EAST LONDON Independent School

TCES & East London

Independent School

EAST LONDON Independent School

Positive Behaviour Support and Promoting Good Behaviour

East London Independent School (ELIS) caters for pupils with significant SEMH and those with an Autism Spectrum Condition (ASC). Many of our pupils have experienced difficulties, trauma and rejection in their previous school life. Almost all pupils have either been excluded or have been long-term school refusers. This policy covers SEMH and ASC Primary and Secondary pupils along with pupils in our CREATE (Community Recovery Education Assessment and Therapeutic Experience) service. N.B: In line with best practice in ASC this policy will be differentiated to reflect approved and recognised ASC related behaviour support strategies.

At ELIS we believe that:

Acceptable and appropriate behaviour is critical to learning, not simply in relation to academic subjects but also as an essential life skill. Emerging regulations and guidance about good behaviour and staff roles in supporting it need to be understood and implemented.

Our potential offer to our pupils:

·  Many of our pupils have experienced difficulties, trauma and rejection in their previous school life. We offer the stability that is a necessary pre-requisite for reflecting on their experience and gaining insight, emotional literacy, resilience and empathy with others so their future can be different and happier

·  We offer a positive approach to help support each individual pupil in managing, changing and improving their own behaviour

·  Where appropriate our school pupils are held accountable for their actions and are given the social and emotional support necessary to make changes when needed. We enable pupils to take responsibility and make reparation when their behaviour has been unhelpful and to gain alternative strategies and actions for the future

·  Our pupils are provided with opportunities and support to develop self-esteem, interpersonal and social skills as well as to make positive choices in respect of their behaviour both in and out of school because we believe they will become successful members of society through the knowledge, values, and thinking skills learned in the classroom.

·  We recognise the crucial role that a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum makes in supporting young people’s behaviour, and every effort is made to offer such an approach through the TCES Group’s Five Part Curriculum.

·  We recognise the centrality of high quality learning and teaching, and focus our energies on recruiting and supporting high quality staff.

In line with these values we aim:

·  To provide a positive learning environment for all pupils and a personalised curriculum that encourages them to achieve their full potential by building on strengths and interests

·  To provide a safe working environment for all pupils and staff

·  To provide a calm, predictable and structured environment for pupils with ASC

·  To promote self-esteem, self-discipline, personal responsibility and independence

·  To promote positive relationships

·  To encourage the involvement of both school and home in the implementation of this policy

·  To ensure that our expectations and strategies are known and understood by everyone in the school

We place particular emphasis on pupils making visible, measurable progress and achieving success in all areas of development, including, social, behavioural and academic. The aim is to encourage pupils to develop self-study and organisational skills, to develop their social abilities and enjoyment within the environment of a group setting, and to build on their individual strengths and interests in order to increase self-esteem, motivation and emotional resilience.

Many of the pupils are likely to exhibit a range of challenging behaviours and emotional insecurities, including self-esteem issues, vulnerability, anxiety and lack of confidence. They may have a history of bullying or being bullied and may have had particular difficulties in coping with transitional phases, including their transfer to us.

In seeking to define acceptable behaviour it is acknowledged that this will include goals to be worked towards as much as expectations which are either fulfilled or not. We thus have a central role in pupils’ social and emotional development just as we do in their academic development and success. Just as we measure academic achievement in terms of progress and development over time towards academic goals, so we measure standards of behaviour in terms of the pupil’s developing ability to conform to identifiable and socially recognisable and acceptable behavioural goals.

All pupils will bring a wide variety of behaviour patterns based on previous experiences and on differences in home values, attitudes, parenting skills and peer modelling. For pupils with ASC this will also include behaviours associated with difficulties in developing social understanding, social communications and flexible thinking skills. We work towards standards of behaviour based on principles of honesty, respect, consideration and personal responsibility. It follows that acceptable standards of behaviour are those which reflect these principles. We recognise that pupils will feel safer if we set out clear rules and expectations of behaviour from the outset, which are clearly, visually displayed and we encourage them to take ownership of this for themselves through motivational, positive reward systems and by contributing to regular discussions on the expectations and rules of the school; the rights and responsibilities of pupils and staff; and the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of each pupil attending our schools.

Testing of boundaries

Pupils have a need to discover where important boundaries of unacceptable behaviour lie. It is natural for them to test these boundaries to confirm their existence and sometimes for the fun or the challenge of it. The proper answer to such testing is to confirm the existence of the boundaries and to do so firmly, unequivocally and at once. Behaviour may at times be better challenged away from peers,

however it is useful to bear in mind the positive and powerful effects that can be obtained from peer support and group interactions when they are facilitated and managed constructively.

All negative behaviour needs to be addressed, although occasionally very minor incidents of behaviour can be ignored and the pupil diverted into positive learning. It is still very important to mention the behaviour during allocation of the reward system points after the lesson, but this can be a positive comment on how the pupil was beginning to ‘mess around’ but managed to get back ‘on task’. Minor behaviour should only be ignored as part of a strategy and never because the teacher/TA wants to avoid confrontation. Ignoring behaviour will give a clear message to the pupil that the behaviour is okay or that the adult is afraid to address the issue.

TCES’ strengths based approach to Behaviour Support (the MAPA Approach)

TCES have a corporate strength based behaviour management approach across all its schools and has developed a partnership with Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) formerly Positive Options. All TCES schools have adopted the MAPA positive behaviour management approach which began in 1996, and has continued to develop its philosophy and range of physical interventions, which include a suite of disengagement techniques designed to enhance personal safety for both pupil and staff. The MAPA approach is specifically designed to support the behaviours of pupils with complex additional needs. Its origins of the MAPA® model were in health care, social care, and special education. MAPA® Physical Interventions are suitable for staff who work directly with people across the age spectrum who present behaviour that limits inclusion and/or that is considered to be risky or harmful to the person or others. MAPA® Physical Interventions are independently risk assessed and accredited by the British Institute of Learning Disabilities (BILD).

