Princes Risborough School

Princes Risborough School

Inclusion Unit 

 

 Princes Risborough School

 

      'The House'

      Handbook

  

Contents  

1.  Introduction

2.  The Pastoral Team

3.   Interventions

4.   Outside Agencies

5.   Education Welfare Services

6.   Counselling

7.   Mentoring Programmes

8.   Professional Development and Training

9.   Communication

10. Daily Management Information

11. The Isolation Factor

12. Recognising Achievement

1.     Introduction

'The House', although a separate building to the main school, is an integral part of the ethos of the school.

 Its focus is primarily pastoral and behavioural, but it also offers considerable social and emotional support to a significant group of students.

The unit has a number of rooms which serve as zoned areas, their use is flexible depending of the needs of the students on any given day and the number of outside agencies that are in attendance on any given occasion.

 The Pastoral Team create an atmosphere that is non judgemental, inclusive, caring, supportive and accepting of any individual that is referred to the unit or self refers.  The Team will endeavour to identify the need/s of the student, always aiming to defuse hostility so that the student can calm down and feel less threatened.  An assessment will be made in relation to the need/s of the student at that time and will be implemented in accordance with the professional assessment.  There may be a quick response, but more likely a planned intervention is more likely.

 'Treat people as if they were what they ought to be.  You will help them become what they are capable of being.' Goethe 1749

 Despite the historic nature of the above quote, the unit has its ethos rooted in this philosophy.  Its aim is to treat individually respectfully, whilst recognising, and helping them to recognise that all behaviours have consequences which can be managed by taking responsibility for and modifying certain behaviours. 

 The unit offers a considerable range of interventions that are used to help a young person move from being externally controlled to internally motivated to change and modify their own behaviour.

2.  The Pastoral Team

There are seven members of the Team:

3.  Interventions

When a student is referred to the House by a member of staff or the student self refers, a record of that attendance is kept.

Depending on the need/s of the student, interventions are implemented. This may be a one off, or a programme of intervention lasting a specific number of sessions or in fact be on-going and flexible.  At the current time (August 2009) there are a range of approximately 40 interventions that could be implemented.

When The House was first instigated, it was primarily reactive. Our records demonstrate that approx. 202 students received some intervention.

A Detailed diary record of students attending The House is not available for 2007/8. However the tracking record for that year indicates the number of students and the interventions carried out for that time span.

The House intervention grid gives a summary of the interventions together with the students who receive some support in this way.

During 2008/9 : 147 students were receiving some intervention

During 2008/9 : 240 students spent at least one lesson in the unit

[A term by term summary is made of all the students who attend the House, this gives detail of year group and frequency of attendance]

Any student who has a programme of intervention, short or longer term will have a provision map raised.  These are available on in a file in the office at the house.

Where a student fulfils the criteria for SA and SA+, parents are informed of the provision. The provision is reviewed regularly, on occasions this would be weekly, in the main it would be half termly. Parents are informed of change as and where appropriate.

All the staff are trained in restorative justice processes and mediation skills, these interventions are used very regularly in dealing with situations. The majority of the time, the outcome is successful and a line can be drawn under the incident enabling those involved to move on. Occasionally the nature of the incident might necessitate the involvement of the police or the community support officers.  

School refusers and re-intergation - The House is not a 'sin bin' it serves many purposes. One of these is to support any student who is finding it difficult to attend school. On occasions a home visit will be made to establish a stepping stones programme back into school via The House. Close links are maintained with EWO to support other attendance issues.

Where a student has been excluded a re-integration programme will be put in place taking into account the flash points that resulted in the exclusion with further work being put into place to support the student in developing strategies to avoid a repeat.

Governors meetings - During 2008/9 the sleuth data was used to indentify students with the highest profiles, these students together with their parents were invited to meet with two to three members of the governing body as a pre disciplinary meeting to discuss behaviours and strategies to improve their school profile. A member of the Leadership team or Key Stage Directors and the Intervention Manager were present at the meetings. 

4.  Outside Agencies

The Inclusion Unit has forged positive working relationships with a number of outside agencies. 

A professional judgement would be made regarding the suitability of any outside provision.  Discussion with parent/guardian would be ongoing, with all options open to us discussed and considered so that the best way forward is found.  The child is always the primary concern, financial considerations are factored in, but would not prohibit an intervention if all other avenues had been explored and exhausted.  There are occasions when it is clear from an early involvement that an outside agency will be necessary.

