Context for joining Behaviour Hubs
The Forest School is a co-educational school for Key Stage 3 and 4. We have been co-educational since 2021, and still have a predominantly male demographic. The Forest School currently has 1074 students.
The Forest School is a diverse and truly comprehensive school, drawing students from affluent areas to a significantly deprived area. Geographically the majority of the students live in Horsham, with an increasing number of students coming from Cawley and other areas of West Sussex.
The school has been rated as ‘good for the previous 3 OfSTED inspections and the last inspection was in January 2022. The academy has a higher than average number of SEND students with 2.24% EHCPs (26 students) and 14.4% pupil premium (155 students) We have 7.8% EAL (84 students). The Headteacher has been in post since June 2018.
Behaviour challenges and goals
The Forest School has the highest aspiration for each of its students, with every member considered part of the ‘Forest Family’. At the heart of our core values are the ‘Forest Five:
- Prompt
- Prepared
- Productive
- Polite
- Proud
Upon joining the programme, we had clearly evaluated that many of the behavioural processes that we were using at Forest were not being used properly, and that other initiatives that had been used successfully in the past had been neglected with the passing of time.
In addition, since the creation of many of our behavioural policies and structures there had been considerable staff turnover and significant societal change, in particular the Covid pandemic.
Whilst the majority of the school’s day-to-day systems of managing challenging behaviour were still fit-for-purpose, many other components of the school’s structure such as Student Voice, the curriculum and timetable were not supporting outstanding student behaviour.
This was reflected both in the schools rising suspension rate, and also a perception by a core of the staff body that, “behaviour was getting worse”.
Our goal was to build on the many existing strengths at Forest, whilst reinvigorating elements of the school’s behaviour systems that had either been culturally neglected or required revisiting, and at the same time reinforcing that the responsibility for student behaviour lies with every member of staff and is underpinned by every function and process within the school.
It was evident that a focus based upon responding to the most serious behavioural concerns in the school meant that we were neglecting to address the significant impact that lower level behaviours were having on our students and staff. It was imperative that our core behavioural values were revisited, shared and reinforced amongst all stakeholders, where boundaries were clear, and consequences were consistent.
Alongside ensuring that behavioural expectations were understood and consistently applied by all members of the ‘Forest Family’, we also wanted to look holistically at the other aspects of the school’s culture that impacted on the behaviour across the school community. It was key that ‘impact on behaviour’ was at the forefront of all school thinking, whether this related to the use of covers staff, opportunities for student leadership or design of the school’s timetable and curriculum.
Whilst embarking on this journey, it was critical that the ownership and implementation of this process was shared across all Senior Leaders, and not just those taking overall responsibility for behaviour. Similarly, raising the profile, aims and objectives of the Behaviour Hub programme was important in ensuring that all staff were provided with appropriate CPD but also raised accountability and expectations in the delivery of following new or revised processes, so they were made aware, both of the long-term benefits of the changes we wished to make, but just as importantly the impact of their individual behaviours in creating the culture they wished to see.
Students and parents had a keen awareness of any existing inconsistencies or incorrect implementations of our existing systems which helped facilitate some students to behave negatively. Similarly, it had been taken for granted that many new staff to the school had not been sufficiently trained in using our school’s systems or required additional support with behaviour management. It was also clear that several staff were not supporting the processes in place which was ultimately to their individual detriment and also the overall behaviour management across the school.
Solutions to behaviour challenges
In January 2023, we made the decision to increase our pastoral provision employing an additional Pastoral Assistant, and the first time, a Behaviour Support Manager. The latter role was particularly important in taking ownership of the day-to-day management of behaviour across the school, freeing up the SLT Pastoral Link for greater strategic leadership. The Hub Events at Worthing High School were particularly useful in the creation of the Behaviour Support Manager, learning from their experiencing of revising their pastoral structure and the networking opportunities with core members of staff.
Our core values of the ‘Forest Five’ helped us focus our holistic approach to behaviour planning, focusing on additional approaches throughout the school. These included:
- Bespoke Staff INSET in September and across the academic year to establish and reinforce the school’s core behavioural values
- Empowering Subject Team Leaders to be proactive in addressing classroom dynamics through ongoing group changes. This was reinforced by the creation and distribution of relevant and timely behaviour data, and the day-to-day observations of the school’s Behaviour Support Manager
- Amendments to the school’s timetable which ensured that the right teachers were teaching the right classes at the right time
- Simplification of the school’s behavioural code to ensure greater consistency of behaviour management in the classroom. This was reinforced by changes to the school’s Management Information Systems to enhance ease of use
- Relaunch of the school’s ‘Forest Card’ to challenge negative behaviour and to reinforce positive relationships and behaviour
- Revision of the school’s Character Curriculum to teach our school’s core behavioural values – particularly important for new entrants to the school from Primary exhibiting more challenging behaviours than previously experienced.
