May 1st 2019 was an extremely proud day in Elmwood’s history as we had the opportunity to meet Jonathan Newport (Operations Director), Dean Cotton (Principal Trainer) and Steph Bellett (Business Manager) who presented the school community with its Team Teach Gold Award, making us the 4th school nationally, this year, to secure such an accolade in our drive and commitment to safeguard the pupils and staff within our organisation. This award was achieved through a thorough assessment of our Development Plan to enable risk and restraint reduction (88 criteria, where we achieved 91% success criteria), this resulted in a risk descriptor of “Individuals and services have anticipated all foreseeable risks and are actively committed via policy and practice to providing a safe service environment for all involved”. As well as this Development Plan, Dean Cotton (Principal Trainer) attended the school on 19th December 2018 to validate this document as well as speak to pupils, parents, staff and Governors.
During the presentation our guests had the opportunity to listen and share in the positive ways in which pupils and the school have overcome barriers to their learning and ability to engage effectively within the school community as well as seeing other professionals who the school have supported with their practice. A big thank you to Dan Mason, Vice Principal (Safeguarding) Pool Hayes Academy, PC Grant Stokes and PC Taylor from West Midlands Police and Tracy Brandwood, Chair of Governors for sharing this special day with us.
This achievement acknowledges the hard work of everyone within the Elmwood community (past, present and future) and places us in a strong position to further improve our practice within Elmwood and with our colleagues in Primary and Secondary Schools across the borough.
This award could not have been possible without the support of parents/carers and pupils approach to our school ethos and the staff in making this dream a reality.
The School now has three Team Teach tutors namely Lee Cross (Senior Employee Advanced 
Tutor), Martin Hawkes (Senior Employee Advanced Tutor) and Phil Damms (Employee Intermediate Tutor) who not only support the School but also share their expertise with other educational establishments; their work and commitment has helped to ensure safer places for people to work and learn.
