Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primarywsassets.s3.amazonaws.com/ws/nso/pdf/37bead1cafd64586246d2233… · Behaviour and attendance: in-depth ... School organisational

The Coalition Government took office on 11 May 2010. This publication was published prior to that date and may not reflect current government policy. You may choose to use these materials, however you should also consult the Department for Education website www.education.gov.uk for updated policy and resources.

Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primary Booklet 5 Pupil support systems

Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primary schools

Booklet 5Pupil support systems

© Crown copyright 2004 DfES 0758-2003

2 Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primary schools © Crown copyright 2004

Booklet 5: Pupil support systems DfES 0758-2003

Contents

1. Overview of the in-depth audit 3

2. Introduction to Key area 5: Pupil support systems 6

3. Survey for the leadership team, other staff, governors and outside agencies 9

4. Interview/discussion group prompts for the leadership team, other staff, governors and outside agencies 13

5. Survey for parents/carers: Part 1 – general 19

6. Survey for parents/carers: Part 2 – specific 21

7. Interview/discussion group prompts for parents/carers: Part 1 – general 23

8. Interview/discussion group prompts for parents/carers: Part 2 – specific 25

9. Survey for children 27

10. Interview/discussion group prompts for children 30

11. Typical findings and next steps 32

Overview of the in-depth audit

Introduction

This in-depth audit follows from the initial self-review of behaviour and attendance in the school that you have alreadycompleted. You are likely to be using this audit if your school profile in the area of pupil support systems in this initialreview (Key area 5) was towards the focusing/developing end of the continuum.

You may also be using this audit if you have already carried out the leadership and management in-depth audit andkey stakeholders rated the performance of the school poor in the area of pupil support systems.

What are the outcomes of the in-depth audit and how will they be useful to the school?

The outcomes of the audit are described more fully in the next section, but broadly the tools contained within thisbooklet will provide:

• a ‘snapshot’ of how well the school is perceived to be doing in specific areas of focus by children, parents/carers,staff and governors (or any subset of these);

• a range of views exploring the why of the snapshot, including perspectives of what the school does thatis effective in each area, what needs changing/improving, and what else the school could be doing toimprove outcomes;

• an accurate and robust body of evidence about key factors in the school which encourage or discourage regularattendance, good behaviour and effective learning.

The information obtained will support the self-evaluation that forms the basis for Ofsted inspection. It will help youto make sure that any action plans you develop to improve behaviour and attendance are based on good information,taking account of the perspectives of a variety of stakeholders and in full recognition of what is already working wellwithin the school.

Can we complete part of this in-depth audit and miss out one or more particular sub-areas?

There will be times when you only want to use parts of the in-depth audit. It may be, for example, that your schoolprofile from the initial review has shown strengths as well as areas for improvement within a key area. In this instance,you will want to be selective in what you explore further. It may be that a review of overall inclusive cultures, policiesand practices has just taken place and you may not wish to duplicate information generated by this review.Or perhaps a new system of data analysis is being trialled and you are not yet ready to evaluate its effectiveness.Alternatively, your school may have just completed the Ofsted pupil or parent questionnaires and not wish to seekviews from these particular groups at the present time.

In order to meet the specific needs of the school, therefore, you may want to ‘mix and match’ using the electronicversion of the audit. Surveys and discussion group forms can be produced that include only those areas in whichinformation will be useful. This enables the audit to be focused and relevant to the particular context of the school.

What if we have identified a difficulty with, for example, attendance or bullying,which does not have a key area of its own?

The in-depth audits are organised into the six areas of the initial self-review:

• leadership and management;• whole-school ethos and framework;• school organisational factors and the management and deployment of resources;• continuing to improve the quality of teaching and learning;• pupil support systems;• staff development and support.

© Crown Copyright 2004 Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primary schools 3DfES 0758-2003 Booklet 5: Pupil support systems

There are no separate in-depth audits for single issues such as attendance or bullying because difficulties in theseareas cannot be seen as separate from larger aspects of the school such as ethos, the support systems in place,the quality of teaching and learning or the way that relationships are managed in the school.

However, using the electronic version of the audit, a mix-and-match approach would enable you to put togethera series of surveys and discussion group prompts within a specific focus such as attendance, incorporating aspectsyou consider relevant from any or all of the key areas.



Example: If attendance is identified as poor, it would be possible to generate surveys and discussion groupprompts that draw upon all of the following areas (all of which impact on attendance).

Leadership and management

• Are the roles of all staff clear?• Do staff know, understand and implement the attendance policy?• What do/can data tell us? Are some classes or groups more prone to poor attendance?

Whole-school ethos and framework

• Do children want to come to school?• How do they rate relationships in the school?• How big an issue is bullying for children generally?• What systems are in place for promoting attendance?

Continuing to improve the quality of teaching and learning

• Are children not attending in a particular class because the teaching or behaviour is poor?

Pupil support systems

• What support is in place for children and their families when attendance or lateness is an issue?

