AWARDS: Great Practice from the NAPCE Awards 2023 – Episode 4
The National Awards for Pastoral Care in Education 2023 – Sharing Good Practice – Episode 4
The NAPCE Awards 2023 was an amazing success, bigger than ever with a record number of entries and a sold-out event.
Every year we share a huge number of great examples of excellent practice in pastoral care and we’re proud to share some of these with you in NAPCE News which may help guide and inspire your own work.
For this fourth episode we’re focussing on the category Pastoral Development of the Year.
Pastoral Development of the YearThis award is for:
A pastoral initiative or idea that has achieved positive outcomes and has improved the learning experience and future life chances, for young people.
In 2023 it was sponsored by Sponsored by Crown House Publishing.
The winner for 2023, announced at the grand presentation event in Worcester, in September was Raymond Heron, St Mary’s Christian Brothers Grammar School
Here are some of the comments that were made about the 2023 winner of this award in the nomination.
St Mary’s Grammar School Belfast is an all-boys Catholic Voluntary Grammar School located on the Glen Road in West Belfast. The school was founded by the Christian Brothers in 1866 and moved to its current site in 1968. St. Mary’s has over 1,200 students aged 11-19. Under the Edmund Rice Trust Charter our vision is to promote full personal and social development in a Christian community of teaching and learning. St. Mary’s was a traditional boys grammar school with a strong discipline policy built on sanctions and historically written in negative language with a significant slant towards ‘do not do… ‘, ‘you must not… There were a significant number of suspensions for various misbehaviours. Mrs Siobhan Kelly was appointed as Principal in January 2019 and since then there has been a change in the language used, the messages and guidance given to the boys and the way in which behaviour is managed. There is an emphasis on restoration and learning and pupil accountability for their own actions. The process started with establishing our baseline position, reviewing our Discipline Policy and with the help of the whole school community establishing a new ‘Positive Behaviour Management Policy’. We have reviewed documentation including the Code of Conduct, Home School Agreement and provided training for staff in Restorative language to use with the students.
Mr Raymond Herron (senior teacher) led the introduction and development of Restorative Justice starting this process in 2021-2022. The aim to introduce a Restorative justice process which would address indiscipline more effectively as provide an alternative to the existing sanctions. They were fortunate enough to be assisted by an external trainer who delivered training to the whole staff, with additional monthly ‘cafes’ for our Pastoral Leadership team.
They have introduced the use of restorative language across the school and even when serious issues do arise students are welcomed back to school and the classroom with a positive restorative meeting. Staff have been provided with guide sheets to help them choose their language carefully. Pupils, Parents/ carers, and staff feel that they have a voice, there is pupil accountability, support from parents and a way forward for the boys. Positive student reflection and learning are taking place and there has been a significant reduction in poor behaviours and the need for detentions and suspensions. There is an understanding among the school community about the value of restorative conversations.
The students are now more accountable for their own behaviour and as a result are behaving well in school. The partnership between home and school is also more positive as we work together to educate our boys. Across the school site there are visual displays promoting ‘Restorative Values’ with restorative words and phrases displayed in the classrooms in the school. Obviously in a large boys’ grammar school situated in an area of social disadvantage incidences of misbehaviour do arise from time to time. On those occasions where a suspension from school has been issued, they now use a ‘Restorative based template’ to lead the return from suspension meeting. They have recorded a 41% reduction in incidences across the school with visibly better behaviour from the boys. There is now an understanding that the boys are accountable for their own behaviour and will have to sit down and work through behaviours if needed. The number of boys reoffending has reduced to 3.2% which is significant. More importantly there is now a major reduction on lost learning due to suspensions from school. Pupil voice exercises indicated that the students wanted to see more rewards for good behaviour. The school have now introduced ‘Celebration Days’ and asked the students what type of rewards they most value. They indicated a preference for vouchers to purchase ‘Sports’ gear and we have put these in place. Significantly introducing two awards for each class, one of which is for the ‘most improved pupil’. The school are now moving to create a working group of Restorative Practitioners who can assist our Form Teachers and Heads of Year with conflict resolution outside the classroom.