Although some of these strategies are either in their infancy or still developing, all the members of the ‘Forest Family’ have had an opportunity to contribute and have their voice heard.
We have been fortunate to receive ongoing outstanding support by our Lead School, Worthing High. They have worked with us as a critical friend, both sharing the experiences of their ‘behaviour journey’ whilst helping us evaluate and critique our own best practice as well as areas for development. Having input, support as well as opportunities for networking and multiple visits have helped us both learn from others, whilst analysing and evaluating our own behavioural offer with a fresh perspective.
We have been able to experience, learn from and magpie different initiatives that have positively impacted upon behaviour management. And whilst many of the planned changes are still in the process of implementation, I am confident that our partnership will be ongoing and our respective schools will continue to learn from each other.
Working alongside our colleagues at Worthing High, has allowed several of our staff to have bespoke days focusing on strategies that would support The Forest School directly. These have included the use of ICT to support the dissemination of key behavioural data, the development of our Behaviour Support Manager and the sharing of best practice as to how a bespoke curriculum can support behaviour for learning.
Similarly, the virtual training modules on the Behaviour Hub programme have allowed key staff the time and space to focus on their own experience and to learn from the best practice of other schools.
Impact on behaviour
Many of the majority of the strategies that have been embedded are medium-to-long term that will not have an immediate impact. However, we have seen positive engagement from both staff and students as reflected in the surveys conducted at both the start and the end of the Behaviour Hub programme.
Survey results include the following:
- 75% of staff either agree or strongly agree that the school’s behaviour policy, rules and routines are easy to follow (against 60% at the start of the programme)
- 70% of staff either agree or strongly agree that the school’s behaviour policy, rules and routines make the school a safe and happy place (against 55% at the start of the programme)
- 80% of staff feel that it is clear how they should apply the school’s behavioural rules (against 70% at the start of the programme)
- 75% of staff feel that the school’s approach to behaviour management shows an understanding of the factors that can affect student behaviour (against 55% at the start of the programme)
- 80% of staff feel that students understand the behavioural rules and consequences of not adhering to the policy (against 65% at the start of the programme)
- 80% of staff feel that school staff build positive, respectful and supportive relationships with students (against 70% at the start of the programme)
Similarly, the student survey highlights the following:
- The majority of students consider school behaviour to be good or better
- The majority of students are clear about and understand the school’s behavioural expectations
- The majority of students feel that school leaders are visible and remind students about the behaviour rules
In addition, we have seen a significant reduction in the number of sanctions set for Year 7 students, who have been the most receptive and responsive to the changes implemented, having had no experience of the previous behaviour culture. This is despite the intake being identified as significantly more challenging behaviourally than previous year groups.
Changes to the timetable have also impacted positively on Year 11 behaviour against all key metrics, ensuring the most appropriate members of teaching staff and school day timings have been factored into its planning.
Comparisons of the number of team referrals (where a teacher requests that a student is removed from their classroom for poor behaviour) has fallen by 15% in our term-on-term comparison and the average number of behaviour logs has fallen against each of the five-year groups. This is also when compared against more reliable data; having a larger Behaviour Support Team has meant a more consistent and robust approach to students being removed from classrooms, as well as greater capacity to address and follow up any misapplication of the school’s policies.
In September 2023, the ‘Forest Card’ was re-launched, enabling staff to tackle low-level disruption across the school as well as giving the opportunity to recognise and reward positive behaviours. From its re-launch, this strategy has been fully integrated as part of the school’s tutor programme, with a clear emphasis on positive behaviours and ‘cleaning the card’.
Suspension and Internal Exclusion data is still largely consistent with the two previous academic years, but based upon the trends, particularly in Years 7 and 8, we would expect these metrics to fall over the next two years.
Next steps on your behaviour journey
At Forest, we are ambitious in our vision for behaviour and attitudes. Whilst we have made considerable progress on our journey since joining the Behaviour Hub programme, we recognise that our journey is on-going, and still with a considerable distance to go. Our ongoing challenges include:
- Maintaining our improved culture of improved staff consistency and positive student engagement
- Greater empowerment of Subject Team Leaders in addressing the behavioural challenges of their respective teams
- Enhancing our systems for improving attendance and punctuality of students
- Greater consistency in the learning experience for students when being taught by cover staff
- Further amendments to our timetable and curriculum in supporting behaviour for learning
- Even greater visibility of staff across the school, ensuring that all members of the ‘Forest Family’ feel supported