Staff development and support

• Is there a need for staff to build skills and knowledge through CPD in the area of attendance?

What support is available to collate and analyse all the information we collect?

A simple IT tool will be made available to schools which will support the collection, collation and analysisof information collected during the audit. A variety of outputs will be available using this tool.

Separate guidance will accompany the software, offering clear guidelines about implementing each stepof the process.


Example: If the school wants to focus specifically on bullying, it would be possible to generate surveys anddiscussion group prompts that draw upon all of the following areas.

Leadership and management

• Are the roles of all staff clear?• Do staff know, understand and implement the anti-bullying policy?• Is there a clear system for logging incidents, recording action taken and following up the outcomes?• What do/can data tell us? Are some classes or groups more prone to reporting bullying?

Whole-school ethos and framework

• To what extent is the emotional wellbeing of everyone in the school community a priority in the school?• How good are relationships between children?• Are both preventive and reactive measures to tackle bullying in place?• How big an issue is bullying for children? • How big an issue is bullying for parents/carers?

School organisational factors and the management and deployment of resources

• What is the quality of the external environment?• What is the range of activities available at breaktimes and lunchtimes?• How good are the curriculum opportunities for developing children’s social, emotional and behavioural skills,

and for addressing bullying specifically?• How far does the supervision available in out-of-class times help children feel safe?

Pupil support systems

• What support is in place for children and their families when bullying is an issue?

Staff development and support

• Is there a need for staff to build skills and knowledge through CPD in the area of bullying?

Introduction to Key area 5: Pupil support systems

Description

At one level, the school will be working to encourage independence and responsibility in all children in order to equipthem with the skills that they need if they are to learn and behave well. There will always be times, however, whenchildren need additional support with this learning. It is important that the ethos of the school and the high quality ofchild–adult relationships mean that all children will feel comfortable asking for support and know how to ask, andwhom to ask, whatever their area of difficulty.

There will be a number of situations in which any child might need planned or ad-hoc support for a limited time,including when they arrive at the school, when they are due to transfer from the school to another, when they returnafter a long absence, or when they have been excluded. They may also need support to cope with family problemsor bullying.

Other children may be identified as having longer-term behavioural, emotional, social or attendance-relateddifficulties. It is important that these needs are viewed and addressed as a barrier to the child’s education rather thansimply as a disciplinary issue. The systems that schools have in place to deal with such needs (even if it is only for aminority of children) will have a major effect on the behaviour and attendance patterns not just of the individual withbehavioural, emotional and social difficulties, but also of the group, class and school to which they belong.

This audit therefore focuses on:

• the general support systems available to children;• the support available to children with identified difficulties with behaviour or attendance.

Outcomes of the in-depth audit

Outcomes will clearly be dependent on whose views are sought and which of the available tools are used to collectthe information. Those listed below represent potential outcomes.

1. A ‘snapshot’ of stakeholders’ perceptions and opinions in the following areas:

Support systems for all children

• The development of independence and responsibility• School ethos • Effectiveness of support systems • Clarity of support systems• Roles and responsibilities in supporting children• Review and evaluation of systems• The continuum of support• Curriculum work supporting the systems• Peer involvement• Specific staff expertise• Work with partners and agencies• External and community sources of support

Support for children with identified behavioural, emotional and social or attendance-related difficulties

• Beliefs about the difficulty• Effects of culture/discrimination• Principles of interventions and systems• Stakeholder involvement• Early identification• Clarity of staged process for addressing needs• Target setting and action planning• Consistency • Clarity about roles and responsibilities



• Continuum of support and entry/exit criteria• School-level patterns and data• Clarity about external services • Monitoring and reviewing

2. A range of views exploring the why of the snapshot (from interviews/discussion groups, and commentson individual surveys).

3. A range of perspectives of what the school does that is effective in each area, and what needschanging/improving, and a range of views on what else the school could be doing (from interviews/discussiongroups and comments on individual surveys).

Guidance on using the in-depth audit

Only use this booklet if you have identified Pupil support systems as needing further investigation. The bookletsuggests a number of ways to proceed and decide on any action required. There are three elements to the process:

• preparing for the audit;• seeking the views of key parties/establishing the current ‘big picture’;• deciding on the action required.

Preparing for the audit

There are two aspects to preparation: communication and collection of key data and information.

Communication: it is important to ensure that staff and anyone else involved in the process are briefed about:

• the reason for the audit and its specific focus;• who will be involved, as well as how others can contribute;• how evidence is going to be gathered;• how the process fits into the school’s normal routines;• the proposed timescale including updates on progress, final outcomes, prioritised actions and the

support programme.

Collection of key data and information: it is recommended that before undertaking the audit you:

• study any relevant policy documents;• locate references to pupil support systems in the most recent Ofsted report;• gather and analyse patterns in the data on the use of support systems to gain a picture of how many children

receive extra support and for what;• look back at past minutes of leadership team meetings and consider how high a priority issues about pupil

support systems have been, and what key issues have been discussed.

