Schools - fostering a positive, inclusive and safe environment: guidance

Appendix 2: Reflective questions

Reflective questions to assess culture and ethos

Developing values, priorities and expectations

• How have staff/children/young people/parents collaborated in the development of the school’s expectations?
• What opportunities are provided for the school community to share their views and experiences in order to build a shared understanding of the school’s climate and culture?
• How is data used – alongside collegiate dialogue and the views of professional associations – to identify particular challenges and develop informed, collaborative responses?
• Have young people had sufficient opportunity to express their views and be listened to and taken seriously, in line with Article 12 of UNCRC?

Promoting values, priorities and expectations

• How does your school communicate with children and young people, parents and staff to ensure there is a shared understanding of school’s expectations?
• What teaching, displays, and communication takes place to ensure expectations are exemplified and reinforced regularly throughout the year?
• What measures are in place to support supply or temporary staff to understand the school’s approach to boundaries and expectations?

Applying values, priorities and expectations

• How are the views of staff gathered to ensure they feel equipped to support the values ethos and climate of the school?
• What CLPL opportunities are available to ensure all staff have a consistent understanding of how school-wide expectations should be implemented?
• What time is made available to support staff to reflect on this and to come together to discuss the impact of the CLPL collectively?
• How are values reinforced daily, weekly and throughout the year?
• How does the leadership team support and model best practice, such as through its visibility to children and young people and staff?
• How are the views of parents gathered to establish whether there is buy-in or push-back from parents regarding any approaches?
• What support is afforded to the leadership team to implement local authority and national policy and guidance?

Reviewing values, priorities and expectations

• How does the school measure the impact of its approach?
• What are the indicators of success that tell you the approach to behaviour and relationships is effective?
• How is feedback from children and young people, staff, and parents used to refine policies?
• How is support available from the local authority used to assist with self-evaluation and planning next steps?

Reflective questions for staff in for responding in the moment

Behaviour

• What is the nature of the behaviour?
• Does the nature of the behaviour impact on the rights of the young person themselves, the rights of others or of staff?
• What might motivate this behaviour? is there an underlying unmet need?
• Could this behaviour be the result of a communication need, such as difficulty with speech, language, understanding instructions or expressing emotions?
• Can the behaviour be dealt with through universal approaches or does it require a targeted or specialist approach?
• Are there any features of the behaviour that require particular consideration, such as where it involves prejudice or an additional support need?
• Is the nature of the behaviour such that it requires an immediate response, such as where safety or dignity is compromised?

Rights

• Does the proposed response impact on any rights under UNCRC, for example right to an education, right to play, right to safety or other rights such as those protected under the Equality Act 2010/Health and Safety legislation/European Convention on Human Rights?
• If so, is the approach compatible with these, and is it proportionate, and legitimate in order to address both their needs and the need to protect the rights of others?
• Does the response maintain a child’s right to dignity?
• Does the proposed approach involve a plan for how any removed privileges will be reinstated over time?
• Are there other children or young people whose rights must also be considered in determining an appropriate response?

Child-centred

• Does the child or young person have an identified additional support need that is relevant to the behaviour?
• Does the child have experience or trauma/adverse childhood experiences that are relevant to the behaviour?
• Is there a child’s plan or risk assessment in place, and what guidance does it provide regarding appropriate responses?
• Is the proposed approach aligned to a child’s developmental stage and does it support reducing the frequency and intensity of the disruptive behaviour over time?
• Does the child have a level of social and emotional development that allows them to engage effectively with the approach?
• Holistic assessment – what is happening for the child or young person in the community and at home?
• Has the young person been asked what might be causing them to behave in that way?
• Has the young person had the opportunity to participate in discussions about approaches to consequence?

Interactions with policies and legal frameworks

• Does the proposed action constitute seclusion^[10] as defined in Included, Engaged and Involved Part 3?
• If considering exclusion, has account been taken of the checklist of Key considerations to be made prior to, during and after exclusion, as set out in Included, Engaged and Involved Part 2?
• Is the young person care experienced?
• Is the proposed action compatible with duties under the Additional Support for Learning (ASL) legislation?
• Is the response consistent with the school’s duties under the UNCRC, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the Equality Act 2010?

Strategies

• Timing of response – is the child in a position where they are able to constructively learn from the intervention?
• Is CLPL, guidance and support available and promoted to staff to support them in navigating challenging conversations with young people?
• Does the nature of the behaviour require particular considerations to appropriateness of intervention, such as where it involves prejudice and the need to avoid contributing to any trauma or mental health impact for any person affected?

