Before we introduced Relational Practice and WTAC behaviour was inconsistent and hit and miss.  Where there were more confident and stronger adults, behaviour was positive but where adults were less confident, inexperienced or new to the school, behaviour was inconsistent. There were often lots of low-level, disengaged pupils and some higher profile children were running rings around some staff.  Staff sometimes focused on the higher profile pupils, forgot the rest and then wondered why overall behaviour wasn’t great.  

 

As Headteacher, I returned from maternity leave.  I had read the books whilst on maternity leave and had reflected that we needed to make a seismic shift in the behaviour and culture at the school or we were never going to continue on the improvement journey. 

 

My expectation was that behaviour was dealt with consistently. All adults needed consistent expectations and that behaviour was an expectation not a battle. We needed all staff to consistently apply policy when children did break the rules.  We wanted to make sure that  rewards catered for all, not just those poorly behaved or those who were exceptional academically but also those in the middle that were often forgotten.

 

So we introduced a new policy blueprint. Out went all the inconsistent reward systems including suns and clouds, marbles in jars, raffle tickets etc.  We put microscripts on the back of lanyards and gave staff training in restorative conversations.  A new Learning Lounge was created as a space for dysregulated pupils. We appointed a Child Support Worker who is expert in dealing with behaviour and investigated PRU techniques used for higher profile pupils. All staff were asked to read the book as part of their induction. We went over Policy with staff repeatedly, and our CPD is ongoing.  

 

Children are now engaged in all lessons, behaviour for learning is exceptional, there is a culture of high expectations and children adhere to this.  High profile children can still be high profile and additional things are in place for these children but these work in conjunction with the main policy and systems.  

 

We are now using Paul Dix online materials to strengthen further and recap with existing staff.   

 

What we found easy was shifting to a recognition system. Our children love the recognition and the strategies became embedded quickly with children speaking positively about them.

 

What is hard is the  ongoing induction of new staff. Sometimes new staff are trying to implement their own systems because they think it doesn’t work, as they haven’t applied it consistently or fully understood it, or because they did something in their previous school that worked for them.  We work hard with induction so that all staff not understand the importance of consistency.  

 

The school is now in a great place. All children are engaged in lessons and learning is not impacted by low-level behaviour.  

 

It takes time to change the culture of staff.  You need to passionate about the approach to ensure that staff understand that this is the way we are doing it here.

 

I only wish we had been signed up to the online resources sooner! Most of our work/implementation and embedding has come from reading the books and getting the weekly email with tips in.  

 

Perseverance is the key here and we have it in abundance.