Seeking the views of the key parties/establishing the current ‘big picture’

There are three issues to decide:

• whose views to seek;• how to seek their views;• what protocols to establish.

Whose views to seek: decide on which staff to involve, and whether children, parents/carers, governors and othergroups outside the school should be included. For this in-depth audit, it is recommended that you include:

• the leadership team itself;• parents/carers;• children;• other staff (including the SENCO), governors and support staff;• outside agencies/visitors to the school (this could usefully include the school’s educational psychologist or

behaviour support teacher).

These are suggestions only. You will know the right combination of people to involve.


How to seek their views: decide whether to use discussion groups, individual interviews and/or surveys.

It is suggested that if surveys and interviews and/or discussion groups are to be used, the surveys are sent out,collated and analysed before the interviews or discussion groups take place. Although the discussion group/interviewprompts can be used without the information from the surveys, it is useful to have a ‘snapshot’ or profile of theperceptions of the key stakeholders on which to base discussion and exploration.

This booklet provides the following audit tools:

• survey forms for parents/carers, children, staff, governors and external agencies;• interview/discussion group prompts for children, staff and governors and external agencies. There are two parts

to the parent/carer group discussion: one to discuss general support systems, and one to discuss supportsystems for children with identified needs in the area of behaviour or attendance.

All the prompt sheets and survey forms can be adapted to suit your circumstances.

What protocols to establish: this is a particular issue if your school does not regularly conduct group discussionsor use surveys. You will need to decide on a number of issues including:

for surveys

• deciding on the sample size and make-up. The greater the sample size the more representative the views will be;• considering any changes you want to make to the survey provided in this booklet;• explaining the use and purpose of the survey very clearly to participants;• identifying an adult to work with individuals or small groups of children at Key Stage 1 and some children

at Key Stage 2, who will fit children’s responses into the rating scale used (1 – strongly agree; 2 – agree; 3 – disagree; 4 – strongly disagree) as these concepts will not be ones with which young children are familiar;

• explaining any rules that apply, for example not to name individual children or teachers;• assuring participants of confidentiality in their responses;• dealing sensitively with children and staff who may have been victims of bullying or harassment;• deciding on the arrangements (the timescales for completion, when the surveys can be completed,

who will collate and analyse the data);• planning how you will provide feedback to those who took part in the survey. It would be good practice,

for example, to provide a summary of the responses to survey questions in percentage terms and a verbatimcollation of comments (even if these are sometimes critical of the school or highlight a sensitive area suchas bullying). This will demonstrate that responses are being treated seriously.

for interviews and group discussions

• deciding who will conduct the interviews/discussions;• deciding who will brief them and how;• identifying the size and make-up of groups for the discussions;• wherever possible, using normal school routines and time slots.

The first part of the interview/discussion group with parents/carers could usefully include parents/carers with childrenwho left the school the previous year; parents/carers whose children have needed support in a range of ways; andparents/carers of children in vulnerable groups (including foster-carers) and of children who have reintegrated into theschool after an exclusion or long absence. Other parents/carers should represent children who have not had specificneed, in order to ensure a balanced overall view.

The second part of the interview/discussion group should take place with a group of parents/carers whose childrenhave been subject to action planning as a result of specific needs in behaviour or attendance.

Deciding on the action required

Once you have gathered and analysed information from your in-depth audit (using the electronic audit tool that willbe supplied, or a paper-based analysis that uses the electronic audit report headings), you will be able to identifydevelopment priorities and begin to plan action. A suggested procedure for deciding on the action required, anda number of forms to support the process, are provided in the initial review (Behaviour and attendance: an initialreview for primary schools, DfES 0758-2003, Section 6, pp.35–37).



Survey for the leadership team, other staff, governors and outside agencies

What is your role? Please tick

Governor Teaching assistant Support staff

Senior manager Lunchtime supervisor (administration and premises)

Middle manager Learning mentor Outside agency

Class teacher Supply teacher

In addition to the above, please tick if you are an NQT: Yes No

Please indicate your degree of agreement with each statement by putting a tick in the column that best reflectsyour opinion.

1 – Strongly agree2 – Agree3 – Disagree4 – Strongly disagree D/k – Don’t know (please select this column if, for any reason, you are not able to arrive at a judgement)

Where a statement has several parts (labelled a, b, c etc.), please give a separate rating for each.

If you would like to comment on any of the statements, please do so in the column provided.

Statement Comments 1 2 3 4 D/k

1. The school develops independence andresponsibility in children and helps themin managing problems and issues in thebroadest sense.

2. The ethos of the school ensures thatchildren feel safe and confident toapproach staff for support whenthey need to.

3. Relationships between staff and childrenare good.

4. There are effective systems of support for:a) any individual child who may require

support from time to timeb) new children (an induction process

for groups of children starting togetherand individuals who start at thebeginning of an academic year or partway through)

c) children returning from exclusionor a long-term absence

d) looked-after childrene) vulnerable groups (e.g. children from

gypsy/traveller families, children withspecial educational needs, childrenfrom minority ethnic groups)

f) any child experiencing or reporting bullying



g) children transferring to another schoolor key stage

h) individuals with specific behaviouror attendance difficulties.