PRU : Princes Risborough School is linked to the High Wycombe PRU.  Throughout the two years that the Inclusion unit has been in existence, regular meetings have occurred between staff from the KS3/4 units. Earlier intervention from Princes Risborough School has seen a decrease in the overall number of students attending the PRU for sessions.  The overwhelming evidence is that the work undertaken at the PRU is beneficial.

Year

Attendance KS3

Attendance KS4

Total

2007/8

4

1

5

2008/9

2

1

3

The numbers receiving Outreach support from the PRU has been fairly steady across the year.

Year

KS3 support

KS4 support

Total

2007/8

5

1

6

2008/9

5

1

6

Connexions:  In addition to the valuable careers advice available through this service provider, we use two target support workers.  The provision is extremely good and beneficial to the students.  It is not static however, there are occasions when the students move from targeted support to a counsellor or vice versa.  During 2007/8 targeted support was provided for 2x 6 groups of students focussed on raising self-esteem, so the total number of students would have been 19.  This was in addition to the 1:1 support made available.

Year

KS3

KS4

Total

2007/8

1

6

7

2008/9

1

23

24

There are a small percentage of students who are offered this support that refuse to engage.

Youth Worker: Princes Risborough School has benefited from the services of a youth worker paid for by the local churches for 1.5 days a week.

During this time in The House, small groups would be put together to serve a number of needs.  The focus would vary depending on the makeup of the group.

The benefits:

Addaction: Available on a need basis.  The counsellors have worked with individual students when parents and students have been willing. There is also the occasional group meeting when general information can be presented.

Skills Centre: Located in Aylesbury, this provider is able to offer increasing numbers of practical and vocational skills, many of which are becoming accredited. To date, the provision includes:

Princes Risborough School supports this initiative wholeheartedly.  A satellite construction course is offered in Princes Risborough School making it possible for a significant group of students to access the course.  We currently only have 2 students who attend the centre in Aylesbury.

Other agencies: Other services that come into the inclusions unit are much more infrequent, such as CPAST, YOT, Outreach Services and Social Workers.  It has proved to be extremely helpful for all parties to have a location for meeting the vulnerable child/family that is non-threatening or intimidating.  It also means that the Pastoral Team are available for any follow-up work or agreed action from school, thus offering greater continuity and support with a higher chance of intervention being successful.

5.  Education Welfare Services

Whilst it is not possible for all the meetings with the EWO to take place within The House, a considerable number of meetings are held at the unit. Where possible a member of the Pastoral Team is in attendance at the meeting. This has proved to be a valuable link for the student as well as the family.

Follow-up work can be factored into the meeting, support can be offered within the context of the meeting which might not otherwise be so available.

Where a student has become a school refuser for whatever reason, a staged readmission can be managed more effectively in a less threatening manor than was possible without the inclusions unit.

The additional benefit of having the Pastoral Team member present at the meeting is that the parent/guardian is also making human contact with an adult within school. This helps to reduce their potential anxiety and feelings of vulnerability.

When it is necessary to take a parent/guardian to the next level of involvement from the attendance officer, it is unlikely that such a meeting would be held within the unit. A slightly more formal location would be sought.

6.  Counselling

Princes Risborough School has, as part of the Pastoral Team, employed a qualified counsellor. This is a tribute to the value placed on the individual and the acknowledgement that a person is unlikely to make the most of their academic education if in a situation of emotional turmoil.

The school counsellor has a case load of 3 students per day as a maximum, although this has to be variable depending on the needs of the unit on any given day.

Connexions service also provides a counsellor 1 day per week, up to 5 students are seen by this person per day. Some students are seen fortnightly so over a month up to 10 students may be seen.

In addition to this, the school also employs an independent counsellor for two mornings per week who can see up to 6 students in total.

These sessions are always in demand and there is always a waiting list.

The school has recently secured the services of a further adult who is a qualified counsellor; the counsellor will see 4 students during the morning session available to us.

It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of this type of intervention, although attendance at the sessions is an indication of the worth placed on the provision by the student.

A slightly more formalised reflective approach will be trialled with some students to ascertain the benefit of the intervention.

7.  Mentoring Programmes

It would be a mistake to think that the only mentoring that took place at Princes Risborough School was in the confines of the Inclusions unit. The school ethos means that it percolates through many of the tutors and other adults on site as they exercise their professionalism and care for their charges.  However, additional and somewhat more formalised opportunities are also made available on a 'needs' basis, through a variety of different routes.

