In this episode, Claire talks to Dan Storey, a teacher currently working at a Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) school. He begins by explaining how he started his teaching career in mainstream schools in Manchester and moved to America to work as a football coach. Dan decided to move back to the UK and continued working in mainstream schools on long term supply. He briefly explains how the American schooling culture and ethos is different to the UK but states that this experience helped him when he returned to the UK to continue his teaching career.

Dan explains what an SEMH school is and outlines some of the disorder’s children face at his school. He speaks about the support provided at his schools for young boys with various learning difficulties and explains how they cater for their individual needs.

After receiving many questions about behavioural issues from staff, friends and colleagues in mainstream schools, Dan decided to share his experience, tips and strategies to support children with behavioural difficulties. He then moved onto writing a blog on Nexus Education where he shares some strategies and tips to help staff with managing behaviour.

In the podcast, Dan talks about his experience of working at a SEMH school, the training he was offered and the bank of knowledge he has gained working with children with behavioural issues. He talks, in detail, about the strategies and approaches used within his school to support children with ADHD, ASD and other disorders. He discusses the importance of undertaking the relevant training to understand and support children with these disorders, as well as gaining first-hand experience of working with and/or observing these children. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The difference between a PRU and a SEMH school.
  A PRU school is usually attached onto a school, a unit or as a separate school whereas an SEMH is separate and independent.
  
  
• Lack of experience.
  NQT and RQT’s struggle to support or identify children with learning difficulties due to their inexperience of working with these types of children. INSET Days, pedagogical research and interventions are useful, but they do not provide the in-depth understanding of a child’s needs and disorder. More on the job training is needed. Supply teachers should take advantage of their flexibility and gain the experience by working in SEMH settings whenever they can. Mainstream teachers should also be given the time and opportunity to go into SEMH schools.
  
  
• Training
  Schools should get as much training as they can. Local Councils offer free training for different learning difficulties and disorders. Schools with NQT’s and RQT’s should enrol teachers onto training courses that they need, for example, if they have children with ADHD, they need to be offered training and support for ADHD. 
  
  
• Consequences
  It is important to be consistence with children’s rewards and consequences. They should be aware of what will happen if they make a wrong choice. Children should be given the ownership to partake, discuss and understand the consequences, for example, looking and reading the school’s behaviour policy. Children should look at the consequences for making a wrong choice and discuss if that is the right consequence for that wrong choice. If the policy is pre-decided, with no child input, the importance of it is inconsequential for children.
  
  
• Consistency
  It is vital to be consistent with all children. They should know that if they have made a wrong choice or have not completed their tasks, there will be consequences. Teachers must follow through on these consequences. If there is more than one child making the same wrong choice, the consequence should be the same, considering the child’s individual needs. All staff must all be on the same page and should be consistent with the rewards and consequences sanctioned.
  
  
• Limited staffing
  If there is staffing issues and the LSA is shared amongst classes, there should be a plan created by all the relevant members of staff to ensure children are supported adequately. Find the strengths, likes and dislikes of that child and find ways to help support that child through buddy support, interventions, adult support etc.
  
  
• Behaviour interventions
  Some of the behaviour interventions mentioned are Lego therapy, a visit from a school councillor who takes selected boys once a week. An intervention recently started is carried out by HLTA’s. One HLTA will do Maths and English interventions and the other will provide an intervention using ‘The Thrive Approach’. Mindfulness and growth mindset activities are provided to children. Chill out music in the class during the lessons.
  
  
• Rewards versus sanctions
  Keeping the teacher and pupil relationship positive. Use of rewards and positivity within the class is crucial. Children should be able to see the rewards they have earned and when necessary their good work and efforts should be shared with their parents. Rewards can be anything including keyrings, bouncy balls, certificates etc.
  
  
• Relationships with parents
  Teachers should build and maintain a good relationship with the parents, where they are able to inform them of their child’s daily progress and development. Keeping parents up to date is vital to ensure that they are aware of their child’s behaviour in school. This can be done through various mediums, including Class Dojo, where parents can receive a message of their child’s daily update.
  
  
• Low level disruption
  Not pointing out the behaviour in a negative way but ask the child what they should be doing or ask if they are okay. For example, if a child is talking to another child while the teacher is teaching, instead of saying ‘stop talking’ ask the child ‘are they okay?’ This makes the child realise the teacher has noticed and it will reel them back into the class input. Praise the children that are doing well to show a good example of what you, as a class teacher, expect. Buddying the child that is causing the low-level disruption with a child that does make the right choice so that they can mirror the expected behaviour. Ensure that the seating plan is correct for the class. Level of work should be at the child’s academic ability; it should be challenging yet achievable.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“I enjoyed it [teaching as a football coach] but I missed the classroom.”