Here are some of the comments made in the nominations for the other finalists in this category.
Christ the King Sixth Forms, pastoral development of the year was developing a new and innovative pastoral support and inclusion programme for 15–17-year-old Ukrainians who had been displaced with their families as a result of the war in Ukraine. The initiative came about after an approach from Bexley Council in April 2022 asking if there was anything we could do to support these young people who had already been so tragically affected by having to flee as refugees from the war in their country. Many of these young people had been traumatized by their experiences added to which many did not speak any English. The school rose to the challenge and within two weeks had developed and implemented a new pastoral “Community Learning Programme” designed to welcome and help to settle and integrate these young people into the community while preparing them to enter study in the following academic year. The approach took was to involve several teams from across the College to ensure that the programme fully met the needs of the young people involved. The “Community Learning Programme” involved the young people attending College one day every week with a timetable including English, sport, pastoral care, careers guidance, and chaplaincy support. The aim of the programme was to welcome and nurture the young people while trying to return some degree of normality to their lives, and to help them integrate into the local community and prepare to re-enter their studies the following September.
Initially the Ukrainian students and the staff and students at Christ the King relied heavily on ‘Google Translate’, but as the programme progressed their conversational English developed well through their English classes, and the young people began to open up and start to enjoy learning again. They were encouraged to take part in indoor and outdoor sports and games to help them integrate with their peers and further develop their language skills and this enabled them to start to feel more integrated into the local Community. Underpinning these activities was the constant wrap around support and guidance for the young people from our ALS, Chaplaincy and Pastoral Teams enabling them to have a quiet and safe place to talk about any concerns or worries they may have and helping them to resolve these. During the term of the programme the young people also received careers and education advice and guidance and help with their applications for their next steps. Fr Mark Blakely, vicar of the local Catholic Church wrote to Bexley Council commending the programme saying: “I just wanted to drop a quick line to say how good the staff at Christ the King Sidcup were today towards Bohdan. Mrs Crampton and Miss Twomey reached out to him with genuine love and care. This was the first time he had been out independently from his parents since leaving Ukraine. He left feeling very happy and relaxed with a big smile. They are obviously going ‘above and beyond’ to include Ukrainians into college life, and I would be grateful if their efforts could be acknowledged.
St. Louis Grammar School Ballymena decided that a targeted mentoring programme needed to be offered to students. Pastoral support is more important than ever due to the adverse impact of COVID 19. The last couple of years have had a notable influence upon post-primary students. The impact of ongoing uncertainty, online learning, and a lack of social opportunities have all been widely documented in the field of education. A mentoring programme was needed to bridge the gap resulting from such difficulties and to provide the necessary support to students who needed it academically and personally. The ‘Targeted Mentoring Programme’ was established to bring back a degree of control and to empower students with the feeling that they have some influence over their educational journey. The school established the ‘Targeted Mentoring Programme’ by recruiting two mentors (one male and one female). Staff met to devise a vision to raise achievement and the self-esteem of pupils across all Key Stages. The mentors trained all teaching staff in August 2021 so that they would understand the importance of Targeted Mentoring. They explained the reasoning, anticipated impact, and referral process. Teachers were allocated dedicated time on their timetable to meet on a one-to-one basis with selected and referred students from year 8 – 14. The mentors received external training from Learn Spark in August 2021 and in June 2022. Each student is referred as a collaborative effort. Head of Year, Heads of Department, class teachers, SENCO and pastoral leaders all have input. When accepted onto the programme, parental contact is made to explain the process and seek consent to meet with their child. By using a range of strategies discussed at weekly mentoring meetings, the mentors aim to.
