Supporting Service Children Through School Transitions
1. Schools with Service Families Strategy
Matt Blyton, Education Development Adviser
0-19 Vulnerable and targeted learners
matt.blyton@northyorks.gov.uk
SCSN conference 27.11.12
3. Aims of the session
• To share some of the implications for
schools and Service children of ‘high
mobility’
• To share the work of NYCC & its
Quality & Schools with Service Families
Improvement
Service
Strategy
nyASSIST • To suggest some aspects of good
practice to support Service children
at times of transition
4. How many children from service
families (DfE definition)?
• January 2012 – 2893 pupils from 148
schools (~40% of our schools)
(24 ‘new’ schools from 2011)
Quality &
Improvement
• 6.7% of the pupil roll of these schools
Service (from 0.1% to 94%)
nyASSIST
• About 3% of total school-age
population (schools census)
5. Clarifying ‘PUPIL MOBILITY’
Mobility rate is:
Pupils joining school + pupils leaving school
100
Quality &
Improvement
X Total school roll
Service (Dobson DfES 1999)
nyASSIST
Mobility rate of 20% + is considered to be
‘high’ and 30% ‘very high’
6. So what are the implications
of pupil mobility?
Student views – challenges of moving
Quality &
Improvement
Service
nyASSIST
7. The main implications of mobility
1. The impact of the transition cycle
2. The impact on health and
behaviours
3. The impact on educational
Quality & achievement & the ‘Annabelle
Improvement
Service
effect’
nyASSIST 4. The impact on curriculum
continuity and the transfer of
records
8. CHAOS
Anxiety
Disengaging Status Less Re-engaging
Preparation Observation
Celebration Introduction
Denial Vulnerability
Settled Settled
Commitment Commitment
Status Status
Intimacy
Intimacy
1. The Transition Experience
(handout)
9. DISENGAGEMENT
• Pupils may begin to disengage up to
6 months before the move
• Energy and emotion devoted to
planning ahead
• Pupils may be excluded by peers or
Quality &
Improvement may exclude themselves
Service
nyASSIST
How well though do schools prepare a
child to leave?
10. RE-ENGAGEMENT
• May take up to 6 months to feel fully
involved in the new location
• Some pupils will feel a huge sense of loss
• Some may experience culture shock
• Parents will need time to adjust and settle
Quality &
Improvement as well as pupils
Service
nyASSIST
How well though do schools prepare for a
child’s arrival?
11. 2. Pupil health and behaviours
• ECM - Health Related Behaviour
Questionnaire
• Designed for young people to consider
‘Every Child Matters’ outcomes
Quality & • 20+ years / >1000 schools / hundreds
Improvement
Service
of thousands of school children
nyASSIST • Exeter University’s Schools Health
Education Unit - summer term 2012
12. • 9-11 year olds and to 12-15 year
olds surveyed
• 8,400 secondary school students
(600 service) & 6,500 primary
school children (400 service)
• Dependent on self-report and
Quality & therefore subject to selection bias
Improvement
Service (e.g. children not in school on the
nyASSIST day)
• Many concerning findings for our
Service pupils...again!
13. ECM-HRBQ – Year 6 (handout)
Significantly ALL 2010 2012
More likely to have had an service family service family
accident last year
More likely to have ever service family service family
tried smoking
Quality & More likely to worry about service family x
Improvement going to secondary school
Service
nyASSIST More likely to worry very service family X
often about their health
More likely to have been x service family
bullied at school
14. ECM-HRBQ – Year 10 (handout)
Significantly - SOME 2010 2012
More likely to have ever taken
drugs / drank last week / ever service family service family
tried smoking
More likely to be sexually active service family service family
Less likely to have high self service family service family
esteem
Less likely to report their
intention to carry on in full time service family service family
education after Year 11
Quality & More likely to have had an
Improvement accident last year service family service family
Service
More likely to have been bullied
nyASSIST at school in the last year service family x
More likely to do 7+ hours x service family
exercise / week
More likely to be able to find x service family
free condoms
15. 3. Educational achievement
• “almost all schools with mobility above 15%
have average GCSE scores below the
national average” but noted that “it is
difficult to isolate the effect of pupil
mobility on attainment because if often
occurs alongside other factors, such as
Quality & disrupted family life”.
Improvement
Service
HOC Report: 2006
nyASSIST • Cf: The DfE’s ‘The Educational Performance
of Children of Service Personnel’ (July 201)
• The ‘Annabelle effect’
16. 4. Curriculum continuity and
the transfer of records
Schools should: ‘Improve the system for the
transfer of children and their records from
one school to another, ensuring that: all
records are cumulative; remain
confidential; are of a consistently high
Quality & standard; and arrive in a timely way at the
Improvement receiving school and local authority’
Service
nyASSIST
‘Children in Service families: The quality and impact
of partnership provision for children in Service
families’ (Ofsted 2011)
17. Two thirds (66%) parents agree or
strongly agree that information from
their child’s previous school was
transferred efficiently, with an
additional 25% answering ‘don’t
know’.
Quality &
Improvement
Service ‘We came to this area from Northern
nyASSIST Ireland. Paperwork from that school
was not passed on and the
curriculum was very different.‘
18. NYCC’s Schools with Service
Families Strategy
• 6th year
• Working parties chaired by school leaders
• Resources / guidance e.g. e-Record
• Current priorities e.g.
