Why this is leading practice
The school believes strongly that a happy child is a happy and effective learner. Effective care, guidance and support is essential to the life of the school and forms the backbone to everything the school does.
All staff are committed to making sure that Every Child Matters. The school prides itself on providing a highly successful, safe and caring learning environment for all pupils and staff.
In its last inspection report, OFSTED commented that ‘ the school attaches great importance to the care, support and guidance of pupils which is outstanding’ This is one of the key components in the school’s success in improving pupils’ achievements.
Impact to date
• Development of a highly inclusive ethos
• Well developed partnership working between school staff and relevant external support agencies
• Implementation of rigorous safeguarding procedures, so that pupils feel safe
• Well developed communications with, and involvement of, parents
• Very effective support for academic progress, including clear target setting procedures and a wide range of support interventions
• Provision of well focused social, emotional and educational support to vulnerable pupils
• Heightened pupil participation in decision-making and in strategies to improve aspects of provision and outcomes
• A significant improvement in attendance rates in recent years, including a significant reduction in persistent absence
• Continually improving pupil attitudes and behaviour resulting in a very positive climate for learning
• A reduction in exclusions by more than 50% between 2005 and the end of 2009
• These improvements in key aspects of school ethos clearly impacting on continually improving pupil achievement, as indicated for example by improving GCSE results (the percentage of A*-C grades being 54% in 2006 and 75% in 2009; the APS being 430 in 2006, and 478 in 2009)
• Care guidance and support judged to be outstanding in the school’s last Ofsted inspection
Rationale / Start Point
Effective care, guidance and support has a direct impact on the improving standards for pupils across the school. Clear and consistent strategies for the promotion of good behaviour and for the management of disruption, along with the continual monitoring and encouragement of good attendance, has contributed to the raising of standards in teaching and learning, as evidenced by improving exam results.
Key Strategies
• Highly committed and effective leadership of the aspect
• Very clear polices and procedures
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• Highly developed communication and partnership working between key staff and relevant support personnel and agencies, including the development of the school’s Guidance Forum
• Highly developed communication and partnership working with parents, including development of the school’s systematic programme of SEAL ‘Just Parents’ meetings
• The development of highly effective partnership working with local primary schools
• Highly developed child protection procedures
• Well developed collection, analysis, interpretation and use of data
• The development of effective support for academic progress, including clear target setting procedures well focused support interventions
• Early recognition of, and early intervention to help address, individual pupils’ social and emotional needs
• The development of the school’s Success Centre
• Development of a highly supportive and thorough pupil induction programme
• A very positive, well coordinated, rigorous, consistently implemented approach to improving attendance
• Appointment of a Parent Liaison Officer
• Committed and highly effective use of the ‘pupil voice’, including a highly developed school council
• Use of the school’s ‘Time Out’ room as a means of maintaining a climate for learning
• A highly proactive approach to tackling bullying
• A reward system that is valued by the pupils
• Well focused and regular CPD for staff on care, guidance and support, including staff induction
• Production of a comprehensive and accessible Pastoral Handbook for staff
• Effective monitoring and evaluation of the aspect, including a systematic approach to eliciting the views of pupils and their parents through externally administered surveys and through focus groups
Sustainability and Further Development
The aspect is thoroughly embedded in the life of the school, and indeed has evidently been fundamental to the school’s continuing improvement. The high quality and effective practices which are fundamental to this aspect are therefore highly sustainable.
Developments already identified to further strengthen its practice in this area include the following:
• further improving communication by developing an electronic, centralised log for each pupil
• further developing the rewards system, to strengthen still further the role of praise in the school’s behaviour policy and practice, to include still greater involvement of parents and to enhance