“We do teach the Primary Curriculum. I think sometimes people seem to have a thing that if you work at an SEMH school you are just playing and you’re not teaching, but we recently had an OFSTED and we got Outstanding in our OFSTED. Four, five years ago, we got the same result. OFSTED were happy with what we teach, and we do teach the Primary English, Maths and Science curriculum. We do teach the core subjects, but we try to teach them in a fun way.” 2:53-3:11”

“We are getting an influx of children coming in mainstream primary age, so that’s where are school is focussed on this year.”

“I’ve got friends that work in PRU schools, independent SEMH schools and Behavioural schools. They say it’s a lot different than our school. They feel like it’s just about managing the child. My school, I feel like we are like a mainstream school; we teach, we asses, everything that a mainstream school does.”

“When we have cluster meetings with the LA and have book scrutinises, they were very impressed. I think a lot of people are shocked, I do think they is a stigma with a school like mine where there’s not as much learning going on but there is.”

“Attachment disorder – when you are child and the primary care gives you the love and security that you need then that child is going to have a good life and it is going to have the right emotions, is going to be able to deal with those emotions in the right way. When that child has not got that secure attachment from the primary care giver, for example, they have gone through trauma, they have not been given attention or abuse then that has a knock-on effect on that child, with their mental state. When they come into schools, they can’t sit down and they won’t, they can get quite angry and aggressive because they aren’t used to regulating their emotions like we can so the brain develops differently as a result of the non-secure attachment.”

“It [Attachment] can be helped and you can support children with Attachment, by giving them that security, by giving them that love in schools and giving them the chance to vent. In our school we have a therapist/counsellor and they work with the boys in school who have gone through trauma and abuse. Due to them having attachment, we use the sessions to support them. You do start to see the difference, it’s about giving them the clear boundaries as well, giving them structure and giving them the support that they need.”

“Mainstream teachers had more time going into special schools. Recently, all the teachers in my schools went to different mainstream schools because sometimes you feel like when you are in an SEMH school you are a bit deskilled so by you going to a mainstream school you can pick up ideas.”

“School SENCO’s or teachers during their PPA sessions or on days come into [special] school do some training and share good practice.”

“When I first started at my school, I didn’t know much about SEMH I was quite new to it. I’d worked in a nice mainstream school with lovely, quiet kids and I went into this type of setting and it was a culture shock.”

“I went on and did a diploma in Education, a PGCE in SEN and then a Masters in SEN.”

“When together with the school [and children], instead of the school saying this is what is happening, if the children are taking some ownership over I think that does really help. Every year, we sit down with each teacher and each child we they go through the behaviour policy and we come up with a new policy each year.”

“You have got to be consistent with all children.”

“You need to know a child’s background.”

“It’s about getting down to their level, finding out what they like… if they like something it’s about using that to your advantage. Make the lessons about that, make their work about something like that, something that interests them.”

“I try to make lessons interactive and fun. I know if my lesson’s boring and I’m bored that they [the children] are going to be bored. What I try to do, with the curriculum, is look at what’s going to interest the children in the class. Having a positive relationship with the boy is the most important thing.”

“Everyday is a behaviour intervention in school. We have Lego therapy in school. Small groups do Lego therapy, a school councillor who comes in once a week and takes certain boys out.”

“Boys with ADHD need immediate rewards, that is what helps them.”

“They know that you know, they are doing something wrong.”

“It’s about finding things that work.”

“If staff are not gaining their PPA time there should be something in place. Even though it’s a government thing, it’s law that you should be getting your PPA time. I don’t get all mine, so the times when I don’t get all mine there should be something in place in schools where they should be able to speak to the union.”

“It’s about getting the right training and having student’s teacher when they are in university and having more time in special schools. It should be for longer time. What we are finding is a lot of mainstream schools are excluding these “problematic” children and they are coming to our school. A lot of the time they are angels. I understand there are smaller class sizes and we’ve had more training but it’s about getting the right training early.”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

ADHD Foundation: https://www.adhdfoundation.org.uk/
Thrive: https://www.thriveapproach.com/
Nexus Education Blog: https://www.nexus-education.com/well-behaved-class-happy/
Class Dojo: https://www.classdojo.com/
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/

ABOUT THE HOST
Claire Riley

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide.

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff.

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend.

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education.