There were four main objectives in the project:

A. To develop multi-agency approaches and partnerships in working with parents to raise school attendance

B. To provide staff development in behaviour management

C. To improve systems and structures for identifying and responding to the needs of disrupted/ disaffected students within the staged SEN procedure

D. To develop activities to help students develop more positive attitudes to school.

The school has had a very positive outcome from its OFSTED inspection and the report commented favourably on the very good links the school has with parents. The school will move to a 10 Form Entry in the coming year. The work of the project year should be set within a context where there were many changes and pressures.

Attendance at the school is just within acceptable limits and raising attendance has been examined as a whole school issue involving the Deputy Head, Heads of Year, the EWO and other staff During the year there was particular attention paid to post-registration truancy, carrying out spot-checks, etc.

The school has asked their Educational Psychologist for help in identifying, shadowing and helping pupils presenting emotional and behavioural difficulties and a plan has been developed to enable the Project Director to become involved in shadowing, counselling and working with the Educational Psychologist in the year 1998-99.

The school has always enjoyed good relationships with parents, but there has been further improvement since a new Headteacher came to the school in 1996. There is now an `open door policy' for parents. The school seeks parents' views on a range of matters - the example cited was a questionnaire to parents seeking evaluation of Parents' Evenings where the format has not changed over a number of years because it has parental approval. There is still a recognised difficulty over reaching some parents, particularly the parents of disaffected pupils. Although the school has a range of social and `academic' events, some parents rarely attend, and others never attend. The school is sensitive to the fact that some parents may simply be "too busy" and also that other parents may themselves have had such negative experiences of school they have no wish to make contact.

The Project Director proposed that perhaps teaching staff may need to visit parents (as does the EWO). He felt that some parents perhaps keep their children off school as a way of resolving problems occurring at school (that is withdrawing from possible conflict and trouble). One approach which has been successful in attracting large numbers of parents has been a `welcome evening' held for parents of Year 7 students after they have been in the school for six weeks. These meetings are fairly informal, held `over a cup of tea' in a classroom with just the form tutor. The school is looking at possible extensions of this small, non-threatening event. Another successful innovation has been a letter from the Headteacher to tell them `positive things' about their children. It is hoped that this more positive approach will be particularly useful in trying to change the expectations of some parents that any news about their children might be "bad news". Thus it is a further example of emphasising school as a supportive environment. There is also a monthly newsletter for parents and the community which presents positive images and information about the school. In addition, liaison with primary schools has always been good and this includes ensuring parents are fully informed about the school, in addition to easing transition to secondary school for pupils.

The school has identified one area which requires further development. There has been an increase in the number of students from ethnic minority groups and there is concern about how to communicate more effectively with them. Currently the school draws on the services of translators from the authority's services, but the Project Director has himself considered learning one of the community languages. Attendance has proved to be a problem for many of these students who may disappear for several weeks or even months. The school is concerned both to make provision to welcome them back on return, but also to point out to the parents, their responsibilities and the need for continuity of attendance. Whilst this affects only relatively small numbers of students, the school is concerned to include them appropriately in its policy to improve attendance.

The school has had some in-service on behaviour management and a programme for INSET on EBD is being drawn up for 1998-99. This was triggered by Ron Howarth's talk at a conference for the GEST project co-ordinators.

The school sees a very close relationship between EBD and SEN, whilst agreeing that not all children presenting disruptive behaviours have SEN (and vice versa). The school therefore focused much of its work during the project on:

• creating a new SEN department including appointing a SENCO (the role had previously been part of the Deputy Head's responsibility)
• reviewing and streamlining processes and recording systems for SEN.

Although the new SENCO was only appointed at Easter 1998, the post went internally to a member of staff who had already been involved in reviewing the SEN practices. The SEN department now has a base and extra staffing and links with other departments (which are already in place) will be strengthened.

Under the new arrangement individuals presenting emotional and behaviour difficulties are identified at an early stage and placed on the SEN register. They are given additional support and their progress monitored. Where there is no improvement, then they may proceed up the stages. There will therefore be good documentation available should external support become necessary. A major purpose in setting up the system was not only to provide early identification and intervention, but also to attempt to provide different degrees or levels of support in order to reduce exclusions.

Some of the activities listed above have clear implications for improving students' attitudes to school, particularly through keeping parents better informed and encouraging a `positive image' of the school. In addition the new staged procedure means improved record keeping and parental involvement in discussions about individual plans.

The school's Behaviour Policy was revised during the year. Although it has not yet been evaluated, there is an expectation that it will promote more positive attitudes. It has strengthened the emphasis on rewards and introduced a staged sanctions system so that expectations are more explicit and students (and parents) are more aware of consequences. Although the school has a Student Council, students were not involved in devising the policy.

A recommendation could be that they should be involved in its evaluation.

Overall the year's project was seen as fairly successful in changing a system and providing staff cover while many policy reviews took place. The school considers it now has a system for further development and evaluation and that there will be a greater emphasis on developing behaviour management strategies next year, including monitoring behaviour using SIMS.