5. These systems are clear and known to:a) staffb) childrenc) parents/carers.

6. All staff know their rolein supporting children.

7. Systems are monitored, reviewedand evaluated (and changed as a resultof this process).

8. Support systems form a coherentcontinuum, which allows graded provisionto be matched to the needs of individualsor groups.

9. Support systems are complemented byplanned curriculum work (e.g. on bullying,discrimination, change and transfer),which is structured and progressivelybuilds children’s knowledge,understanding and skills.

10. There is a range of support systemsin place, which include peer support(e.g. peer mentoring, buddying,peer mediation).

11. School expertise includes staff withspecific skills for supporting children(for example counselling, play working).

12. The school works with a variety of partners(such as link secondary schools) andagencies (such as health, communitygroups) in a proactive way and involvesthem in implementing and reviewing pupilsupport systems.

13. The school has knowledge about,and links to, external and communitysources of support for children, familiesand individuals.




14. Attendance, behavioural, emotional andsocial difficulties are not responded toat a purely disciplinary level. They arerecognised as a barrier to learning thatthe school needs to address (as it would,for example, a reading difficulty).

15. Staff are aware of how cultural differencesand the effect of racism, sexism and otherforms of discrimination may impact onbehaviour or attendance patterns.

16. All support systems and interventionsare planned to support the relationshipbetween the child and at least one keymember of staff, to build the child’s self-esteem and actively teach skills thechild may need in order to improvetheir behaviour or attendance.

17. Children and parents are fully involvedin all processes of support.

18. Systems and structures are in placeto ensure that children with attendance,behaviour, emotional, and/or socialdifficulties are identified early on,before patterns become entrenched.

19. Screening systems routinely ensure thatfactors such as learning difficulties andbullying, which may underlie or contributeto children’s behaviour or attendancedifficulties, are identified.

20. There is a clearly defined, staged processfor offering support to children whenbehaviour or attendance difficultiesare identified.

21. Programmes specify clear responsibilities,strategies, success criteria, monitoringarrangements and dates for review.Targets are SMART (specific, measurable,achievable, realistic, time-limited).

22. All relevant adults, and where appropriateother children, know an individual’s targetsand the strategies to achieve them.



23. The following groups are clear about theirown roles and responsibilities in planning,implementing action plans, monitoringand reviewing, and the roles andresponsibilities of others:a) adults in the schoolb) childrenc) parents.

24. A variety of types and levels of supportfor children with identified difficultiesin behaviour or attendance is available(for example, from a weekly supportsession with a learning mentor or accessto a lunchtime club, to participationin a social skills group or regularmulti-agency interventions).

25. The school is clear about the overalllevels and patterns of behaviourand attendance needs.

26. There is clarity about the services availablefrom external agencies and how to accessthem to support individual children.

27. The effectiveness of provision made isregularly monitored and the informationused to inform the cycle of plan–do–review.

Please indicate three things we do well to support children.

1.

2.

3.

Please indicate three ways in which we could improve in this area (and how we might go about this).

1.

2.

3.

Thank you for answering these questions.



Interview/discussion group prompts for the leadership team, other staff,governors and outside agencies

Pupil support systems: general

Prompts Key points

Developing children’s self-reliance:• How does the school develop children’s

responsibility and independence? • What do we do well?• What are the barriers?• What else could we do?

Ethos of trust and confidence:• What does the school do to develop

an ethos where children have the trustand confidence to access support?

• How do we involve children in decisionsabout the support they need?

• What do we do well?• What are the barriers?• What else could we do?

Relationships between children and staff:• What does the school do to develop good

relationships between children and staff? • What are the barriers?• What else could we do?

Systems of support (in school):• How are these groups of children supported

(what happens in school for them)?a) any individual child who may require

support from time to time b) new children (an induction process for

groups of children starting together, andfor individuals who start at the beginningof an academic year, or part way through)

c) children returning from exclusionor absence

d) looked-after childrene) vulnerable groups (e.g. traveller children,

children with SEN, children from minorityethnic groups)

f) any child experiencing or reporting bullying.

• Which aspects are effective andwhich are not?

• How do we know? • Is there any duplication?• Do we know what barriers there are

to children accessing support? What wecan do to overcome them?


Prompts Key points

Transfer practices:• What systems are in place to support

children transferring to a new schoolas an individual or as a group (e.g. fromthe Foundation Stage to KS1, thoseat the end of Year 2 or Year 6)?

• Who coordinates the system?• Does it involve joint planning with

partner schools?• Are children’s social and emotional

needs taken into account and informationpassed on (e.g. friendship patterns, talents,needs, etc.)?