- – Raise academic achievement
- – Improve behaviour and wellbeing
- – Raise self-esteem
In each individual mentee book pupils will find:
- – a timetable to organise their week
- – graphic organisers to help with revisions and note taking
- – activities to identify barriers to learning
Class teachers are encouraged to feedback on notable improvements. The meeting information and information from teachers are stored in a private folder. Pupils usually have a six-week block of mentoring sessions, however, based on need, the programme may be extended. The process of evaluation takes place throughout the year and data is established from internal and external assessments, classroom teacher observation, parental feedback, and student voice. Parent and student voice are forming the basis of targets for next year and based on evaluation results. The success of young people’s educational experience is heavily determined by the attitudes that they bring to their learning, their sense of aspiration and the feelings they have about their place in the broader social context of the school. The mentors use PASS results to respond to improvement needs as identified by the students through intervention to help raise standards of attainment. The three areas identified as applicable to targeted mentoring are,
- Factor 2 Perceived Learning Capability,
- Factor 3 Self-Regard as a Learner, and
- Factor 7 Confidence in Learning.
This identification allowed a more pointed approach and as such, students were identified by these factors and were entered onto the targeted mentoring programme after consultation with HOY, parents, SENCo and pupil.
In August 2022 the team presented their impressive evaluation results to the staff and identified sustained improvement in terms of academic achievement with internal assessments, GCSE and A Level examinations.
The Inclusion Hub at Friern Barnet School is an internal alternative provision that seeks to ensure parity of opportunity for all by allowing teachers to teach, students to learn and those with additional needs to be supported to remain in mainstream education. It is an innovative, supportive, and intervening base staffed by skilled individuals who have the training and personal mindset to interact effectively and positively with our most challenging and vulnerable cohorts. In two years since the initiative was set up only 1 student has been permanently excluded from the school. Through personal development sessions, students have developed social skills and an awareness of appropriate responses. The success of this has seen a reduction in confrontational or disruptive behaviours around the school. Through bespoke academic, pastoral, and therapeutic interventions, students’ active participation has improved in lessons as well as reading ages, allowing for more confident access to the curriculum. The school have also seen relationships improve between students and teachers on this basis and through the use of restorative approaches.
Through 1-1 mentoring, vulnerable students feel listened to and have an opportunity to discuss underlying issues that may be impacting their behaviour. Significant behavioural incidents have reduced as a result, as staff are able to manage these situations for them and guide them to appropriate decision making and to the process of resolution. Student voice data indicates that student morale and attendance has also improved. With a combination of all these inputs and outputs, the Inclusion Hub continues to contribute to success measures that benefit far beyond our school, and into society. These include:
- – A reduction in suspensions and permanent exclusions
- – Prevention or reduction of student involvement in anti-social behaviour
- – An increase in the number of students who remain engaged in their learning
The Inclusion Hub has offered young people an opportunity to receive high quality and consistent support, both in their educational progress and their personal development. The introduction of the Inclusion Hub has also contributed to overall inclusive educational practices at Friern Barnet School. With continuous professional learning around topics such as Restorative Approaches, SEMH needs in children and young people, and the factors related to behavioural challenge, teachers are becoming increasingly reflective of how their approach to teaching can foster a positive learning environment. Staff have developed an understanding that students are more likely to engage with what they’re being asked to by someone they like, trust and respect and when they feel heard and listened to.
With more students accessing the Inclusion Hub across year groups, this inclusive educational outlook permeates into the whole school as we work to tackle behavioural challenge that is impeding the progress of students that require support and disrupting the learning of their peers. This work in relation to addressing student behaviour takes place in a smaller setting within the main school which has meant that students feel a sense of familiarity and part of a ‘family’. As one triumphant marker of success, students in the Inclusion Hub engaged in a 10-week project creating a poetry anthology that reflected their likes, lives and how they see the world. Throughout this process they were able to flaunt their sense of humour, their way with words and their personability. This group of students who have never engaged with spoken word before, pushed themselves to the point where they eventually stood up on stage and represented the school at a private viewing of a professional arts exhibition. They then performed poems from their anthology to an audience of parents, teachers, and friends.
