflection and practical action, helping them develop confidence in how to embed inclusion meaningfully in daily practice.
Staff shared:
“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is important, because we are all important. The GEC Platform has given us the tools and reflection to develop this further.”
“It is important to support the development of children into open minded, thoughtful individuals who treat everyone with respect. Also, that children grow up knowing that they are free to choose how they live their lives and that everyone is valued by society.”
“Children should be educated about all aspects of the world around them. We want to help them have an understanding and respect for people from all walks of life, why some people are different to others and the importance of those differences.”
“Children learning about diversity, equality, and inclusion now will have a greater understanding of how to become a citizen of the world.”
“This allows children within a minority to feel represented and included.”
“For them to be a valuable member of each community they are part of; from school, local, workplace and global, children should be learning about diversity from as early an age as is accessible to them.”
“The GEC has really helped us build our knowledge and skills to help support the children and develop our understanding of DEI.”
““Children should be educated about all aspects of the world around them. The materials on the Platform are brilliant.”
Importantly, this learning extended beyond curriculum delivery and into staff identity, belonging and professional confidence.
Pupil voice and civic awareness
One of the most striking outcomes was how quickly pupils connected inclusion learning to the wider world.
Staff observed:
“Children in school have shown a true maturity, well beyond their age, wanting to write to MPs, make a change and feel passionately about ensuring that, as a school, we do all we can to ensure DEI is focussed on and has a priority in school.”
This reflects something significant:
When pupils understand inclusion early, they don’t just accept difference — they act on fairness.
Why this case study matters
Galley Hill demonstrates that inclusion work is not only relevant in highly diverse settings.
In communities where demographic diversity is lower, intentional inclusion helps children:
understand the wider world
develop empathy
recognise difference positively
build civic confidence
feel psychologically safe expressing their own identities
Through the GEC Platform, Galley Hill has taken structured steps to ensure belonging is something actively built, not assumed.
Their work shows how lived-experience insight, staff development and pupil voice can work together to strengthen school culture from Early Years onward.
Inclusion doesn’t start with policies. It starts with listening.
Through the GEC Platform, schools like Galley Hill are turning staff and pupil voice into meaningful action — strengthening culture, empathy and belonging across their communities.
Join the growing number of schools using lived-experience insight to lead inclusion with confidence.