• What is the liaison system?• What induction programme do pupils have? • What information is transferred? By whom? • What happens to it? • How are parents involved?• What do we need to do differently? • What works well?

Clarity of systems:• What do we do to ensure that all children,

staff and parents/carers are clear aboutthe support systems that are available?

Roles and responsibilities:• Is each individual involved in supporting

children clear about their own role andresponsibilities and those of others?

Monitoring and evaluation:• What monitoring is in place?• What works well?• What needs to change?

Coherence of the support continuum:• Do the various forms of support make

up a coherent continuum?• What could we do to make this happen? • How can we avoid duplication and gaps

in provision?

Planned curriculum work to complement pupilsupport systems:• What curriculum work complements pupil

support systems (e.g. work on bullying,discrimination, change)?

• Is it built into curriculum plans? • What else could we do in this area?



Prompts Key points

Range of types of support, for examplepeer support:• Do we offer children the opportunity to

be a support to, and/or access supportfrom, peers?

• What else could we do in this area?

Range of staff skills:• What skills are there in the school that

directly support children (for example,in counselling skills, circle time, playand games for inclusion)?

• Are there any gaps that need to informCPD planning processes?

Relationships and links with partners (suchas parents/carers and secondary schools)and with outside agencies:• What links do we make?• Do we work with partners proactively

or just in response to individual needs?• What works well?• What should we change?

Knowledge of and links with external supportservices for children and families:• What links with out-of-school sources

of support do we have?• How do we make children and families

aware of them and what they offer?

Pupil support systems: systems of support for individuals with behaviour and attendance needs

Attendance, behavioural, emotional and socialdifficulties as barriers to learning:• Does the school’s policy make clear how

and why behaviour or attendance difficultiesare viewed as barriers to learning ratherthan simply disciplinary matters?

• Are all staff in agreement about this?• Do parents/carers understand/agree with

this view? • Do all children understand why we support

particular children in the ways we do?• What else do we need to do?


Prompts Key points

Understanding the impact of culturaldifferences, effects of racism, sexism andother forms of discrimination on behaviourand attendance:• What do we do well in this area?• Is there more we need to do/find out/share?

Principles of support:• What do we do well in developing the

relationship between the child and the adult? • What do we do well in building the child’s

self-esteem?• How do we celebrate/reward progress

(using individualised reward programmes)?• How do we differentiate sanctions for

children with identified attendance,behavioural, emotional and/or socialdifficulties?

• Do staff, children and parents/carersunderstand/agree with our rationaleand practice?

• How could we increaseunderstanding/agreement?

Pupil and parent/carer involvement:• How are parents/carers involved?• How are children involved? • What do we do well?• What could we improve?

Early identification:• What systems are in place? • What do we do to ensure that attendance,

behavioural, emotional and social difficultiesare identified early on?

Identification of underlying factors:• What do we do/what systems are in place

to ensure that factors such as learningdifficulties that underlie children’s behaviouror attendance difficulties are identifiedand addressed?

• What underlying issues do we explore (andhow) when we are concerned about a child’srepeated or extended absences or truancy?

Staged system for meeting needs:• What is the system?• Is the system clear?• How does it relate to SEN provision? • How effective is it?



Prompts Key points

Action planning and target setting and getting:• What do we do well in setting SMART

targets and drawing up programmes? • What needs improving?• How do we ensure that adults in the school

(including lunchtime supervisors andteaching assistants) know children’s targetsand the strategies to achieve them?

• Do all adults, children and parents/carersknow their role and responsibilities withinan action plan?

• How consistently do we follow the plansand ensure reviews happen?

• What sort of monitoring is effective? • How many children are achieving their

targets? How do we know?

The continuum of support:• What support systems/interventions are

available to children with identifiedattendance, behavioural, emotional and/orsocial difficulties?

• Do the systems and interventionstogether form a continuum, with no gapsor duplications?

• Where are the gaps/duplications/grey areas,etc.?

• How are children’s needs prioritisedand children assigned to particularsupport systems?

• Does each support system have clear entryand exit criteria known to staff?

The overall school profile of behaviour andattendance-related needs:• How do we know if the continuum of

support we have in place matches theoverall school picture of children’s needs?

• Is the school clear about the overall levelsand patterns of behaviour and attendanceneeds? How? Is an audit of needcarried out?

• Does the leadership team collect, analyseand use data effectively to ensure thatprovision is matched to need?

• Are provisions costed and resourcedequitably?

• Do exit criteria work to ensure thatprovisions are used effectivelyfor time-limited interventions?


Prompts Key points

External services available:• How do we know what services are

available from external agencies and howto access them to support individual pupils?

• What are the referral routes and criteriafor the services available?

• Do we work with them effectively to meetchildren’s needs?

• What works well?• What needs changing?

Monitoring and review:• How do we monitor and review the

effectiveness of our provisions andthe support offered?

• How is the information used?• What are the obstacles?• What do we need to do differently?




