High quality teaching and differentiation that meets the needs of all children
What might I do?
Develop a whole school approach to the wellbeing of all children
Oldham’s Graduated Response recognises that teaching staff are well placed to notice when children and young people may be struggling. The approach is graduated because the amount of support that each child in Oldham needs to thrive is likely to be different and may need to be monitored. The framework can be used to identify and review the effectiveness of the current strategies that your school use to support wellbeing.
This framework identified 8 key areas that can be targeted to support wellbeing in schools. Implementing these principles helps to create a culture where everyone’s mental wellbeing is valued. They also act as ways to promote positive wellbeing. This is known as a Whole School Approach to Emotional Health and Mental Wellbeing.
Share concerns with parents
- Try to understand what is underlying the presenting difficulty in terms of immediate and wider environmental triggers and past experiences in the home or educational setting, awareness of other possible causal factors e.g.
- Develop sound knowledge of the children and relationships
- Use person-centred tools to elicit pupil voice e.g. good day / bad day. (see PC toolkit)
- Agree personal targets with pupil and ensure pupil understands 1) how he/her will be able to achieve them, and 2) how you will support him/her
- Share agreed strategies with staff to ensure fair consistent approach.
- Develop a one-page profile
School Approaches to develop emotional well-being
Consider Peer support e.g.
- Guardian angels
- Playtime buddy
- Circle of friends - inclusive-solutions.com
- Lunchtime clubs
- Homework clubs
Use Solution focussed approaches to problem solving.
Teach emotional literacy
Inclusive Classrooms and environments
- Create and plan opportunities to develop social skills in whole-class and group activities - YouTube
- Ensure you have consistent routines and boundaries / positive learning environment - YouTube
- Use classroom checklists and audits which help you to consider quality SEMH differentiation and inclusive classrooms.
- Have realistic expectations and offer positive specific feedback
- Ensure school has a differentiated behaviour policy and the use of rewards/ incentives and sanctions is clearly understood and appropriately differentiated according to need.
- Provide a calm and secure learning environment (not too stimulating)
- All efforts are recognised and praise is clearly articulated so that learners know and internalise measure for success.
- Structure learning tasks with visuals e.g. visual timetable / task planner to chunk steps in a task / first…next board etc - YouTube
- Use social stories - autism.org.uk
- Agree acceptable noise levels (noise thermometer) and remind the pupils frequently about optimum levels for learning
- Ensure resources / are well organised / tidy / well labelled and easy to access
- Prepare pupils for change
- Offer quiet zones / time out /safe spaces - responsiveclassroom.org
- Consider flexible playtimes/ breaks that offer more structure and predictability – using interventions for pupils as necessary
- Consider class pets/ responsibility /jobs
- Class responsibility /jobs
- Biophilia hypothesis – blue or green outdoor spaces. https://islandpress.org/books/biophilia-hypothesis
- Raise pupils awareness of the ‘social focus’ e.g. “Today I’m looking for good team work / sharing of resources etc”
- Plan co-operative learning opportunities i.e. partner working / talking buddies / team games
- Team games
- Where appropriate use Lego Therapy - YouTube
- Access to physical activity and movement e.g. Zumba / Active 8 /daily mile/ Healthy Body , Healthy Minds/ Wiggle time / purposeful movement breaks etc
High Quality teaching (HQT) aims to set high expectations for all pupils and provide them with the teaching that meets their needs. The Oldham Inclusion Framework recommends that the whole school is trained in High Quality Teaching strategies for SEMH needs. Yorkshire Inclusion Service have outlined many High Quality Teaching Strategies specifically for children with SEMH needs.
Babcock LDP Educational Psychology Service has developed a reference toolkit of interventions, that have been used to support High Quality Teaching (HQT) for children with SEMH needs in Devon. A summary of research for each intervention is also provided.
School-based programmes of social and emotional learning can potentially help children and young people acquire skills that positively impact their wellbeing and learning. This can be implemented through high quality teaching in lessons such as Personal Social Health and Economic Education (PSHE).The PSHE Association has published advice for teachers on teaching about mental health and wellbeing on their website: Mental health (pshe-association.org.uk)
Cohort studies (Cole et al., 2019; Tejerina-Arreal et al., 2020) have found that young people with poor mental health were more likely to be excluded and to have experienced ill-effects from exclusion. Therefore, working to reduce exclusion rates can have benefits for this group of young people. The Anna Freud Centre have written practical guidance for schools that may help to inform your strategy for responding to children with SEMH needs that are at risk of exclusion. The discussed strategies cover reviewing additional support, engaging parents and carers, and monitoring and keeping track of exclusions.
