Context for joining Behaviour Hubs
Whitchurch CE Junior Academy is a three-form entry junior school with 306 children on roll (May 2023). The Academy is situated in North Shropshire, 21 miles north of Shrewsbury, 23 miles south of Chester and a mile from the North Welsh border. Whitchurch is a small market town, well connected by rail and road. Whitchurch CE Junior Academy is the sole provider for KS2 in Whitchurch and approximately 98% of pupils live in the town.
The Academy serves a mixed catchment area of private and local authority housing estates with the majority of children living in owner-occupied housing. The children come from broadly average socio-economic backgrounds, although there are areas of much higher social deprivation within the town.
Currently, 29.7% of pupils are eligible for Pupil Premium Grant Funding with 25.8% in receipt of Free School Meals. The school deprivation indicator remains largely the same, quintile 3. The IDACI score for the school is 6 with approximately one third (31%) of pupils living in households where deprivation is higher than average (decile 4), with 18% being measured at decile ‘3’ (where average is 5).
The majority of pupils are from a white British background (85.6%) with the biggest other pupil group being from ‘White Eastern European’ at 3.6% of pupils. The percentage of pupils with statements of SEN/EHC plans is 2.9%, which is above the national average. The number of pupils with SEN Support is 13%, broadly in line with that of published national data. The majority of SEN needs are for speech, language and communication, with an increasing number of children experiencing social, emotional and mental health issues.
Approximately 10% of our pupils have English as an additional language which is close to national average.
The overall absence in 2021-2022 of 4.9% is 0.8% lower than the national average of 5.7%. 16.7% of disadvantaged cohort are persistently absent, this is 0.5% lower than the national non-disadvantaged cohort at 17.2%.
The vast majority of pupils who join the school in Year 3 transfer from Whitchurch CE Infant and Nursery Academy and since September 2016, most pupils transfer to Sir John Talbot’s High School, which is part of The Marches Academy Trust.
In the Spring Term 2019, the Academy became a sponsored academy of the St Bart’s Multi-Academy Trust. The Academy now benefits from the strong culture of collaboration, proven school improvement support, professional development through the Bart’s Teaching and Support Alliance and the sharing of best practice across the Trust academies. Whitchurch CE Infant & Nursery Academy became a converter academy under St Bart’s Trust within the same timescales. Both Academies were federated in the Summer Term 2019.
Following a period of instability at the Junior Academy, the St. Bart’s Academy Trust appointed an experienced interim Principal from April 23.
Behaviour challenges and goals
- To reduce the number of behavioural incidents in school
- To increase pupil engagement in lessons by meeting the needs of individuals
- To reduce the number of suspensions and permanent exclusions
- A school where systems and routines were not fully embedded post pandemic
- A new Year 3 cohort whose education has been seriously impacted by school closures
- A number of children with Education Health Care Plans whose needs are beyond those of a mainstream setting
- The number of high needs children with unidentified barriers to their learning
- Lack of parental engagement / parenting capacity (closure of Sure Start)
- A Local Authority in Special Measures for SEND.
Solutions to behaviour challenges
- Support from SBMAT in the appointment of a new principal
- Support from SBMAT through the involvement of a School Improvement Partner, Trust Safeguarding Lead, Director of Standards and Effectiveness and Head of Digital Transformation
- Establishing a new Inclusion Team within school
- Strategic CPD – Behaviour Hubs for Senior Leads, NPQLBC for staff member leading OPAL, Behaviour Staff meetings for teachers and HLTAs
- Establish a set of expectations, formalised through behaviour protocols, with all staff being held accountable for upholding them
- The appointment of two learning mentors, new to post, and a commitment to providing training and CPD to deliver evidence-based interventions to support SEMH – Nurture training, ELSA, No Worries and Transition Toolbox
- Formalising a graduated response to SEMH through Wave 1, 2 and 3 interventions. Training in Nurture and strategically exploring the option of hub provision within the school
- Engaging with parents through a range of opportunities
- Providing support for parents through delivering Solihull Approach to Parenting and having SEND Coffee Mornings
- Working with Local Authority SEN team to provide alternative placements for high needs pupils
- Identifying high needs pupils, having the correct provision, and funding for them
- Issuing suspensions and permanent exclusions as a last resort.
Impact on behaviour
Extended Behaviour Hubs programme Virtual Modules allowed us to address behaviour incidents across the school with an improving trend.