Survey for parents/carers

Part 1 – general

Please indicate your degree of agreement with each statement by putting a tick in the column that best reflects youropinion.

1 – Strongly agree2 – Agree3 – Disagree4 – Strongly disagree D/k – Don’t know (please select this column if for any reason you are not able to arrive at a judgement)

If you would like to comment on any of the statements, please do so in the column provided.


1. The school develops independence andresponsibility in children, which helps themto manage difficulties when they arise.

2. Children feel safe and confidentin approaching adults in the schoolwith a problem.

3. Relationships between staff and childrenare good.

4. The systems for supporting childrenwork well.

5. Parents/carers know about pupil supportsystems and find them easy to understand.

6. If parents/carers want to access supportfor their child, they know how to go aboutdoing this.

7. There are people in the school who haveparticular skills for supporting children,for example staff who are good at listening,at encouraging children to play together,or at sorting out instances of bullying.

8. Parents/carers are asked for theirviews and have opportunities to helpthe school develop good systemsfor supporting children.

9. The school knows what is available in thecommunity to support families andchildren and uses this knowledge to helpparents/carers and children.


1.

2.

3.

Please indicate three things we could improve in this area (and how we might go about this).

1.

2.

3.




Survey for parents/carers

Part 2 – specific

Please respond to the following questions if you have a child who has identified special needs in the areas ofbehavioural, emotional and/or social difficulties, or with attendance.


1. The school recognises my child’s difficultyas a special educational need and helpsto address the difficulty through a plan,not just through rewards and punishment.

2. The school has a good understandingof how cultural differences, racism,sexism and other forms of discriminationmay have affected my child’s behaviourand/or attendance.

3. The plans that the school has put inplace to support my child have involveddeveloping a relationship between mychild and at least one member of staff.The plans help to build my child’s self-esteem and to learn the skills they need toimprove behaviour/attendance.

4. As a parent/carer I have been fully involvedin all processes of support.

5. My child’s difficulty was picked up by theschool early on.

6. The school has done tests and talkedto me and my child in order to identifyany learning difficulties, bullying or otherfactors that could be contributing to mychild’s behaviour or attendance difficulty.

7. I understand the school system foridentifying needs and arranging support.

8. The targets set with me and my childto improve behaviour and attendanceare clear, realistic, achievable and have atime limit. In the plans it is clear who doeswhat and the date for the next review.



9. All relevant adults in the school, and whereappropriate other children, know what mychild is trying to achieve and how to helphim or her.

10. I am clear about my own role in helping mychild and the roles and responsibilities ofthe other people involved.


1.

2.

3.

Please indicate three things we could improve on in the way we support children.

1.

2.

3.




Interview/discussion group prompts for parents/carers

Part 1 – general

Please see guidance notes on page 8 for the suggested make-up of this group.

Pupil support system: general

Prompts Key points

Developing children’s self-reliance:• How does the school develop children’s

responsibility and independence?• What do we do well?• What else could we do?

Ethos of trust and confidence:• What does the school do well in making sure

that children have the trust and confidenceto ask for support when they need it?

• What are the barriers?• What else could we do?

Relationships between children and staff:• What does the school do well in ensuring

that relationships between adults andchildren are good?

• What gets in the way of this?• What else could we do?

Systems of support (in school):• What has been effective in supporting

your child(ren) in school (for example,when they arrived at the school)?

• What made the support effective?• What would make it more effective? • What might get in the way of children

asking for support?

Transfer practices (questions for parents/carerswhose child has already transferred or is aboutto do so): • Was the support offered to you

and your child sufficient? • Was it appropriate? • Was it effective in making sure that

your child’s transfer went smoothly? • What was helpful?• What would have been more helpful?


Prompts Key points

• Were your child’s social and personalneeds taken into account in the newclass or by the new school (for example,friendship patterns, talents, needs, etc.)?

• What was your involvement? • Would you have preferred to be more,

or less, involved?

Clarity of systems (questions relating to all pupil support systems):• What works well?• How can we make the systems clearer?

Roles and responsibilities:• How would you know whom to approach

in the school and when if your childhad a problem?

• What could we do to make it easierfor parents/carers to know?

Range of staff skills:• What skills held by the school staff have

been helpful to your child when they havehad a problem?

• What other skills do staff need to bettersupport children who are having difficultiesin any area?

Relationships and links with partners andagencies:• How well does the school communicate

with you in relation to supporting your child?• How comfortable do you feel in approaching

the school? • What works well in our links with parents?• What else could we do?

Knowledge of and links with external supportservices for children and families:• How aware do we make children and

families of sources of support outsidethe school and what they offer?

• Are there any sources of support in thecommunity that we ought to be awareof and aren’t?



Interview/discussion group prompts for parents/carers

Part 2 – specific

The second part of the interview/discussion group should take place with a group of parents whose children havebeen subject to action planning as a result of specific needs in behaviour or attendance.

