Monday morning and I’m waiting to greet the boys coming into assembly.
I’m usually in by 7.45a.m. so if I’ve managed to check my emails and visit at least one of the residential areas as well as attend the first staff meeting, I should already have a good idea about any potential problems to deal with or praise to give to the boys. The weekend staff will have contacted me on Sunday night and given me details about the boys’ weekend. Clear and regular communication between all members of the staff team is the key to ensuring the boys are ready to learn and access the varying parts of the 24 hour curriculum.
As the boys walk towards me I’m looking for good eye contact, a smile, and a friendly handshake. Staff are skilled in reading the signs and can spot changes in moods and step in early to help any boy deal with problems which may arise.
Today bodes well - lots of smiles and firm handshakes. It’s my assembly and I’m introducing the latest BEST topic which will permeate the entire curriculum in both the school and house units for the next week. BEST is the holistic 24-hour Behavioural, Emotional, Social & Therapeutic (BEST) programme our full-time educational psychologist devised for our 11- to 19-year-olds.
Attitude is a major block to gaining skills and knowledge so we spend a lot of time throughout the week trying to promote positive skills to raise self-esteem. “Think good - feel good” is this week’s BEST theme. It aims to help boys recognise that their thoughts affect their feelings and this in turn affects their behaviour. The aim this week is to change their “all or nothing” thoughts and feelings towards just about everything. So, we’ll encourage the child who panics saying, “I can’t do maths!” to think, “I can do maths but I need help with it.” To another, we’ll explain that scoring zero (in our behaviour points system) for classroom conduct does not imply yet another negative but that it’s a chance to start afresh - and right away.
Tomorrow our Educational Psychologist and teachers will discuss the current theme in depth with classes. On Thursday evenings the boys and residential staff expand and reinforce the topic, its meaning and impact, by discussing how far they have put some of the ideas into practice during the week. For example, if one of the boys has had a negative approach to an activity new to him such as believing that he’ll never be able to learn to swim, he will be encouraged to take the plunge and try the activity broken down into small manageable steps.
This process is used to make the theme of the week real and applicable to their lives. And, in Friday’s assembly, our Head of Care rounds off the week’s theme by showing the boys that the theme of the week also applies to adults. In a recent assembly he used his eclectic choice of music on his iPod to show how the power of music can affect our moods. It was certainly a range which took us from ‘The Road to Hell’ to ‘Summertime’ by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – accompanied by dance moves that, at the very least, had staff and boys starting their day with a smile on their faces!
Another way we try to raise self esteem is to ensure we celebrate success. Each Monday assembly the entries for Work of the Week are acknowledged and the chosen piece is displayed. A glass topped table, a banoffi pie, a creative piece of writing, a DVD of photographs produced by one of the boys have all been recent winners of Work of the Week.
After assembly and the second meeting of the day I am usually involved in reviews, admission interviews, liaising with Local Authorities, meetings, reading about new initiatives, updating policies and other paperwork. No day is the same and I always try to escape from my office and make sure I do a ‘walkabout’ to ensure I keep in touch with the daily life of the boys and staff. This is when I see the excellent work going on all around the school site: kitchen staff sharing a joke with one of the boys who’s doing a work placement with them as part of his GCSE Catering course; boys learning how to strip down a car engine and so engrossed they don’t notice me come in; boys feeding the goats and hens in the environmental studies area; others are working on the interactive whiteboard in maths or receiving one to one support to develop their literacy skills.
What I’m really proud of when I’m showing visitors around is the calm atmosphere. Even when a boy is having difficulty in staying on task and coping in class he is encouraged to resolve this with help from staff who are constantly there to support and encourage. Good communication and the respect shared between pupils and staff fosters an atmosphere of support and resilience; even when life is difficult staff do not give up on the boys.
Lunch and tea times are social occasions for the boys and staff and provide opportunities to discuss the events of the day. Like all schoolboys our boys are keen to get out of school uniform and relax at the end of the school day. They’ll have worked out their effort and behaviour points for the day and chosen activities for the evening.
As I leave the site I usually pass a group of boys playing football and others on their way to go swimming or to play golf. Just two miles of lane bordered by woods and fields before I join the main road. Time to unwind and make sure I avoid the deer, badgers and squirrels. What a fantastic place to work!