Reflective questions for senior leadership teams for supporting responses in the moment

Processes

• How are the views of staff gathered, including through engagement with relevant professional associations, to establish whether they feel supported in responding to behaviour in school?
• What opportunities are available to ensure all staff have a consistent understanding of how school-wide expectations should be implemented?
• What structures are in place to support all staff to apply relationships and behaviour policies consistently?
• How are the views of staff gathered to support a shared understanding of when responses should be escalated, and are there clear pathways for that?
• What CLPL or other opportunities are there for staff to train together and have professional dialogue and are staff able to engage with these?
• How are children and young people supported to reflect on the impact of their behaviour?
• How are supply or temporary staff supported to understand the school’s approaches to expectations and processes for responding?
• What opportunities are there for staff to share experiences and undertake peer learning?
• How are new or temporary staff joining mid-year provided with clear information and guidance to implement responses in line with school policies?

Implementation

• What arrangements are in place to ensure staff have the time to implement approaches effectively?
• What support is available to ensure responses can be conducted in a timely manner?
• If only certain staff are trained in such approaches, what mechanisms are in place to ensure they have sufficient capacity to undertake approaches in a timely manner?
• What CLPL is available to support the implementation of approaches such as restorative, nurture and solutions-oriented approaches?
• How is consistency in approach supported across all staff and departments?

Engagement

• When and how are parents informed and engaged in responses to address their child’s behaviour?
• How are staff supported by senior management in promoting positive relationships and behaviour when there is resistance from children and/or their parents?
• How is feedback gathered from staff about how things are working and what support might be required?

Reporting, recording and monitoring

• How is the effectiveness of approaches monitored?
• How are reports of violence and aggression followed up both with the local authority and with staff members involved? Are these in line with local authority procedures?
• Has any young person, or staff member, affected been supported, as well as provided with reassurance, within confidentiality parameters, that appropriate action has been taken?

Reflective questions for senior leadership teams

• What specific operational guidance is there for staff outlining the processes and possible steps staff can take to address behaviour through targeted interventions?
• What CLPL opportunities are available to ensure all staff have a clear understanding of the processes in place should targeted interventions be required?
• What time is afforded within working hours to undertake CLPL and support effective implementation of the strategies involved?
• How are all staff, including support staff, given the opportunity to discuss children’s individual needs to inform the development of appropriate plans and responses?
• How are the underlying needs of the child or young person being assessed and supported?
• How are all staff, including support staff, informed about the details of plans in place to support children’s needs?
• How is feedback gathered from staff about how things are working and what support might be required?
• What assessment is undertaken to review the curricular offer to ensure it supports young people’s engagement?

Assessments

• How does the school ensure that needs assessments are conducted consistently and in a meaningful way?
• What processes are in place to regularly review and update needs assessments to maintain their relevance and accuracy?
• How are all staff, including support staff, given the opportunity to contribute to assessments that inform the development of appropriate plans and responses?
• How is relevant information from assessments and plans shared with all staff, including support staff, so they can implement it in their practice?
• What structures are in place to draw support from other services?
• What evaluation is carried out to ensure responses used are effective in changing behaviour while supporting wellbeing?
• Do the assessments show examples of impact and improvements?
• Are there clear timeframes for review, and are these shared with all relevant individuals?
• What processes are in place to assess risk, implement appropriate risk mitigation measures, and ensure consistent reporting, recording, and regular review of risk assessments?

Reflective questions for school leadership on monitoring

• What guidance is in place to support approaches to incident recording and monitoring?
• What processes are in place for oversight of patterns of individual behaviour, to enable a holistic view to be taken of a child or young person’s behaviour and needs? For example, is a young person repeatedly displaying the same behaviour across different classes, or receiving repeated consequences for the same issue, which might indicate the need for a more targeted response?
• What processes are in place to track school-wide patterns around culture, behaviour and responses and to ensure this is properly interrogated? If monitoring indicates that responses are being applied more frequently to particular groups or characteristics, an equality impact assessment may be warranted.
• Are there particular times or locations that increase the likelihood of incidents, and how might these be better managed?
• How is data collected and used to support staff and children and young people?
• What feedback does the school engage with from various affected groups?
• Is child/young person voice gathered from varied groups? For example, Pupil Council, care-experienced young people, children and young people with additional support needs, those with previous exclusions or low attendance?