Context for joining Behaviour Hubs
North East Essex Co-operative Academy is a Pupil Referral Unit funded for pupils between the ages of 4-16 from the North East Essex area. The Secondary School caters for pupils who have been Permanently Excluded from school, are anxious about attending school or have medical conditions which prevent attendance. In addition there are a number of pupils from schools local to North East Essex who are referred for a short stay of up to two terms or referred as a Level 1 referral as an alternative to a Permanent Exclusion. Furthermore, pupils who move into the local area who already attend a Pupil Referral Unit may come to NEECA in consultation with the Local Authority.
There are currently 171 pupils on roll, 143 in secondary and 28 in primary, of which 97 are male and 74 female. In secondary there are:
- 7 pupils with an EHCP
- 18 pupils with a Request for Support
- 81 Permanently Excluded pupils
For the purpose of the DfE Programme and this Case Study, the focus is on the secondary part of the school.
Pupils join the Secondary school with attainment that is often below national expectations for their age and/or with gaps in their skills, knowledge or understanding because of a history of poor attendance, a disrupted education and/or negative attitudes to learning. All pupils complete a 2 day induction period on entry which includes: key time with an identified adult to talk through why they are here and address any concerns, identification of baseline data, academic and non-academic, and to look at what further support they need to help their progress and onward journey to another mainstream school.
All pupils identified as SEND are supported with bespoke learning plans. Behaviour of pupils is well planned for and understood by staff. Incidents of harm or dysregulation are managed through the scripts and strategies recorded in the individual Harm Reduction Plan (Primary). All other low level disruptions or challenges are managed through the consistent ethos, language and approach rooted in the key principles of Trauma Perceptive Practice.
NEET figures year on year sit at 15% and considerable work is done throughout KS4 to ensure that pupils are supported to ensure that they are better able to maintain themselves in their chosen post 16 option by mobilising the outreach and engagement team.
We work with 17 mainstream secondary schools. Our geographical coverage is vast and we serve the Tendring area as well as Colchester and as far as Tiptree; Jaywick is one of the most deprived areas in the country on the deprivation index.
Behaviour challenges and goals
- To ensure all staff were on board with working together to change the culture of the school
- To identify what we do well and build on that
- To set clear objectives for development that were worked on with staff and agreed as a team
- To ensure the voice of stakeholders was heard e.g. students, staff, referring schools and the LGB
- To start September 2024 with a new way of working, to improve our culture with clear systems and processes in place to support this
- A small group of unionised staff that do not go above and beyond, which is very noticeable in a small provision like ourselves and can create a divide; some staff are out supporting if they are free or have no students in their class, others don’t
- The cohort of students we have, risk in the community, CSE, CCE – creativity with times on site for health and safety reasons
- Lack of engagement of students in education
- Lack of understanding of how Arbor can be used to support our data monitoring and tracking
- Lack of clear systems and processes which made communication a concern
- Changing the community’s perspective of our school – it is not just a school for naughty kids.
Solutions to behaviour challenges
- Not being afraid to show parents around with their child when they come for their initial visit, this has helped current students as they are now less likely to be negative towards strangers as they are used to others being in the building
- Seconding someone to SLT with a reporting and data focus to set up what we needed to monitor, track and QA processes – he is now a permanent member of the SLT
- Being brave in the acknowledgement that things weren’t working, there were inconsistencies, and this led to a breakdown of communication across the school
- We are currently finalising all elements of our changes ready for September 2024
- We still have a small number of staff that aren’t as invested, and will continue to work on this in the new academic year.
Other reflections were made around our curriculum through the work with David at The Limes and we are starting Hair and Beauty in September when our renovations will be completed.
Furthermore, we have built a connection with colleagues at the Richard Barnes Academy and we hope to continue to support each other moving forward.
Impact on behaviour
We are still in the process of firming up the final plans for September 2024, but we will have:
- A new behaviour system that outlines how certain behaviours/situations should be dealt with and scripts to support all staff in addressing those behaviours
- A live tracking system via Arbor that allows for a proactive approach to monitoring behaviour
- A new rewards system that doesn’t exclude anyone but has a tiered approach that allows for differentiates between students
- A key target linked to culture in our Academy Improvement Plan
- A curriculum that has become broader to reflect the needs of our students e.g. Hair and Beauty, daily enrichment and a reading lesson for all.
The Behaviour Hubs Programme has allowed the opportunity for networking and visiting other schools. It hasn’t given all the answers as to how we should run things in our school but it has provided the guidance to access and reflect, and given reassurance that there is no magic wand to answer the challenges of working in a Pupil Referral Unit.
Next steps on your behaviour journey
Finalise all of the above with the Culture Club – this is a group of 16 members of staff who have given up their time to work with me on improving our culture.
- Together with the Culture Club members, launch this to staff in detail at the September 2024 inset day
- Complete Staff and Student Voice week in October 2024 to see how the changes have been received, what’s working well and what needs further development
- Complete The Difference Programme for Headteachers
- To continue visits to other schools and share good practice
- To ensure our CPD programme supports cultural change
- To be a Lead Behaviour Hub Pupil Referral Unit.