Context for joining Behaviour Hubs
Barrington Primary School (part of the Ignis Academy Trust) is a one-form entry primary school in Bexleyheath, South East London. The school has a SLCN provision, which currently has 11 pupils in both KS1 and KS2 (this will increase to 12 from September 2024 and will include 2 EYFS pupils). We have 19 EHCPs (11 in our provision and 8 in our mainstream, equivalent to 8.6% of the school population) which is higher than the LA and national average due to our provision.
Overall, 20% of our school population either have an EHCP or are at SEN Support level. Due to the location of the school, we take children from three different local authorities. We have had an increased turnover of pupils due to a number of factors, including families being priced out of the area in addition to those moving into the area to secure grammar school places. The school is in the process of joining a new academy trust from September 2024.
Behaviour challenges and goals
For the entire school community to be aware of the behaviour expectations and to have a clear and consistent approach to managing all behaviour across the whole school day, from very low-level to the most serious incidents.
Behaviour is managed well in many parts of the school, but approaches were not always consistent across the whole day and low-level disruption was not always recorded, which meant that SLT were not always aware of everyday class-based behaviour issues until they escalated.
As a one form entry school, each cohort of pupils is different; a high number of our mainstream pupils have a diagnosis of ASD.
Solutions to behaviour challenges
- Two members of SLT have attended open days and networking events, as has a class teacher and one of our HLTAs. From this, we have brought back best practice that we have seen that is suitable for our school
- We completed both a staff and TA meeting to find out how staff felt about behaviour in the school; this acted as a good baseline to work from. From this, we created a list of areas that we wanted to tackle, starting with quick wins (for example, coming into and leaving assemblies silently)
- We have reviewed this list regularly throughout the year and have communicated our expectations to all staff
- We have taken assembly time to teach the children how to achieve the expectations that we are setting for them, rather than expecting them to automatically know how to do something. Communicate in Print was used so that all pupils could access the expectations
- We created a Whatsapp group for all Midday Supervisors as SLT felt that the messages being communicated to staff were not always filtering out to MDSs; there are three staff members who are only in school for the lunch period
- SLT have created a restorative justice booklet, using Communicate in Print symbols that will allow all of our children, including our provision children, to explain what has happened, how they felt and what they need to do to put this right
- We have begun to implement our new policy, which all staff have been consulted on. Staff have created a list of behaviours and assigned sanctions to them that are clear and concise. Pupils have also had input into this, and their opinions included. This now needs to be further communicated to parents and embedded across the school
- SLT have begun to create behaviour profiles for any children who are exceptions to the behaviour policy. This has been discussed with staff and the rationale behind these exceptions explained. Our HLTAs, who teach across the school, have expressed that these profiles are particularly helpful for them. It has been made clear to staff that whilst adaptions to the process may need to be made for a small number of our pupils; ultimately, they must still be held to account against our expectations.
Impact on behaviour
- There has been an increase in consistent positive behaviour across the school. 100% of staff surveyed agreed that pupils were treated fairly as opposed to 75% in the baseline survey
- Adaptations to our behaviour systems have been positively received by all staff members and they have been very quick to begin using and reinforcing expectations. Only 80% of staff agreed that behaviour was good or very good initially; this has increased to 100%
- 100% of staff agreed that staff model positive relationships for our pupils; this was an increase from 87.5%
- 80% of staff agree or strongly agree that senior leaders foster a culture where people are confident to ask for help with behaviour. Feedback from staff meetings and the conversations that continued have shown that staff are confident to speak out
- When surveyed, 83% of staff agreed that we understand and respond to the needs of our pupils; an increase of 83%. The creation of one page ‘profiles’ for some of our more challenging pupils has enabled staff to understand how to manage behaviour and whilst adapting the response to a child, knowing that there is still a consequence at the end
- 67% of staff felt to a great extent that setting a whole school approach to behaviour encouraged positive outcomes with pupils (100% to a small, some or a great extent); this was an increase from the baseline of 50% who felt this to a great extent (87.5% to some/great extend previously)
- In a recent meeting with our school improvement partner and the director of primary for the new trust we are joining, we graded ourselves as outstanding for behaviour and attitudes. This was evidenced in our visit report.
Next steps on your behaviour journey
Although we have seen an improvement in our behaviour systems and social norms in school, we still need to continue to work on behaviour management being consistent across the whole day as well as behaviour incidents being recorded consistently.
We need to communicate the journey that we have been on to our parents and wider community.