Midway through the Behaviour Hubs programme, and in conjunction with the Trust Safeguarding Lead, the logging of behaviour incidents was revised. It is now able to measure behaviour more effectively but is still in its infancy and as such low-level behaviour data is unavailable.
Higher level behaviour incidents data is available and shows significant positive impact.
Autumn Term
1 Perm Ex / 12 suspensions / 6 pupils suspended / Total of 53 days
Spring Term
3 Perm Ex / 9 suspensions / 7 pupils suspended / Total of 25.5 days
Summer Term
0 Perm Ex / 0 pupils suspended / Total of 0 days (3 after school detentions)
The Behaviour Hubs Virtual Module on Attendance and Punctuality, and attendance at Open Days, has allowed us to sharpen our focus on attendance and punctuality. Attendance to date is:
- All pupils 95.4% – 87th National Percentile
- All pupils PA 9.2% – 89th National Percentile
- PP Pupils 94.4% – 61st National Percentile
- PP PA 11.0% – 81st Percentile
Attendance Actions year to date include:
- Having an attendance award given out on a Monday in whole school worship to incentivise good attendance
- LATT fines – 5 / EWO1 – 54 / EWO2 – 13 / EAS – 4
- Attendance Audits – 21 / Attendance Action Plans – 5
- Home visits by school – 5 / Home visits by EWO – 3
- Fast Track meetings – 4 families / 5 pupils
- Attendance meetings with Principal and DSL – 17
School Development Plan outcomes have been achieved:
- Regular monitoring indicates higher expectations in classroom around behaviour for learning
- Classroom environments are more appropriate, lessons are calm and purposeful
- An additional class in LKS2 has been provided each morning to allow children to access their year group expectations
- Learning is more closely aligned to pupils’ ability and teachers are meeting the needs of individual learners through high quality teaching
- A drive on basic skills of grammar, spelling, handwriting and mental maths to enable children to access learning
- Reading has been prioritised with an investment in new reading material and a more robust method for triangulating data to assess ability. Children have all been screened and placed on the correct book band. This has raised expectations and allowed children to experience success
- Staff changes, and senior leaders raising expectations, means staff taking more responsibility for the behaviour of all pupils and supervision at play times is a focus
- Expectations are being embedded and therefore remain when there is a change of adult
- There has been a raft of CPD to support the SEND offer and meet the needs of SEMH pupils
- Following the support of an SEN Consultant provided through our Behaviour Hubs Lead School, Provision Map, a tool to demonstrate how higher quality provision for SEND children, has enabled all children to access their learning
- The school is more child centred, with the children feeling they have more ownership and are involved in decision-making.
Pupils report lots of things that are good about their school:
- The teachers like to involve us and have a say in things – we have a voice on Feedback Friday
- Staff are organised; lessons are good
- I like how organised the school has become. House captains and school prefects set a good example. School council is back up and running. Behaviour has changed since the new system – there are more ways of dealing with it
- The lessons are good, for example; the Big Write means we get to write and focus on our interests
- Playtime is well organised and structured
- School councils get to have a say
- There is lots of recognition of behaviour. If we are good, we get out to break first
- Everything we do is an option. There are rewards and consequences
- OPAL has led to happier lunch times.
School council reported:
- OPAL has helped the behaviour – it has stopped fighting. Essentially, we have items outside and we have things to play. It helps us to learn through play
- OPAL is positive – it’s a lot more controlled. Every adult has a designated spot to supervise children. Sometimes we work together and develop team building.
Next steps on your behaviour journey
- Consolidate all the changes which have been made to date
- Ensure consistency across the school as staffing changes – reflect expectations in a school handbook and ensure induction covers behaviour expectations
- Revise the behaviour policy to reflect revised values of a church school and streamline the expectations – encapsulate behaviour in the values of love, courage, compassion, respect and perseverance
- Continue to develop an appropriate balance of rewards and sanctions – values cards for children, class dojo rewards, bronze, silver, gold badges for contributions to the school and community. A staged approach to behaviour management which clearly identifies steps class teachers need to take before the Vice Principal and Head of School become involved
- Provide after school detention as an alternative to suspension
- Gradually rebuilding the curriculum to be broad and balanced with a number of enrichment opportunities for pupils engaging in their learning and providing memorable opportunities
- Bolster the leadership team with two Assistant Principal roles
- New PPA strategy developed for Sept 23. OPAL and Forest Schools will be at the heart of the school ethos
- Further develop OPAL in accordance with children’s views and wishes
- Continue to focus on making transition smoother – from exciting times at play to a sense of calm returning to class.