Queen Emma’s Primary School was at times a dysfunctional, unsafe and unhappy place back in the spring and summer term in 2017, before it embraced relational practice. Inconsistent adult behaviour resulted in dysregulated behaviour escalating. Poor communication
between adults and children contributed to misunderstandings.

In addition, it had been rated as ‘requires improvement’ and had a poor reputation locally. The school was unsurprisingly undersubscribed, meaning that any child that was encouraged to have a ‘fresh start’ from neighbouring schools joined the already ‘dysfunctional’ community.

Something needed to be done, and Senior Leaders decided to tear up the behaviour policy, quite literally, in front of the staff! Reading ‘When The Adults Change, Everything Changes’ and working with us gave the team the confidence to do things differently and, importantly, to sustain it. They wanted school to feel like a place people wanted to be, so needed to shift
the focus of conversation to the curriculum and pedagogy rather than how ‘naughty’ the child in Year 4 had been.

A behaviour blueprint was created and they communicated how they were now doing things with all stakeholders. There were some quick ways to get a positive result- meet and greets, positive recognition, positive phone calls home and hot chocolate on a Friday for over and above behaviour.

However, there have also been challenges. Namely, ensuring that all adults behave in a calm, consistent way. Even now there are occasions where, once they’ve unpicked an incident, they can see that adult behaviour triggered the dysregulation or has not helped the child/children to regulate. So, there are always things to keep working on. They are in a place now where they can debrief staff and have those candid conversations about their behaviour.

Staff living and breathing the values has been key to the process. They moved away from token mindfulness and yoga sessions and focused their professional development on relational practice. There is a clear onboarding programme for new staff and volunteers and the need to continuously support staff and model how to behave. These conversations need to be had with adults, as well as children, to ensure that there is total consistency and understanding.

Over and above behaviour is recognised, and every member of the school community is expected to be ‘ready, respectful and safe’. Queen Emma’s is now working with its families, supporting them to move away from transactional parenting. Leaders work alongside parents to ensure they have the basic tools to improve the relationship with their children.

We are delighted to have Queen Emma’s on board with us as a When The Adults Change Partner School. They truly are a warm, happy school who have dared to do things differently, and have had that pay off in terms of beautiful relational practice!