Staff: a number of staff have offered to mentor particular students and on occasions it has become clear to the Pastoral Team that a particular member of staff would be appropriate to mentor a particular student.  This is always by mutual consent.

6th form members: some of the 6th form students have undertaken academic mentoring courses. There is an opportunity for this to extend into a pastoral capacity. Careful consideration is given to any 6th form student engaging with another student. A record of meetings is kept and a debrief made possible following each meeting. This has proved to be a very helpful and powerful support mechanism for a number of students. 

Other students: there are occasions when other students have mentored younger students.  This has been particularly evident with students who have emerged from a difficult personal phase, have a diagnosis of ADHD or a student who has spend a lot of time in the unit and find that they are encouraging and supporting other students without recognising the value of their actions.

Giving some vulnerable students this level of responsibility has proved to be a positive experience for all parties.

RAF: Princes Risborough School have forged a strong working relationship with one of the local RAF bases.  This is a mutual benefit, although the students are the main 'winners', as they receive valuable input from positive role models.

The RAF have invested in training a number of their staff as mentors, part of the requirement is then to use the training that has been received.  Links have been established with approximately 6 officers who liaise with the Pastoral Team to arrange meetings.  Careful consideration has once again been given to the matching of the student to the adult.  This has proved to be highly successful for a number of our students.

This initiative has been running for the past year and is making progress.  In light of the postings and sometimes unpredictable nature of the work required of the RAF, it is a challenge to ensure continuity in a mentoring programme, some staff are more available that others.  However, there is a real desire to work together and to build in additional team building opportunities as rewards for obtaining targets set.

Over the course of the last year, 6 students were able to receive regular support through this initiative.

The Pastoral Team are aiming to extend the use of this opportunity.  It is hoped that a more rigorous record of reflective thoughts from students would be available during the next cohort of student involvement.  Exploring the use of team building opportunities either as an intervention in itself or as a reward for engagement in a support programme, is ongoing.  The team are constantly looking for creative opportunities for engagement that might move a student on in their attitude and attainment.  As part of the RAF commitment to Princes Risborough School, a trophy has been donated for award at the end of the academic year.  This trophy is called 'Rise', and the hope is that a student would rise to the challenge of overcoming challenges and hurdles in their life.

Academic Mentor - this position was made possible during the 2008/9 period.  It was created to fulfil the needs of those students who were not managing the full curriculum or needed to engage in some alternative curriculum. In just a few months the A.M has managed to engage a number of students in the ALAN qualification and support a number with their course work completion. The A.M. will continue to work with individuals or small groups to help them access more of the curriculum by supporting them with course work completion. She will also support students who have to reduce their curriculum for various reasons, helping them with other subjects, enabling them to access their remaining subjects more effectively.

As part of her role, the A.M. will also manage those students who engage in an extended work placement. These will be students who would benefit from extended experience in the work place, which might lead to an apprenticeship or be a motivational tool to help complete the core subjects to examination level. 

The A.M. does spend some of her day in the Inclusion unit, but is based next to the LS room where she has access to separate facilities to allow small group interaction with computer access.

The engagement of the A.M. has made a significant difference to the academic work that has been undertaken by the KS4 students who experience difficulties in a number of ways. 

The development of the A.M.'s role is ongoing. She currently works 3 days a week.

Academic Intervention at KS3

Links have been made with Wycombe Wanders football club who provide a venue for an identified group of students to engage in activities that should boost confidence and raise achievement.  The allocated timing for the course will be during the second half of the Autumn term.  This will be available for approximately 12 students, these will be identified using available data and in liaison with the KS3 Director.

This is a new intervention and will run for the first time 2009/2010.

8.  Professional Development and Training

Courses attended by members of the Team include:

In addition the following longer term training and development has been undertaken.

The following staff have taken, completed and passed the NPSLBA course on 'Strategies for Changing Behaviour', a one year course undertaken as twilight sessions:

Mrs Cole has completed the first year of a two year Foundation Degree in 'Working with Young People' at Bucks New University. This requires that she attends the University one day a week.

Mrs Brown will be starting the same two year course Oct 2009 which will require her attendance one day a week. This will be a different day to Mrs Cole.

Miss Bennell has also undertaken First Aid training during the course of the year.

Passing it on!

As part of our commitment to supporting staff in their Pastoral activities, a number of training opportunities have been made available throughout the year:

9.  Communication

Parents - The Pastoral Team aim to keep communication with parents/guardians professional, supportive and regular. It is not practical to keep contact with all parents regarding every intervention or detail.  However, some situations demand almost daily contact where as others would be much less frequent.  The Team liaise with parents confidently.  They will report any particularly difficult phone calls and would not be expected to have further contact with confrontational or difficult parents.

