Staged Intervention
Background
Millbank Primary School in Nairn (Highland Council) has:
• 317 pupils from P1 to P7
• 7 pupils in Special Education Base (some of these almost fully integrated)
• 38 pupils in nursery
We promote a positive ethos. We encourage our pupils in all the usual ways:
• Stickers, merit stamps, smiley faces
• Achievement certificates - bronze, silver, gold and head teacher's award
• Star writer badges
• Special person awards
• Responsible roles for some pupils - prefects, house captains, librarians, pupil council reps, playground friends, SNAG reps, Millbank Playground Planners reps, Junior Road Safety Officers.
• Pupils, who do undertake responsible roles to help others in the school, are recognised and given special treats, e.g. tea party at Christmas time, a picnic in the local play park at Easter time, etc.
• Pupils views are sought and valued
• Weekly assemblies celebrating success - within school and outwith school
• Special seating at assembly allocated weekly to pupils, who have represented the school at some event or perhaps a whole class, who want to share their experiences following a class visit or tell about their project.
"What do you do when there are pupils, who do not respond to these incentives?"
The Need for Staged Intervention
They can damage a good ethos by causing many problems in the classroom setting and in the playground.
We use a Staged Intervention Approach. It provides a systematic context for managing behaviour in schools. It's a vehicle for delivering current best practice. It's an approach available to all school staff. It's a multi-level system, which very much focuses on Level 1
What it isn't:
• It's not a discipline policy
• It's not a short term fix
• It's not a brand new way of changing behaviour
• It's not a system for immediately tackling exceptionally bad behaviour
• It's not a soft option
Key players in this staged intervention approach are pupils, parents, all staff members. In our school this includes:
• A Behaviour Co-ordinator (BeCo), who is elected by staff members and is entitled to a day a week management time to support staff and pupils
• A Children's Service Worker (CSW), who has a dual education/social work remit and is employed for 25.5 hours per week. Her work commitment does not tie her to school hours, her timetable is reviewed at regular intervals and is dependent on the needs of pupils. She also works during the school holidays.
Both positions are funded by the community school budget.
Stages in the Process
Level 1: Behaviour Co-ordinator Involved
Action = Environmental Checklist > Behaviour Environmental Plan.
If difficulty continues then move to
Level 2: Referral to SMT/Advise Parents
Action = Meeting with parents > Individual observation > Individualised Behaviour Plan.
If difficulty continues then move to
Level 3:Multi-Agency Support
Action = Involve other support services as appropriate > Agree what additional support is required.
If difficulty continues then move to
Level 4: Pupil Support Service
Action = Referral to Pupil Support Service > Meet to agree and implement and review support plan.
If difficulty continues then move to
Level 5: Children's Service Forum
Action = Referral to Area Children's Service Forum.
Staged Intervention in the Classroom: Example of Level 1 Interventions
• Teacher (or other) has concern
• Discuss with Behaviour Co-ordinator on informal basis
• Next steps agreed:
• Either no further action required
OR
• Behaviour Environment Checklist completed
• Areas for action determined
• Baseline Assessment of behaviour causing concern
Classroom observation only - no individual observations at this stage
• Create behaviour environmental plan (BEP) and implement
• Review BEP at agreed time
• Targets met?
• Yes - Successful Outcome
OR
• No - Continue Level 1 or Consider Level 2 - Consultation with SMT
Where targets at each stage are not being met the process continues through the different levels.
A Staged Intervention Approach in the Playground
The approach has also been applied to address behavioural concerns in the playground:
• Staff member/Pupil/Parent has concern
• Discuss with Class teacher or SMT
• Involve support staff to supervise pupil/pupils closely in playground
• Problem in playground is identified and next steps agreed. Parents informed.
• Pupils, despite support, are unable to cope effectively in playground i.e. aggressive, threatening behaviour; constant arguing and/or fighting, etc.
• Pupils removed from playground and must attend social group with CSW at playtimes/lunchtimes. Parents informed regularly on progress.
• Pupils, who are in social group, work towards getting back out to the playground. 1 lunchtime session and then gradually increased. Pupils are offered the opportunity to drop in on a voluntary basis once they are fully integrated back in to playground.
Usually this group of children, who have problems coping in the playground, also experience similar problems in the class situation.
The role of the CSW
CSW, in consultation with Behaviour Co-ordinator, class teacher and senior management team can offer 1-1 support or small group support during class time.
CSW can work with many pupils throughout the school. We offer the chance to a group of pupils from a chosen class to be given the opportunity to spend their golden time session with the CSW on a Friday afternoon. The CSW will also go in to some classes to play team-building/confidence games with different groups of class members.
Consultation and Communication
Consultation and good communication is vital:
1. Parents must be kept fully informed. They also need to feel that they are listened to and all concerns are investigated.
2. There has to be regular consultation between Behaviour Co-ordinator / Children's Service Worker and senior management team in order to continuously review and update BeCo and CSW timetables according to current needs.
3. There has to be planned, organised planning meetings between CT, BeCo and CSW to discuss programme for pupil/class. HT must cover class.
4. There has to be planned, organised review meetings between CT, BeCo and CSW to discuss progress of specific pupil. HT must cover class.
5. There has to be regular teaching staff meetings to discuss the whole school issue.
6. There has to be regular non-teaching support staff meetings to discuss whole school issues. It was agreed that they wanted a 30 minute fortnightly meeting but this was difficult to organise because of the necessity to support pupils. Eventually, it was agreed that the first 15 minutes would be during their coffee time, another 15 minutes added on to that and at the end of each week, they are entitled to leave 15 minutes early.
7. Time for teaching staff meetings, meetings with outside agencies, as and when required and School Liaison Group meetings is incorporated in to contractual hours.
8. There has to be good quality staff development on offer to all staff in order to explore recommended good practices in positive behaviour management.
At Millbank we have a support network in place to get help and guidance for pupils, parents and all staff members. A whole-school team effort!
This case study is adapted from a paper that was written by Marion McKay of Millbank Primary for the Scottish Schools Ethos Network Conference “Ethos – Why Bother?” in September 2004.
