Leading Inclusion in a Secondary School

No Pupil Left Behind

Mark Allen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781000411997
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Leadership in Education

Leading Inclusion in a Secondary School is a practical guide to one of the most challenging and rewarding roles in a secondary setting. It highlights the key responsibilities and offers practical advice on how to lead groups of staff, embed an ethos and most importantly be the advocate for all the children in the school.

Focusing on the core areas of inclusion – behaviour; SEND; safeguarding; attendance; pupil premium and OFSTED – the book provides an overview of each area and explores the skills and knowledge that are required to lead it successfully. Each chapter shares tried and tested strategies and systems for promoting inclusion alongside practical examples, case studies, thinking points and scenarios to take the reader on a comprehensive journey of the role.

This is an essential text for all current and aspiring leaders of inclusion including heads of year, senior leaders, safeguarding leads, welfare managers and so on, that will help to build an overarching strategy for inclusion in their school.

1
Developing an ethos

This chapter will focus on one of the most important components to a successful school. As a leader of education, it is vital that you develop an ethos in your school. This ethos should be entwined in everything that the staff and pupils do each day. An ethos sets the culture of the school, and a culture can be what either makes or breaks a school. This chapter will explore what an ethos and culture can be, and it gives an insight into what my ethos is. There is reference to my core values and discussion points about why each value is important and how they can help to set a culture. This chapter’s scenario is about creating a new set of core values for a school and how you would go about doing that.

Introduction

Developing an ethos is the simplest thing to start your leadership journey on, but it is the one that gets missed too often. No matter what kind of leader you are, or what kind of school you work in, your ethos is pivotal to shaping you, your work and your impact. When I reflect as a leader, I can see how the ethos in some schools has changed over time. This can be due to a change of head teacher or as part of a new Multi-Academy Trust working with the school.

One of the biggest influences on the ethos of a school has been OFSTED and the increased accountability on leaders in schools. Too many leaders have been influenced by these pressures. It is important that from the outset you set your ethos, and this will drive the culture of your setting. If you get your ethos and your culture right then the environment for adults to work and children to learn will be created, and the rest will take care of itself and help to alleviate some of the external pressures.

Your ethos as a leader will determine who you are and how you lead.

Do not veer away from this.

You are you, and your ethos has got you to where you are.

Shifting educational landscapes, external agencies, accountability measures and other leaders may all challenge this – be strong and be true to yourself and who you are.

What is an ethos?

A quick Google search gives us this definition:

the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period.

the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

the moral element in dramatic literature that determines a character’s action rather than his or her thought or emotion.

What this means for a school is that there should be an underlying current of this ethos in everything that goes on day by day. You should be able to see the ethos through staff/pupil interaction, through visual displays, through successes of the school and in every classroom. You can immediately get a feel for a school and for a classroom environment the moment you walk in. When you walk in a school that has a strong ethos it is almost tactile, and you get the sense of it as you speak to people and walk around.

Every single school that I have worked in had their own ethos. This may be a mission statement, or a group of key values or even as prescriptive a set of behaviours that determine who they are. When applying to work and to lead at a school, research their ethos and see if it aligns with yours.

Creating the ethos

So, who creates the ethos of a school? The head teacher most certainly should be part of it and usually is. The trust or academy chain will have a direct say on the ethos too. The most important people who should form part of the ethos of the school are the children. How many schools that you have worked in have had an ethos that is built around the children?

Why I am focusing on this? Simply put – children are my ethos. If you are to lead inclusion in a school, they have to be. As indicated in the earlier quote, there are key areas to focus that ethos on.

Fundamental character

To lead inclusion, you need a fundamental character. That character is a belief and a drive that you will do all you can do for all the children in the school.

Serving a community

An ethos needs to be driven and to be at the very heart of a community. As a leader of inclusion, you have to drive the same belief through every member of the community you serve.

Morality

The morals you possess as a leader will shape you. You must always maintain a clear moral purpose in all you do. As a leader of inclusion, that moral purpose should be to ensure children in your care are happy, and that they succeed and flourish.

Establishing an ethos – within the school and within your team

When you work in a school with challenging circumstances your ethos is what holds you and your work together. It is tested on a daily basis and it will be challenged by all. There are times when you make decisions that can appear to go against your ethos. You must remember that sometimes the decisions you make you will be plagued by, but they are made for the greater good of the community and for the greater good of the children in your care. As we go through the book you will see where decisions around exclusions, managed moves, attendance fines, SEN referrals, social care referrals and other sanctions can challenge your ethos and directly conflict what you set out to do.

This is the balance you have to create as a leader of inclusion, and these are the leadership challenges that you will face on a daily basis. If you can make those decisions where your morals and your fundamental beliefs are intertwined and that your community will benefit from, then it is a correct decision. People may challenge these decisions, and people will challenge you as a leader; remember to be true to your ethos.

Building a team ethos

When you take up a new post, part of your early work will be to establish your ethos with the staff and with the team you work with. From minute one you must communicate your ethos to your team and to the wider community. Don’t be afraid to explain why you believe in your ethos and to explain to pupils and staff the reasoning behind it.

