Our School Story:
Carbeile Junior SCHOOL
We are a junior school in south-east Cornwall with 265 pupils. Relational practice has always been strong at the school with all adults invested in building relationships with children. Although behaviour in lessons is excellent, it was noted that behaviour during more free time such as playtime and lunchtime was not as good as in lessons and incidents of poor behaviour were increasing.
When the children were questioned about the rules they named lots of different ones. We noticed a decline in behaviour and wanted to address this. So we decided we wanted a more consistent approach aimed at seeing an improvement in playtime and lunchtime behaviour. We also didn’t want there to be a difference in the amount of respect shown to different adults.
We began by speaking to the children and gauging their understanding of the rules. We selected a member of staff to lead on Relational Behaviour and launched it to all staff during an INSET day. We introduced 3 simple rules – Ready, Respectful and Safe. We made sure there was a strong culture of belonging running through everything. We timetabled fortnightly staff CPD to start introducing some of the ‘When the adults change’ strategies. All staff were included in this – teachers, teaching assistants, lunchtime supervisors, office staff etc.
We started with deliberate botheredness and positive noticing. This then led onto
positive phone calls home and positive notes. Staff were really on board with trying these things and were given opportunities to feedback about successes and things that hadn’t gone as well. After each staff meeting the behaviour lead created a flyer with the key points so that everyone was clear of the agreed next steps. Next we tightened up some of our routines such as meet and greet and introduced fantastic walking. Then it was time to introduce recognition boards and scripts. Adults, especially lunchtime supervisors, found the scripts empowering. We then explored restorative practice and staff started to have deliberate restorative conversations. We then met as a staff to review the strategies and committed to using the ones that worked for us.
It was easy to introduce new strategies as the staff are very receptive to this. However, maintaining momentum was tricky at times, especially as staff become tired at the end of term. Staff were given reminders about the strategies and encouraged to be consistent. There are a lot of strategies and so making sure that staff were using them effectively was important.
More recently, we have re-written our relational behaviour policy and this has been shared with all stakeholders. All children know the rules and are clear about expectations. Behaviour is dealt with consistently. We had an Ofsted inspection in April 2026 and they said the following:
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‘Pupils’ behaviour is consistently calm and respectful. This high standard of conduct creates an environment in which pupils are able to learn well. Low level disruption is rare. Pupils are self-motivated to work hard in lessons. Pupils are polite and courteous to their peers, staff and visitors. At social times, younger and older pupils mix harmoniously together. On the few occasions that pupils’ behaviour falls below leaders’ high expectations, it is dealt with fairly and swiftly.’
We now need to continue to maintain these high standards and revisit strategies regularly. Advice we would give to other schools is to try to introduce change slowly and review it regularly. Make sure that all staff are included and receive training. Consistency is key.
When the Adults Change has been the icing on the cake for our school. Staff and pupils are happier because of it.
