Addey and Stanhope is a small voluntary aided secondary school (600 students) in inner London. A small school doing big things, particularly in terms of relational practice. The school serves a diverse and largely deprived population. The School Deprivation Indicator places the school in the 80th percentile. 60% of pupils have Pupil Premium funding and over 50% are eligible for Free School Meals. Approximately 92% of students are from minority ethnic groups, the largest groups being African and Black Caribbean. 80% of parents’ home language is not English. The school runs a resource base for Speech and Language students who are fully integrated into the mainstream. 11% of students have EHCPs. 

 

The school has a long history, dating back 400 years. However, its approach to relationships is entirely modern. There is a real awareness, understanding and appreciation that the students face considerable hardship and challenge already, and that punitive measures at school simply will not work. There is no seeking to change the children. Instead, Addey and Stanhope strive to work with them. Education and interaction is based on mutual respect and understanding.  The school is a family, and family values are at the core of how things are done. All staff have a strong moral purpose, and many are connected to the local community and families. Students and school adults follow the ‘Addey’s Way’, which is based on the ‘Addey’s Family Values’; kindness, respect, integrity, acceptance and love.

 

Illustrated by the mantra ‘Acceptance Without Exception’, Addey and Stanhope goes out of its way to let everyone know that there is a place for them in the school. The whole school approach to SEND, the commitment to rooting out ableism, the proud advocacy for LGBTQ+ visibility in the community, and the school’s extensive work towards building anti-racism in the curriculum, are all examples of the many ways in which Addey and Stanhope not only talks about being an inclusive school but truly lives and breathes it.

 

Over the past 8 years, Addey and Stanhope have moved from a behaviour-sanction model towards one based on restorative justice and reparation. Relationships are Addey’s tools for change; relationships embodying trust, kindness, empathy. They do not practice ‘zero-tolerance’, or ‘one size fits all’ approaches – approaches which in Addey’s view lead to exclusion and contribute to social injustice. Addey and Stanhope regard all behaviour, however challenging, as communication, and every consequence is an attempt to engage with that communication, supporting children to learn and to become self-regulating. The school recognises that what works for one child may not work for another. 

 

Students are explicitly taught to self-regulate. On the rare occasions when students need to be out of class, the focus is always on returning to learning. Inclusion meetings try to get to the bottom of the cause of the behaviour and there is a real appreciation and understanding of behaviour being communication and there being a need to address and support the cause rather than the symptom.

 

Every week a pupil is ‘spotlighted’ to the whole staff on a Wednesday - a ‘Wednesday’s child’.  They may be a child with SEND, there may be a safeguarding concern, they may be subject to Child in Need plan etc. They will be one of the most vulnerable children. The voice of the child is included too. These children are a ‘lens’ into Addey’s practice and ensures that the whole staff body is informed of strategies to support them.

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The school has a shared language of learning, developed by staff and students. This is fully embedded throughout the school and encourages positive behaviour for learning through a focus on learning resilience. This is called ‘Compelling Learning’, and underpins how behaviour is modelled, how it is rewarded and how the school reports to parents and carers.   This ensures academic and pastoral systems work strongly together. 

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Achievement is celebrated in a number of ways, including immediate praise, house points, communication home, celebration assemblies, awards evenings and recognition breakfasts and lunches. The school has developed a coherent practice document for all staff which will help to inform future developments of their behaviour policy.

 

Addey and Stanhope are proud to be the lead school in their borough (Lewisham) for relational practice and have been noted for this nationally. They are a lead school for the Attachment Research Community and have shared their practice at many conferences including their most recent annual conference. Most recently Addey and Stanhope provided the keynote for ‘Lewisham Schools as Places for Belonging’ (June 2024) and provided the opening remarks to London cross-parliamentary MPs at the All Party Parliamentary Group meeting on Inclusion (November 2024). 

 

Addey and Stanhope are doing some truly inspiring things but still recognise that they are ‘not the finished article’ and that there is more to be done. Next on the agenda is a whole school programme focused on ‘drama-free’ communication, which will support and strengthen their relational practice.  We are excited to be working with Addey and Stanhope and are delighted to welcome them to our Partner School network!