Case study – Heathfield Junior School

Heathfield Junior School is on the east side of Southampton, serving approximately 260 children from nearby estates. Here, Deputy Headteacher Jason Anderson talks us through the benefits for a school where behaviour was already rated as good:

“When I joined the school last year, behaviour was judged by Ofsted to be good. However, I realised that at lunchtimes, some pupils found managing their behaviour a bit tricky. Originally looking for inspiration on the internet for lunchtime activities, I stumbled across Future Behaviour. Greg was soon booked in to deliver training to our lunchtime supervisors on a ‘new system’. It was during this first session that I became hooked.

Not only was the theory so clear and simple, but it was delivered in such a practical way. The transformation of our lunchtime supervisors was immediate; they modified their language, began to devise their own rewards and warnings. Lunchtimes looked different within a week – there was a reduction of the number of children sent to the ‘duty room’, and supervisors felt empowered and back in control.

I was so impressed with the outcomes that I wanted to explore the system further, and invited Greg into school once more to work with all the staff. Again, his engaging presentational style and hands-on approach had us all fired up to improve our behaviour from good to outstanding. Several staff were quite challenging in their questioning of Greg regarding specific behaviours and scenarios, but he was able to convince with straightforward responses.

We are now into our fifth week of the new behaviour system – and I canvassed the school council about it last week. The first response was, “I love it that doing the right thing gets noticed”. Overwhelmingly, pupils are much happier and so are staff and parents. The emphasis is now on acknowledging children when they do what is expected and the class wide rewards are now embedded into every classroom. With only three school rules now (all under the theme of ‘Incredible School Rules’), there is much greater consistency between staff, and misbehaviour is dealt with swiftly via the warnings.

Although still at the beginning of this transition, the outcomes are already speaking for themselves. Learning walks reveal improved classroom behaviour and independence and much calmer lunchtimes. There are still tweaks to be made but Greg has continued to be extremely supportive as we continue on this journey. I am confident that when Ofsted next visit, will we achieve a grade 1 for behaviour!”

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