In the early days of your role you must adopt a leadership style that embodies your ethos, and you must spend time modelling the behaviour and promoting what you believe in at every opportunity. You will have situations where you have to challenge pupils and staff as their responses may not align to what you want. It is important you do this so that they see you mean business and that your ethos drives your work.

Work closely with your team. Their behaviour, their interactions and their work will reflect you as their leader and it will reflect your ethos. You have to make sure everyone is on the same page and consistently delivering your message. You should look to over-communicate your ethos in the early stages of establishing it. Over-communicate to your team by using daily briefings and structured meetings to ensure the ethos is always a standing item. Use formal procedures such as the development plan and appraisal to highlight the importance of the ethos. Everyone should be able to communicate the ethos verbally and through their daily actions. Make sure the children understand the ethos. Lead assemblies weekly, use tutor time and personal, social and health education (PSHE) and communicate it to parents and careers via letters, blogs and the school website. The more you deliver the message, the more it will become common practice.

My ethos

What follows is a statement that surmises my ethos and what I hold true to in every decision I make. I have always held children at the forefront of all I do: a leader of inclusion should. I watched the late Rita Pierson’s TED Talk, and this has always resonated with me. If you haven’t already, I would strongly recommend you watch it (www.ted.com/talks/rita_pierson_every_kid_needs_a_champion?language=en):

Every child deserves a champion. An adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists they become the best that they can possibly be.

What this means in practice is that there are times when, as a leader of inclusion, you have to show that you support the child and their needs. Incidents of poor behaviour will happen on a daily basis, and the easiest decision in the world is to put a consequence in place without thought.

It is your job as a leader and as champion of children to make brave decisions that are in the best interest of the child. From time to time you will have difficult conversations about this. A school is open for its children; some of them face difficulties and haven’t got an adult at home who can support them. A leader of inclusion needs to be that adult.

Colleagues may want a more severe consequence for an incident, but it is your duty to reflect on the situation and the needs of the child before making that decision. You must talk this through with the child and the adult. Never undermine a colleague in front of a child, however. You must ensure that the decision you make is in the best interest of that child.

Once your ethos is established, these decisions and conversations become easier and less frequent. Why? As interactions with staff and children become more positive, pupils’ needs are met more regularly, and your ethos and culture become widespread in the classroom and wider school environment.

The ethos of a school and its leaders will determine how that school functions and how children will be supported within it. All the adults in the school should subscribe to the ethos, and the combination of the behaviours and ethos of those adults sets the culture of the school.

What is a culture?

The culture of a school is determined by its leaders. They set the tone, they set the working culture of their staff and they set the parameters of what is and isn’t acceptable. It is a group of beliefs, attitudes, perceptions and rules that underpin all the school does.

The culture of a school has to be about the children. Schools can develop a culture that is the opposite to this: they function purely for the staff. Decisions are made that are for purely staff benefit rather than the children. A leader has to have a balance between staff well-being and what is best for the children. A leader has to ensure that they use the 1265 statute appropriately, but this does not mean that children lose out on experiences because of it.

Teaching is a difficult job and a time consuming one. Leaders have worked tirelessly over the last few years to support more proactive and time-efficient marking policies and assessment frameworks. Well-being of staff must be at the forefront of a leader’s mind, but we must always remember that the school is for the children. They have one chance at education, and we must do everything in our power to make this a successful and rewarding time that opens doors for their future. A leader has to ensure that the balance is right, and their ethos and culture will determine that. Any environment where the staff needs far outweigh the needs of the children can be counterproductive.

As a leader I am passionate about staff well-being and making sure that staff feel valued and have a positive work-life balance. Staff need to feel safe, happy and rewarded in their roles. Developing a culture for staff well-being should be a key component of a leader’s work, and a leader should do this with the staff not to them. Can you create a working group to discuss how staff feel and what the areas they are concerned about or need more support with?

Think about how you can develop a positive working ethos for staff. How can you celebrate excellence, hard work and say thank you for all the staff do?

Well-being isn’t about yoga and meditation. It is about listening to staff, alleviating anxieties and showing them how valued and appreciated they are. Some may prefer yoga, but others will be happy with a simple ‘thank you’ or an adaptation of a policy to decrease workload. I have seen and been part of some great well-being initiatives such as:

• Staff Oscars
• Senior leadership team (SLT) breakfast
• Fantastic Friday awards for staff

One thing I know is that time is crucial for colleagues. Think how you can save it, not waste it, in your culture.

Core values

All the work you do as a leader of inclusion has to have the children at heart, and you must build your culture around this. As we move through the book you will see that the strategy involved in becoming a successful leader of inclusion has to be about building an ethos and a culture that is all about children.

The culture of a school is generally underpinned by core values.

What are the core values that drive you?

Have they ever changed?

Will they ever change?

These are ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: inclusion
• 1 Developing an ethos
• 2 Leadership – leading the line
• 3 SEND and supporting your SENDCO
• 4 Systems, systems, systems: developing, embedding and measuring
• 5 Safeguarding
• 6 Attendance
• 7 Pupil premium
• 8 Alternative provision
• 9 The children
• 10 OFSTED
• Glossary of terms
• Index