School exclusion : Mentally Healthy Schools The Oldham Inclusion Framework suggests that schools should monitor and review all of their exclusions collaboratively with their SENCo.
Gloucestershire Local Authority have developed a review process called a Pastoral Support System (PSP) that they have used to monitor and review progress with pupils at risk of exclusions. This is available at Guidance for schools.
Research
Child and adolescent mental health trajectories in relation to exclusion from school from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children - Tejerina‐Arreal - 2020 - Child and Adolescent Mental Health - Wiley Online Library
‘Factors associated with high and low levels of school exclusions: comparing the English and wider UK experience’ (ox.ac.uk)
Positive relationships and a sense of belonging to a school appear to help promote pupil wellbeing and discourage risky behaviours. Therefore, school policies that promote these values and clearly communicate behavioural expectations may be particularly helpful for children with SEMH needs. Behavioural reward and sanction systems that recognise a differentiated behaviour policy for children with SEMH needs may help to create this ethos.
Below is an example of a differentiated behaviour policy that Goldwyn School created for supporting the behaviour of pupils with SEMH needs:
The Oldham Inclusion framework recognises that behavioural polices need to be inclusive of children with additional needs. The inclusion statement on page 8 of the National Curriculum NC framework document - FINAL (publishing.service.gov.uk) outlines principles of inclusive practice that can be applied to school behaviour policies.
This article explores the impact that a behavioural policy had on pastoral care in one secondary school:
Teachers that are supporting children with SEMH needs are likely to face difficult, stressful situations in this role. Ensuring that these practitioners have access to supervision could help to support their own emotional wellbeing. Barnardo’s Scotland have published a report on the use of supervision in educational settings, where they asked teachers about their experiences of supervision. Supervision in Education - Healthier Schools For All - Main report_0.pdf (barnardos.org.uk)
There is no universal definition for what supervision is. Its purpose varies depending on the people involved and the purpose of the discussion. Clinical Supervision might involve teachers meeting regularly to reflect on their practice with the intention of the supervisee learning and developing their teaching practice. This provides an opportunity for the supervisee to reflect upon things they are currently experiencing in their role and would like to explore more. The UCL Centre for Inclusive Education have written a detailed summary of what supervision is, and how it can be constructed and implemented in schools. This is available at:
Embedding Professional Supervision in schools:SENCO SUpervision framework (ucl.ac.uk)
There are lots of different models of supervision that can be used to create different forms of discussion. The University of Sheffield have summarised some of these models in this presentation: Models of supervision ISW 2022 (sheffield.ac.uk)
A trauma informed approach can help to contribute towards creating a safe environment for those who have experienced trauma and adverse experiences. The Rees Centre at The University of Oxford are currently evaluating the impact of a whole school approach to attachment and trauma in several local authorities. Their website has lots of resources about trauma informed approaches for schools Alex Timpson Attachment and Trauma Awareness in Schools Programme — (ox.ac.uk)
Use verbal and visual prompts to support and encourage children with SEMH needs. For example, a visual timer might be used as a visual strategy to support task concentration. Similarly, visual worksheets could be used to help practice identifying emotions. Twinkl have a bank of free visual resources about emotions and wellbeing at: SEMH Resources |Social, Emotional and Mental Health | Twinkl
Establish a robust whole school approach to pastoral care that can effectively identify and support children with SEMH needs. The following resources may be useful way to start reflecting on school pastoral care.
Hearne, Campbell-Pope, House and Cross (2006) reviewed what school pastoral care systems have been used in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and America: Pastoral care in education (ecu.edu.au)
The Department for Education website shares some case studies of school pastoral care systems: Supporting wellbeing - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
The Public Policy Institute for Wales have shared a framework for schools targeted at defining what effective pupil support in Welsh secondary schools looks like: Effective-Pupil-Support-in-Secondary-Schools
SEMH staff training and CPD
Providing staff at your school with resources and training on SEMH may help to provide more knowledge that can support them in their role.
There are many free, informative resources that can help to support teaching and continuing professional development of social, emotional, and mental health needs. Several resources that might support this learning are:
Contact the Oldham Mental Health in Education Team to discuss and review your universal strategy for mental health and wellbeing. They can be contacted via email at wholeschoolapproach@oldham.gov.uk