Systems of support for individuals with behaviour and attendance needs

Prompts Key points

Attendance and/or behavioural, emotional andsocial difficulties as barriers to learning:• Do you understand/agree with the way

the school views your child’s difficulty? • Do other children understand why your

child may get different treatment/additionalhelp, etc.?

• What do we do well?• What do we need to change?

Impact of cultural differences, racism, sexismand other forms of discrimination on behaviourand attendance:• How well does the school understand how

cultural differences and/or discriminationmight affect your child’s behaviouror attendance?

• Are cultural differences respected? • Is discrimination tackled?• Is there more we need to do/find out/share?

Principles of support:• What do we do well in helping your child

to develop a good relationship with adultsin the school?

• What do we do well in building your child’sself-esteem and helping them developthe skills they need to improve theirbehaviour/attendance?

• Are you happy with the way wecelebrate/reward progress anduse sanctions for your child?

• What should we change in your view?

Pupil and parent involvement:• How are you involved? • Would you like to be more/less involved?

In what ways?• Do you feel that you are an important and

valued partner in working with the school?


Prompts Key points

Early identification:• What could we do better to ensure that

children’s needs are picked up early on?

Identification of underlying factors:• Have we been thorough in identifying

all the things in your child’s life that couldbe contributing to their difficulties?

Staged system for meeting needs:• Could you say how the system works? • How could we help parents/carers

to understand and participate more in the system?

• How effective is it?

Action planning and target setting and getting:• Are you clear about the targets that

are set with you and your child?• Are you happy with the targets that

are set with you and your child?• Is there anything we need

to be doing differently? • Do you feel confident that all the adults

in the school are aware of your child’sdifficulties and how to support them?

• Are you clear about/happy with your ownrole in the action plan?

• Is it your experience that we always followplans and make sure that reviews happen?

• Are you clear about the point at which yourchild would no longer need support/aspecial plan?

• Are you happy that all the important peoplein your child’s life have been/are involvedin the planning process?




[a]

Asian

or

Asian

British

Bang

lade

shi

Indi

an

Paki

stan

i

Any

oth

er

Asi

anba

ckgr

ound

[b]

Blac

k or

Bl

ack

British

Afr

ican

Cari

bbea

n

Any

oth

er

Blac

kba

ckgr

ound

[c]

Chines

e

Chin

ese

Any

oth

erCh

ines

eba

ckgr

ound

[d]

Mix

ed

Whi

te a

nd

Blac

k A

fric

an

Whi

te a

ndA

sian

Whi

te a

nd

Cari

bbea

n

Any

oth

erM

ixed

back

grou

nd

[e]

White

Brit

ish

Iris

h

Any

oth

erW

hite

back

grou

nd

[f]

Any

oth

eret

hnic g

roup

Non

e

Chri

stia

n

Budd

hist

Hin

du

Mus

lim

Sikh

Jewi

sh

Any

oth

er r

elig

ion

Surv

ey for

childre

n

You

do n

ot n

eed

to w

rite

you

r na

me

on t

his

ques

tion

nair

e bu

t pl

ease

cir

cle

your

yea

r1

23

45

6

Plea

se in

dica

te if

you

are

a b

oy o

r a

girl

:Bo

yGi

rl

Do

you

cons

ider

you

rsel

f to

hav

e a

disa

bilit

y?Ye

sNo

Wha

t is

you

r et

hnic

gro

up (t

his

coul

d be

bas

ed o

n yo

ur s

kin

colo

ur, l

angu

age,

cul

ture

, anc

estr

y or

fam

ily h

isto

ry, e

tc. E

thni

c ba

ckgr

ound

isno

t th

e sa

me

as y

our

nati

onal

ity

or p

lace

of

birt

h)?

Choo

se o

ne s

ecti

on f

rom

[a] t

o [f

] the

n ti

ck t

he a

ppro

pria

te b

ox.

Wha

t is y

our re

ligion?

Survey for childrenInstructions

Please show how much you agree with each sentence by putting a tick in one of the fourcolumns.

1 – means you strongly agree2 – means you agree3 – means you disagree4 – means you strongly disagree

If you feel that you don’t know whether you agree or disagree with one of the sentences,put a tick in column 5, which says ‘D/k’ ( ‘Don’t know’) at the top.

If you don’t understand the sentence, please ask an adult to explain it to you.

If you would like to say something about any of the sentences, please write in the columnthat says ‘Comments’. If you would like an adult to write it for you, just ask in the normalway for your classroom.


1. Coming to this school has helped me to do more things by myself.

2. I am happy to ask an adult in the school for help with a problem.

3. Adults and children get on wellfor most of the time in this school.

4. I know that the adults in the school would help: a) anyone who may need help or

support from time to time b) someone who has just arrived

and is new to the schoolc) any child who had been away

for a while because they have been excluded or just not been to school for a while

d) any child who felt bullied e) a child who had to go to a new

school for any reasonf) children with problems with

their behaviour or with going to school regularly.

