Our School Story:
The Henry Box School
The Henry Box School in Witney, Oxfordshire is a large state secondary school serving a comprehensive demographic.
Their practice is beautifully relational and they have really considered the needs of their students and, importantly, they involve families and get them involved too! This ranges from a focused ‘meet and greet’ at the start of every lesson and inclusive communications, to a redeployment of resources so that they now have a Family Support Team as well as a Student Support Team. Their response to unwanted behaviour is to consider all the spheres of influence and to work in partnership with
families.
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The school building is large and imposing, comprising of 14 different buildings on site. To make the school more welcoming for families, they designated a room for families to meet staff at the very front of the building. This is deliberately a comfortable and more casually designed room. Putting this at the front of the building makes it more accessible, and meeting in a comfortable non-classroom setting helps to put families at ease.
Henry Box have been very data driven in their approach. They carried out reading age tests and analysed the data and found that 95% of the children with behaviour/attendance issues had a low reading age. As a result, they now work hard to ensure that every Year 7 child, with a reading age below their chronological age, is taught how to read as quickly as possible. They use the Read Write Inc. Fresh Start programme to do this. The Inclusion Team includes four highly qualified teachers with specific specialisms to ensure that no child is left behind.
They are very aware of internal truancy and utilise support staff to work with children who may not be in the right place at the right time. These members of staff use non-confrontational language, e.g. ‘where should you be?’, ‘Let’s walk and talk’ and escort the learners where they need to go.
Staff are trained regularly in delivering scripted interventions to diffuse situations and guide interventions. Staff also receive on-going training and ‘behaviour boosters’, as required, so that they are clear on ‘how we do things here’.
They utilise a ‘flashmob’ approach i.e. time efficient with the right people, where they bring in different stakeholders and ‘spotlight’ certain individuals so that they can open up ideas with all of the adults who are involved with students.
Relentless botheredness is an approach favoured, with staff really taking an interest in their pupils and refusing to give up. The school focuses on cultivating a sense of belonging for staff and students. Eye contact and smiling; the small moments and gestures support their ‘every interaction is an intervention’ approach.
More ‘influential’ children are identified and are encouraged to do the right thing, with the idea being that others will ‘follow’ their lead.
The Henry Box School are very mindful and aware of the student voice. They are consulted and are very much part of things. Things are not set in stone and can be shifted. For example, rather than one long lunch break they now have a 30-minute brunch break and a 30-minute lunch break as it was fed-back that the children were getting hungry waiting for one lunch break. Recently, there has been a uniform change so that all black trainers are now allowed and this was in response to feedback from families and students.
Transition from primary school is gradual and supported, with a 3-day transition period to enable students to be welcomed into vertical tutor groups of no more than 22. Older students provide support and guidance for the younger children. As a result of the younger students feeling overwhelmed at the end of the day, KS3 now finish 5 minutes earlier and are escorted to the gate by their teacher.
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Whilst the Henry Box School is very mindful of its students, there is also an understanding and awareness of the need to support staff too! Praise postcards are for staff as well as children! Teachers are encouraged to go home early (2.15pm) on Wednesday afternoons. The timetable has been deliberately engineered to create PPA for everyone to enable this to be an option. This is just one example of the school’s commitment to its Workload Charter.
We are thrilled to have the Henry Box School on board as a WTAC Partner School, and hope that they can be an inspiration to others!