In 1993/4 the School was allocated £9000 from GEST which was aimed at reducing truancy.
The money was spent on:
The School benefited greatly from this development.
Unauthorised absence has reduced from over 1% to 0. 69% and the percentage of students with authorised absence to 11. 36%.
The system was trialed first with years 10 and 11 and then went whole school in February 1996.
At Parents’ Evening parents are provided with a print out of their daughter/ sons attendance and punctuality record. This has proved to be very popular and helpful for parents and has enabled parents to initiate early intervention (with school support) to stop a degenerative spiral of reducing attendance, under achievement etc.
The school is mindful of the current research into High Reliability Schools by Professor Reynolds and the characteristics identified such as:
The two goals which Reynolds identifies as given being:
At Priestnall we have been moving along this path for the past two years
It is against this background the following proposal is made as a way of assisting us to speed up and extend current working.
N. B. It also builds upon the previous allocation of 1993/ 4 monies achieving greater value for money than a stand alone proposal.
Predicted Outcomes:
The project enabled the school to speed up and extend the work the school was already engaged in to raise attendance and achievement. There were three main objectives:
A. To develop further the application of SIMS to assist pastoral support mechanisms
B. To fund a Homework Club linked to the Prince's Trust
C. Build upon existing INSET activities to include focused training on the management of disruptive pupils
Project funding was used to provide all Heads of Year with a networked PC and one for the SENCO so that she could access the Conduct Log.
The Senior Management Team of five, the Head of Year 6 (Transition Liaison) and the SENCO sought to develop the Conduct Log on SIMS. A change of Head meant that this development has not yet gone ahead. During the year the Bursar, who introduced the system became ill and this further delayed the work on it.
The basic SIMS system, however, was used for monitoring attendance and MIDAS is used for student files. The school has been reviewing the sort of evidence and profiles it should keep on behaviour. Several staff have had training on the system, but what has now been identified as a need is to resolve both the nature of the data to be kept and how it is to be used. This will be reviewed within the framework of a pastoral review led by the Project Director, to take place in September,1998.
The system has been set up and can be extended further. Staff development took place and more could be made available.
This suggestion was based on the fact that the students who are placed on the staged SEN procedure frequently experience difficulties with homework and this may trigger behaviour difficulties. A bid for support from the Prince's trust was unsuccessful, largely reflecting the fact that staff suggesting the idea had not been fully aware of the procedures and competitiveness in getting funding. However, a homework club has run, staffed by a Learning Support Teacher, from 3-00 to 5-30pm. Initially this was for Years 7 & 8 but others attend.
Staff have been very supportive. Parents have been welcomed into the homework club area which has been made a very attractive environment.
There had been a lot of INSET on Positive Teaching in previous years and staff feel reasonably confident about this and behaviour management. Whole-staff INSET was held on the underachievement of boys as this was a major concern in relation to disaffection and disruption.
Although not identified in the original bid, there was an emphasis during the year on improving attendance. Additional clerical support was engaged and considerable attention was given to raising attendance both through the greater use of rewards and closer monitoring and supervision. Attendance rose over the year but there is still a need for a more co-ordinated approach. (This has been recognised by the school and responsibility for it will be assumed by the Liaison Head of Year next year.)
Changes in leadership and staffing were accompanied by some re-appraisals of the original bid. However, systems are now in place and there are on-going aims to improve attendance and the management of disaffection and disruption. There is to be a shift of emphasis to encourage a climate of positive behaviours together with a consistent, coherent administrative system. A review of the pastoral system will be part of this.
That the review should include an evaluation of the links between the behaviour policy, pastoral systems and SEN policy and practices to ensure a more integrated approach
Similarly the school's own evaluation over the year has given rise to proposals to invest heavily in reading books for use in tutorial time (with duplicates in the school library to encourage reading in different settings). This is not only part of a drive to raise literacy standards but also acknowledges the fact that Form Tutor Time can be problematic and give rise to disaffection. This approach, to be introduced first in Years 7 & 8 should provide better structured sessions.
A number of clubs are run for Years 10 & 11 and these are to be evaluated and coordinated.
The school had welcomed the project as an opportunity to follow their own direction. Staff believe that it has improved some of the existing provision and whilst it did not meet many of the originally stated objectives, it allowed both a re-appraisal of the aims and other ideas to flower and led to continuing development in the area, under new leadership.
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