5. I would know who to ask for help if I needed it.




6. Each year that I have been in the school, we do work on how to stop bullying and how to cope withchanges in our lives. I think I get better at this sort of thing each year.

7. Other children can also help me sort out my problems.

8. If a child has a difficulty with behaviour or getting to school regularly and on time, adults in the school help the child to improve on this.

9. All adults, and sometimes other children, know what targets children are aiming for in theirbehaviour and how to help themachieve them.

10. Children in this school are willing to help other children who have a problem about going to school regularly or behaving well.



Interview/discussion group prompts for children

Pupil support systems: general

Prompts Key points

Developing children’s self-reliance:• How does this school help you to learn

to do things on your own/to becomeresponsible and independent?

Ethos of trust and confidence:• Would you feel happy to go to an adult

in the school if you had a problem?

Pupil-staff relationships:• Do you get on well with the adults

in this school?• Generally, do you think that children

and adults get on well in the school?

Systems of support:• How well does the school help children

when they need it, for example:– when children are new to the school?– when children move class?– when children have troubles at home?– when children have troubles with friends?– when children are bullied?

• What sort of support in the school hasbeen most useful to you?

• Do you know why some children mightnot ask for help when they need it?

• How can we change things so they do? • How do/could other children in the school

help children who are having difficulties?

Transfer practices (questions relatingspecifically to children who have transferred/are transferring this year):• Do /did you know enough about your new

school?• What else would you like to know/

have known? • What are/were your concerns?• What are/were you excited about? • How can we make sure that children get

off to a good start when they go to theirnew school?



Prompts Key points

Planned curriculum work:• Do you think you are doing/did enough work

in class to prepare you for changing schoolsor for dealing with troubles at home or atschool (e.g. work on bullying, discrimination,change)?

• What else could we do in this area?


Typical findings and next steps



What we are aiming for?

• An ethos which encourages independence and responsibility, but enables children with a difficulty to feel safe,trusting and confident in approaching adults.

• An accurate overall picture of children’s needs and a ‘map’ of the continuum of provision. • Provision that is costed and resourced equitably, and draws on a range of staff skills that are

continuously developed.• Provision in which impact is routinely monitored and evaluated.• Systems which allow prioritisation to take place and allow the school to match the needs of individuals

or groups to provision, using clear entry and exit criteria.• Pupil support mechanisms which form a coherent continuum and are well known to all members

of the school community.• Knowledge about how useful/accessible the support systems are perceived to be by children, as well as by

parents/carers and staff.• Pupil support mechanisms that children see as helpful and which they regularly use.• A range of support mechanisms, involving peer support as well as adult support.• Curriculum-based work to help children develop the skills that will prevent and pre-empt behaviour

or attendance difficulties.• Early support for children showing signs of behaviour or attendance difficulties.• Effective support for vulnerable groups, such as children who are looked after, new arrivals or children

experiencing discrimination or bullying.• Effective arrangements for multi-agency partnership in providing support to children and families.• Effective arrangements for transition and transfer, differentiated according to children’s needs. • A clear understanding of children with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties which views such

difficulties as contextual and interactive. The difficulties are seen as constituting an additional or specialeducational need and are perceived as indicating a right to support rather than requiring a purely disciplinaryresponse.

• Action plans and processes for planning, implementing, monitoring and reviewing plans that fully involvechildren and parents/carers.

Examples of common findings Next steps

Insufficient or patchy provision for children with • Look for best practice. What works well in other behaviour or attendance difficulties, with the main schools? What advice can outside agencies give focus and staff knowledge base being about provision on the types of provision that are likely to be effective for children with learning difficulties. in your context?

• Explore the potential of peer support. For example, buddying systems, peer-mediation and circles of friends, as well as provision that involves extra adult support.

• Construct a map of the various sources of support and interventions going on in the school, linked to needs children might have, in order to identify areas of overlap, gaps, etc.

• Agree a hierarchy of provisions from light touch to multi-agency planning.

Support is given late, when children’s difficulties with • Establish screening systems to identify early signs either behaviour or attendance are already entrenched. of difficulties.

• Refocus provision and resources progressively over time, towards early intervention (for example, through nurture groups or social skills groups in Years R to 3).

Children who are retained in the system while • Review the support children currently get over the in primary school but who display deteriorating transition period and consider what might have made behaviour or attendance on transfer things better for children who did not make to secondary school. successful transfers in previous years.

• Discuss how children at risk could be identified early and what early support could be put in place (including curriculum support and group/individual/ family work).

• Meet with partner secondary schools and agree a differentiated programme of induction for children deemed to be at risk (involving, for example, establishing a key relationship with a member of staff at the secondary school, or putting in place a ‘buddy’ or mentor).

• Consider the use of a ‘bridge’ teacher/support worker when the child transfers if resources allow.







Behaviour and attendance: in-depth audit for primarywsassets.s3.amazonaws.com/ws/nso/pdf/37bead1cafd64586246d2233… · Behaviour and attendance: in-depth ... School organisational

Documents