Those at CPI involved in the creation and continuous development of MAPA work in partnership with TCES and annually quality assure all TCES processes, policies, practical implementation and training programme. TCES has an annual license that enables TCES to train and develop staff in MAPA. TCES has worked closely with CPI to develop a rolling training programme that ensures all TCES staff have a 2 day MAPA training programme with an assessment criteria with regular half termly MAPA sessions for new staff or refresher courses for staff who would benefit from them. Staff can request this themselves or can be identified by the Head Teacher / Behaviour Support Lead in each school.

All of the TCES staff receive a two day training (with regular update and annual review) in the dedicated BILD accredited CPI MAPA training; Management of Actual and Potential Aggression. This training is Nationally recognised by Ofqual as a Level 4 accreditation. Each of our schools has a nominated Behaviour Support lead representative and a minimum of two dedicated MAPA trainers who have attended our 5 day MAPA ‘Train-the-Trainers’ programme.

All staff receive training in the following skills on the 2 day MAPA course: Communication Skills, De-Escalation, Behaviour Support, Positive Relationships, Team Work and Crisis Management, Physical Interventions and post-crisis management and support.

All TCES schools have incorporated MAPA Mondays which is co-ordinated by the MAPA leads on each site and attended by all staff. The aim of these sessions is to review and improve the way we support pupils through revisiting situations from the previous week, discussions, role play, problem solving and updating Individual Behaviour Support Plans.

Sophisticated experience, knowledge, awareness and skills in behaviour support are a key aspect of high quality provision in the recruitment strategy for TCES schools. All our staff are trained in the 4:1 ratio, that is that positive behavioural cues such as praise, rewards, nonverbal positive approbation and encouragement should outweigh negative, blocking or rejecting cues by a ratio of four to one in order for any behaviour modification programme to be successful. TCES has partnered with CPI, a leading national provider of communication skills training and training in the Management of Actual and Potential Aggression (MAPA®) to provide a range of highly specialised and evidence-based staff trainings across all our schools. These courses are accredited by BILD which holds the National Register for Providers of Physical Intervention skills training. In this partnership CPI has provided a five day Instructors Course to a group of 14 trainers selected from the TCES schools workforce for their communication and behaviour support skills and ethical values.

Our MAPA® behaviour support trainers are based in each of the TCES schools where they provide a two day training programme in ethics and values- based practice; personal safety; risk assessment; communication skills; behaviour modification and physical interventions to all staff working with our pupils on the school site. All staff completing our two day course will receive a minimum annual refresher training in addition to workshops, training and consultancy discussions delivered by our MAPA trainers on each school site on weekly afternoon INSET training sessions.

Built in Quality Assurance;

There are a number of features that are part of the TCES behaviour management system which link the core principles of MAPA to Incident Reporting which help to ensure the safety of pupils and staff as well as the consistency of approach. These features are found both at strategic and operational levels and are a combination of internal and external monitoring and reviewing in order to ensure high levels of safety and a continuous drive for best practise. The Incident Reporting system is built upon a culture that encourages staff at all levels to embrace responsibility for behaviour management and transparency supported by senior management accountability and expertise. Below is a summary of the QA process.

Strategically:

1.  Every member of staff is trained in MAPA on an annual basis

2.  A system is in place to train new staff and those that need a refresher course outside of this

3.  This paperwork is externally verified by CPI through an annual audit

4.  The TCES MAPA Lead quality assures the MAPA leads in each school

Operationally:

1.  There is a detailed Incident Reporting system on our internal School Information Management System, Scholar Pack

2.  Every incident that has a physical intervention is recorded in writing

3.  All physical interventions are reviewed by the Behaviour Support Lead in each school (this is not a member of SLT)

4.  Each Behaviour Support Lead will highlight areas practise for review with the SLT/TCES MAPA Lead directly

The components of a positive approach to behaviour support include:

·  An understanding of typical child development and the possible origins of problem behaviours

·  Clearly defined, individualised and differentiated CAN BSP Plan (Complex and Additional Needs Behaviour Support Plan) for all pupils

·  Written policies and agreements, including Pupil Code of Conduct and Home School Agreements, so that everyone knows what is expected of them

·  Developing proactive strategies to prevent incidents of inappropriate or challenging behaviour from occurring in the first instance.

·  Understanding what happens when the individual pupil is part of a group: identifying how they can be supported to manage themselves, or be managed, so that any triggers can be addressed and removed

·  Having graduated de-escalation and diversion strategies to pre-empt or limit the undesirable behaviours

·  Teaching conflict resolution skills and strategies where appropriate

·  Having clear and detailed Individual Education and Behaviour Plans or for more vulnerable pupils ‘Complex and Additional Needs Behaviour Support Plans (CAN BSP Plans)’ encompassing a strengths based programme of behaviour support and de-escalation and reviewed at least each half term

·  Keeping clear incident records that allow for discussion, learning and changed practice as a result of the monitoring of incidents in respect of the individual pupil, staff members and good practice in general

·  A method of debriefing for all involved that encourages pupils (where appropriate) and staff to express their views about incidents and to learn from them

·  Encouraging pupils to complain if they feel they have been unfairly treated in any way

·  Keeping parents, carers and relevant professionals involved and informed at all stages from policy development and assessment to monitoring of incidents

·  Taking all complaints seriously and being open to external and independent scrutiny

·  Regular management review of both individual incidents and patterns of incident and behaviour, within and across settings