Leighton Park School has always had a strong culture of pastoral care and wellbeing support as part of its Quaker roots. Moments of silence, personal reflection and openness distinguish the school culture, including regular Meetings for Worship, Collects, acts of random kindness, and community service. However, the global pandemic and recent world events have undoubtedly had a huge impact on levels of low mood, anxiety and fatigue across many schools and communities. Consequently, the school needed to devise a strategic and innovative pastoral care approach to support early identification of students and, most recently, staff at risk of poor mental health difficulties. A recent innovative pastoral care project has been the development and implementation of a state-of-the-art digital wellbeing app. Working closely with EdTech startup (youHQ.co.uk), the school have been the first pilot school in the world where all students have used the platform to log their mood (using a 5-point emoji scale) and attribute reasons why they may be feeling a particular way. Students also complete a fortnightly, validated wellbeing survey (WHO-5, World Health Organisation survey), and access the latest resources and support area on the app to best assist their wellbeing and mental health. The wellbeing data is pulled across from the student dashboards to the pastoral hub where tutors can track their tutees and pastoral leaders can monitor and filter students using current and average mood scores and wellbeing percentages. The mood score also provides a mood profile graph to create an overview of the student’s individual perception of mood over time.
Staff can log any safeguarding concerns directly through this hub as we have created strong links with our safeguarding provider, ‘MyConcern’. The data has facilitated high quality, pastoral focused and individualised conversations between staff and students. Staff can now pinpoint triggers of low mood and advise on useful resources, some of which sit within the app to support them. This innovative wellbeing app has been impactful. Students feel valued and staff feel empowered to support their students. The collate feedback from staff and students every half term to monitor the effectiveness of this app. Some impact data includes:
- 84% of students believe ‘youHQ’ has been beneficial to their overall wellbeing and mental health.
- 92% of staff believe ‘youHQ’ has supported them in their role as a tutor;
Other students have reached out via the app with self-harm related feelings or even suicidal thoughts. Early intervention before these issues become even more serious has been so important in the school and helped create a safer environment. Implementing the app alongside other screening tools such as AS tracking, SDQ questionnaires, Boxall profiles, and forensic safeguarding monitoring filters enable pastoral staff to be more proactive rather than reactive in their implementation of bespoke pastoral plans which may include therapeutic interventions such as: counselling, CBT, drawing and talking therapy, and pet therapies.
The school have 26 adult mental health first aiders and so far, six student mental health first aiders to support staff and students, including excellent external links to psychological and psychiatric services and employer assistance programmes. The school have been the first school to pilot the teacher wellbeing version of this app. Staff volunteers have been logging mood and completing surveys on their wellbeing so line managers can best support them. The innovative ‘youHQ’ app and other complimentary proactive screening measures have helped the school to identify those at risk and those who need extra support.
Congratulations for everybody nominated for Pastoral Member of year in 2023. The nominations for the 2024 National Awards for Pastoral Care in Education are now open. All the details are available on the NAPCE website www.napce.org.uk. Follow the link to make a nomination to recognise and value contributions to good practice in pastoral care in education.
Making a nomination for the National Awards for Pastoral Care in Education 2024 organised by NAPCE.
It is easy to make a nomination for the Awards to recognise good practice in the eight categories and it only takes a few minutes.
Here is some guidance on how to make your nomination.
- Visit our nomination page here https://napceawards.wufoo.com/forms/napce-awards-2024-entry-form/
- Or go to www.napce.org.uk and click on the link for the awards.
- This takes you to the page where you can make your nomination.
- Read the information about the criteria for each category.
- Provide your contact details as the nominee and the name of the person or organisation you are nominating with their email contact details on the form provided.
- Click on the button to select the appropriate category for your nomination.
- In the box provided provide information and any evidence to support you nomination.
You can make a nomination for another person or organisation, or self-nominations are also welcome.
You have 750 word available to describe the reasons for your nomination to the judges.
You do not have to use all 750 words and the best nominations are concise and clear.
Explain what makes your nomination an example of good practice.
Describe how it makes a difference in the learning experience of children and young people.
Give examples of actions that have been taken and outcomes that have been achieved.
Explain why you are proud of this nomination.
Make your nomination now to recognise good practice and achievements in pastoral care in education. |
