Being a Learning Behaviour Lead - Ipswich Academy

What did we do?

Over the course of undertaking the role of LBL, I have undertaken various training sessions with IOA including metacognition, social and emotional learning, SEN in schools, improving behaviour in schools and more. By joining this training, I have been able to develop my knowledge and skills to approach this role.

I have worked with the inclusion team to identify students with barriers to learning that may benefit from additional support. We were able to identify students that struggle both inside the classroom and outside the classroom during social times. After identifying the students, I was then required to identify the type of support needed and the best course of action to take.

Writing the action plan helped to show how we could implement the right support for the students identified, whether individual students or targeted groups. By identifying the support we could use in school, I was able to identify a course of action to give these students the best support and opportunities. I have adapted the plan along the way where the needs of the student/school has changed. I have considered the interventions and used a person centred approach when applying this. I have been able to work with the senior leadership team to also ensure that we are making the most of this opportunity. Ensuring that they agreed with the actions being taken for the students.

I have also been able to share with some colleagues the knowledge I have learned which has helped them to develop their own adapted strategies. As a school, we have been able to use the funding to help implement the strategies or at least put the money towards some of the interventions used where the cost is greater than the funding.

I felt really positive how a pupil handled an issue that arose last week after he fell out with another student during break. I obviously didn’t see how he behaved after, but his target was to identify his triggers and work on talking with a trusted adult. Instead of refusing support and doing the wrong thing he came to look for me, talked about what happened and how he felt and eventually made the right decision in regards to writing the statement and more positive about going to IER as before he was refusing and saying he would walk out of school. He seems to respond well to the sessions and appears to be opening up more.

Staff member who has been completing the ELSA sessions

Summary of impact

I feel that by undertaking the LBL training I was more confident in approaching staff to develop strategies to implement the action plan. This has helped to develop the approach to learning behaviours within our school.

Myself and other school staff have been able to develop a greater knowledge of how to support students with barriers to learning and have been able to more easily identify these barriers. As an inclusion department, we have used spreadsheets and trackers to monitor students to ensure they are progressing.

I have personally had meetings with staff (particularly the inclusion team) to discuss plans. I have also had parental meetings with students present to learn how we can best support students. Some of this support has been minor changes, others have been more targeted interventions.

There have been improvements in attitude and behaviour with the students involved in these meetings.

Steps taken

To begin with, I tried to identify students which I felt could benefit from support and then spoke more in depth with the inclusion team about this. I was able to sit with the inclusion manager to formulate the action plan based on discussions around students or groups of students.

I was able to deliver some sessions myself and other staff members have also delivered the internal sessions for anxiety, resilience and anger management. We were then able to identify students that required more in depth support and put these in place.

Measuring lesson withdrawals, behaviour logs and communication with staff has been a key tool in tracking student progress. The funding provided has been fundamental in ensuring we are able to offer the relevant support for students and has contributed to the more expensive elements of the interventions needed.

What would we do differently

If I were to start this again, I would definitely involve more staff and senior leaders earlier than I did this time around to ensure a smoother process. I would also like to have had more time on the ground checking in as this was challenging due to my personal change in role within the school. It would also be beneficial to have been able to speak with more staff and get them on board with this process more than I was able to this time.

Cost

£5000 funding was provided to give the support outlined – including both internal and external provisions.

For internal sessions, staff required 1 hour per week off timetable for 9 weeks.

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