Whole-school behaviour strategy

Brief description of the project

Q. What was the situation before the project took place and why was the activity undertaken?

A. The school had a poor behaviour record. In 1998 three children had been permanently excluded and the following year nearly 10% of the school population was requiring some sort of behavioural support – some 11 children needing an ‘action plus’ level of intervention reserved for those in serious danger of exclusion. A house system had been long established at the school, although it was geared originally to sporting events. This system was adapted to address the new behaviour emphasis.

Q. What was the timeframe? How has the project progressed?

A. The initial aim was to bring about a significant improvement in the school population’s discipline within a three-year period, which was achieved. Its success led to its continuation. As the school has increased in the size in recent years, the discipline structure has had to be refined steadily. Selecting children at KS2 for the various houses is a crucial element of the process to ensure that one house does not end up with all the children likely to find school-appropriate behaviour particularly challenging.

Q. How was the work planned and shared out (in terms of resources: staff and money?

A. By its very nature as a multi-faceted whole-school behaviour programme, the scheme has called for the commitment of all staff members, including lunchtime staff. The mentoring time is additional, and is paid for through a combination of Beacon funds and Excellence in Cities funding.

Q. Who is involved?

A. Everyone at the school.

Q. What specialists or associations were consulted?

A. The initial mentors were given counselling support by a local charity, the Weston Hospice. Since then, the school has forged a relationship with Liverpool University which supports all its mentor training needs.

Q. Does the case study illustrate a particular DfES policy?

A., Behaviour: the use of learning mentors, raising achievement, resulting in excellence combined with enjoyment.

Who can be contacted at Mead Vale regarding this initiative?

A.
Mr J. Bateson-Winn
Head Teacher
Mead Vale Community Primary School
Kestrel Drive
Weston-Super-Mare
BS22 8RQ

Tel: 01934 511133

Outcomes of the project

There has been a vast improvement in the school’s discipline record. There has not needed to be an exclusion for three years. Since 2002 not a single child has required the enhanced ‘action plus’ support offered via the school’s mentoring scheme for those at greatest risk of exclusion – despite the extension of the support to children facing problems following bereavement.

Mead Vale’s head teacher is convinced that the school’s discipline policies, with their success in achieving a calm and studious environment, are partly responsible for its academic achievements. The school’s most recent Panda Report indicates the rise in achievement in recent years, with 100% of children gaining a Level 4 in Maths and Science and 85% achieving a Level 5 in Maths (2002). Despite a slight dip in performance in 2003, value added raised the school to an overall A grade for attainment.. English results come out lower than those achieved for Maths and Science due to the poor entry levels of literacy, but overall the school’s point score average climbs to A when the value added adjustment is made comparing Mead Vale to other schools of a similar size and catchment.

Transferability

There is much for other schools to learn from the central role discipline and rewards have been afforded at Mead Vale. Clearly, other schools might find it hard adjusting their timetables to accommodate the house meetings each week. However, some of the individual initiatives such as the table points are easily adopted.

Resources and staffing

Over and above normal staffing levels, the school has needed to find about 25 hours each week of learning mentor time to support children in need of extra input.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges, reports head teacher Mr Bateson-Winn, has been getting everyone to apply the system as consistently as possible. The key thing is that the system of awards ‘acquires a currency’ that is both manageable and adaptable. The extension of the scheme to the lunchtime staff took some negotiating and required careful regulation at the beginning as too many merits were being handed out at first. The decision was taken to make lunchtime merits the equivalent of a fifth of a work mark.

Lessons learnt

There is a great need to ensure that children manage not to be cynical in their good works – forever calculating what will generate benefits in terms of behaviour credits. On the whole, this is down to the day-to-day running of the scheme and seems to have resulted in a student body at Mead Vale that has taken the need for good behaviour to heart.

What's next?

According to Mr Bateson-Winn, there is a constant refinement process underway. There are plans afoot to establish peer mediation through Mead Vale’s active school council and this will bring in new opportunities for reward for those participating, as well as enhancing the atmosphere of the school overall.

Context

Mead Vale Community Primary School was first established in 1977 to serve the Worle district of Weston-Super-Mare. The city has been enjoying rapid expansion in recent years and the school population has reflected this growth. According to the head teacher, the school does not have many children from professional backgrounds and social need, reflected in free school meals, is higher than average. The area was an Educational Action Zone and now benefits from Excellence in Cities funding. The school is very popular. The most recent Panda report indicates that the vast majority of pupils are white British (96%) but the school regularly has to provide second-language teaching to a number of pupils whose parents have been attracted by work in Weston’s service industries.