Provision Maps - A Provision Map is prepared for each student who receives planned for support so a record is available of the intervention and its success.

Students who receive support which is a mixture of planned, unplanned or SEN, which is over and above a single intervention package between 3 - 5 hours per week would be in the SA category.

Students who receive significant support (over 5 hours) and have some Outside Agency (or equivalent) support would be in the SA+ category. 

There is a letter available to inform parents of the provision in place, explaining the involvement of the unit. This is sent out on occasions, but parents are more likely to receive the provision map for their child via an EWO meeting or other meeting. The nature of the Pastoral involvement means that intervention is more frequently reviewed than Provision Maps raised by the SEN department.  Where a student receives support from both branches of support within the school, only one Provision map is provided.

Staff Referrals - The Sleuth record is used by staff to identify any concerns about students. This sheet is directed to the member of the admin staff responsible for entry of this data.  The sheet is then passed to the appropriate member of staff for action.

The data is collated and summary information available on request in addition to the summary at the end of each week.

The Pastoral Team aim to keep in contact with teaching staff regarding a particular student or concern where involvement has been required. Sheer weight of work can prohibit this being as effective as it could, both from the Pastoral Team but also the member of staff referring.

Data can be collated on an individual student for meetings and can be used to track progress.

Data from this tool has informed the Leadership Team of high profile students, resulting in meetings with the Governing body.  It has also been used to shape some of the Interventions for students, identifying those students who could benefit from particular support.

Staff support - Whilst the unit is separate from the school, it remains an integral part of the school.  Its primary objective is to support the students, however support to staff can be effective in achieving the primary objective of supporting the student.  There are occasions when a member of the Pastoral Team will attend particular lessons; discuss support strategies with the member of staff; consider options and explain interventions available.  Staff are invited over to the unit to get involved and support a student from their form on occasions.

During the past year there has been a shift from the attitude that the Pastoral Team can wave a magic wand and sort out all the problems, to a more realistic and appropriate attitude of us all working together. The move to Vertical Tutoring during the year has helped to embed the role of the Tutor as being key to a successful Pastoral system.

In an effort to support staff even more effectively with challenging students, the Interventions Manager will be providing a Student Support Forum on a regular basis to explore strategies for changing behaviour of the student; discussion of 'need' and how it might be met for a student; considering the difficulties being experienced by the student and how to manage that difficulty positively; considering individuals and what needs to be done across the curriculum to help establish greater continuity. 

Tutors - The first line of Pastoral support!  In an effort to encourage greater involvement of tutors in the Pastoral care of the young people in their tutor group, a system was created to monitor the actions being taken for any individual.  Each register has a card on which a record is to be made of a student being put on behaviour report, late report etc. This information is then taken and recorded so providing a more comprehensive profile on a student.  It has given the Tutor an effective method of recording their intervention.

Key workers - Each member of the Pastoral Team is allocated a number of high profile students.  The allocated key worker, although the main link, would not be the sole link with the student, family or teaching staff. The student would be allocated to one of the Team by careful consideration, looking for the best mix of skills to match the needs of the child. This has served as a useful way to share the work load and support the individual.

SEN - It is no surprise that a number of students with emotional and social needs also have particular academic needs, and vice versa. Throughout the past two years, closer links have been forged between the SEN department and the Inclusions unit.

Weekly meetings are held where individuals are discussed and needs identified.  The result of this closer working relationship with the SEN department, has been to give a more comprehensive package of support to an individual.  Some students have found significant benefit from receiving support from both groups, this is especially so where the needs are complex.

10.  Daily Management Information

The unit works most effectively because of its flexible nature. There are structures and expectations as with the main school, but the staff work as a highly effective Team, seamlessly shifting roles as necessary to cater for the unforeseen circumstances of any given day.

Within the constant crisis situations that occur, there are planned groups and interventions running alongside the unexpected. 

Registration - there are occasions when it is necessary for the unit to have a student at registration.  This might give a quieter, calmer start to the day for an individual; might allow for a later start for a particular reason; might allow for a stepping stone from a stressful situation at home or any other reason.

A register is taken and given to the admissions officer so a centralised record is kept.

Entry to the House - as previously mentioned, a Member of Leadership, Head of Department or Key Stage Director is able to refer a student to the House relating to Pastoral issues and sometimes for behavioural issues so long as the normal procedure has been followed.

The self referral of students can occur with the use of a 'time-out' card, although there are occasions when a student will refer without the use of a card.  An assessment is quickly made by the Pastoral Team and the appropriate action undertaken.  It has been our experience that a tiny minority of students self refer for inappropriate reasons, even then there is likely to be an underlying reason, which is explored and action taken accordingly.

In an effort to monitor this even more effectively, a new system of logging into the House will be trialed in the Autumn term 2009.

Exit from the House - a slip is filled in for the receiving teacher, so that a validated reason for lateness can be noted.

Planned Interventions - whether this is mentoring with a voluntary body or part of an outreach programme, a slip of paper is placed in the register at the start of the day.  This informs the form tutor and the student the timing of the meeting.  It also serves to inform the member of staff teaching the student at the time of the meeting.  It is the responsibility of the student to inform the member of staff at the start of the lesson.  Where possible, ongoing involvement with a supporting person/group would be timetabled at different times of the day so that a particular lesson is not regularly taken.

For many of the groups, a 6 session course would be advised. However, there are times when the course could run for a term.  It is not possible to determine the duration without reconsidering the need.

Diary entry - each student that attends the unit is logged in the daily diary, the duration of their visit is noted with a record of any anti-social behaviour.

This information is collated at the end of each term and informs the Team of attendees.  It gives a valuable breakdown of the profile of the students attending the unit.

The daily diary is photocopied on a daily basis and pinned on the staff room notice board to inform teaching staff.  Some students will tell a member of staff that they have been in the unit, they should have an exit slip, but this system does give staff the opportunity to check information.

Breaks - a constant challenge!  The Team will allow some students to attend the unit during break and lunchtimes, these students may find the social mixing at these times difficult and intimidating. As a result, break time is taken in the reception area of the unit with the staff remaining on duty throughout. 

In order to manage lunch time, teaching staff are invited to undertake an extra duty, for which they are paid and given a free lunch.  Despite much effort this has not been fully successful as teaching staff can not always manage their allocated duty time fully, resulting in the Pastoral Team always needing to have a presence.  It could not be expected that the duty staff know each of the issues being dealt with either and may not always have the expertise to manage a challenging child.  This also means that the Pastoral Team are required to remain on duty during the lunch break.

Recommendations:

11.  The Isolation Factor

Students might be required to work away from the main school for a number of reasons. Where it is necessary for this to be in isolation, the unit will manage the situation. It may be necessary to use space by the office of one of the Leadership Team. It may be necessary to use the Leadership Team or Middle Leaders to accommodate an individual who can not be located in the unit.

If the dynamic of the students allows, the isolated students are kept together in one room with a member of the Pastoral Team with them during lesson time and during break and lunch. This will offer support with work, but allows other valuable discussion, reflection and engagement. The need for this level of monitoring is rare. Management of this need is necessary but detracts from the proactive, early intervention work that the unit aims to provide.

Exclusion - The House provides the opportunity to interact with students following an external or internal exclusion in a way that was not possible prior to The House being in place. This may be in support of a vulnerable family as well as a vulnerable child. Some students are permanently excluded from other schools or may come to us via a managed move and benefit from a staged integration and appropriate intervention.

On occasions it is necessary to accommodate a student on 6th day provision of an exclusion. Work will be provided and returned to the member of staff in accordance with the requirements.

There are also occasions when it is necessary to accommodate a student who is on an extended day, they may start later in the morning and go on until later in the day.  This is made possible because Mrs Brown works until 5 o'clock, Mrs Cole will also be extending her day this coming academic year.

12.  Recognising Achievement

The Pastoral Team recognise fully the importance of praise, encouragement and reward for all positive achievement.  There is constant opportunity for verbal feedback, which would be taken at every opportunity. 

Targets are always set with the student in order to give ownership, although guidance would be given and unrealistic targets gently challenged.  It is recognised that there is no benefit in allowing targets to be implemented that would not be of benefit.

There are a number of routes available for students to implement targets, a variety of report cards and coaching opportunities would provide discussion.

The Team always aim to reward achievement; this again would have engaged the student in discussion to give ownership.  The reward system is often creative in nature, such as making jelly or decorating cakes, but would also use the regular systems available to main stream, such as Praise on a Postcard, phone calls home or house points.

The Team are aiming to implement a certificate of course completion this academic year, whilst this has been discussed from the outset as a desire, it has not yet been fully embraced.

Appendices

 

 

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