Quality &
- action research on impact of school
Improvement moves on educational progress
Service
nyASSIST
- revising guidance for leaders and
governors
- responding to the HRBQ findings
- ‘Starting school’ guidance
19. LA Information and support
• Regular newsletter
• Parental survey (June 2012)
• Advice and Support requests for
training
Quality &
• Annual Information Sharing Day – Fri
Improvement 25th January 2013, Harrogate
Service
nyASSIST
• Service Children in Schools and
Settings VLE room
• Student voice conference Oct 12th
21. Pupil Voice conference – 12th Oct
• Aim – to gather the views of Service
pupils in a sample of North Yorkshire
schools about how schools support
and celebrate them, with a view to
identifying and sharing good practice
Quality & / making recommendations
Improvement
Service • Should schools treat Service Pupils
nyASSIST any different to other pupils?
• 62 students from 10 primaries / 6
secondaries
22. Good practice in supporting Service
children at times of transition
Some of the things the pupils tell us.
‘Service pupils don’t want to be treated
completely differently, but they want to be
understood. This extends to being
Quality & understood by their civilian peers as well
Improvement as by school staff. In response to the
Service
question Should schools treat Service
nyASSIST
Pupils any different to other pupils?
the overwhelming majority said ‘Yes, but
just a little bit!’
23. Her Majesty’s Schools (HMS) Heroes
Her Majesty's Schools Heroes is
a unique pupil voice group
formed in the City of Plymouth
for the support of Service
children and young people.
www.hmsheroes.co.uk
24. Top tips for schools
1. Get pupils’ (and parents’) views
2. Have a named point of contact
3. Systematic induction process to
include focus on preparing for
Quality & arrivals
Improvement
Service 4. Chase records relentlessly
nyASSIST
5. Systematic departures system to
include preparing the child and
next school
25. 6. Train all on the transition cycle
7. Create opportunities for pupils to
talk about their experiences of
moving
8. Look out for warning signs such
as separation anxiety
Quality & 9. Provide tailored support for
Improvement
Service Service pupils (e.g. HMS Heroes
nyASSIST club)
10. Emphasise the positives of moving s
26. Wavell Community Infant School
Welcome Song
We’ve got a new friend in our school,
We’ve got a brand new friend in our school,
We’ve got a new friend in our school,
We’d like to welcome you to Wavell.
We’d like to welcome (name) to our school.
We’d like to welcome (name) to our school.
We’d like to welcome (name) to our school.
We’d like to welcome you to Wavell.
Sung to the tune of “He’s got the whole world in his hands”
Words by Wendy Bisicker
27. Wavell Community Infant School
Leaver’s Song
Now its time for you to leave,
We hope that you’ve had fun.
It is to (Cyprus, Germany etc.) you must go,
You are the lucky one!
Please keep safe and do take care
Let us know when you get there.
We’ll miss you lots, good times we’ve shared
Goodbye to you our friend.
Sung to the tune of “Thankyou for our friends”
Words by Wendy Bisicker
28. We need to pick up the baton with
these pupils, and then run our hardest
before passing it on to the next school.
Quality &
Improvement
Service
nyASSIST
Notas del editor
Introduction & my background Refer to handouts – happy to send the slides to anyone if they want them (email me)
Yorkshire Airlines clip & explanation (2 mins) – hyperlink...but Leeds is in South Yorkshire! NY context Sparsely populated - 2 National Parks The largest number of small primaries: 51 with <40 pupils & 134 <80 pupils Around 20% of the population live in the two major urban areas – Harrogate and Scarborough. Catterick Garrison increasing rapidly Majority of the remaining population live in the 28 small market towns or small villages & hamlets 12 military bases (and 2 in York)
Discuss the likely under-representation due to the still narron definition of a SP
Explain October conference and play conference clips (2 mins): Negatives – 1’ 26” – 3’ 26”
Run through and say I will take each in turn briefly. NB – Don’t Google the Annabelle Effect as you won’t find it!
Brief reference – explain (on mouse clicks) that I want to focus on two of these
2 nd click – my views on preparing a child for leaving
2 nd click – my views on preparing a child for leaving
2010 Service pupils could be identified amongst different social identity groups I have copies of the three surveys for those interested
Predominantly (Years 5-6) & (Years 8 & 10) self-reported and it does depend on which children are in school when you do it, but a pretty big sample and does give us some idea. Also of course, depends what the comparators are. Service children compared with ‘all North Yorkshire’ might give a different answer from comparison with ‘all inner city Bradford’ etc.
But give an overview on the ‘gap closing’
But most results have improved since 2010 Health warning over number of Service pupils
The Annabelle effect… - the danger of assumptions living up to low expectations hiding one’s talents the dangers of assessing too early
Reference David Walker’s work – will not go into details here...but give my views of attainment v progress
Share some of the resources – leadership guidance / Care, Guidance & Support booklet / parents’ leaflets Refer to the eRecord in packs 2 nd click – briefly talk through current work-stream examples
2 clicks – will say a little more about the last two
Make offer for schools to ‘buy into this – email me if interested (address on the cover of the handouts)
Video clip from 3’ 24” (3 minutes) Talk through key findings related to the conference.
Created their own name and logo. Drawn by a 10yr old. Now have T shirts and on our standard.
Induction: Tour with parents and pupils Meet parents and pupils on first day ‘ Buddy’ system in new class Brief details on arrivals board Welcome in assembly Settling in chat after first week Parent/teacher interview after three weeks All these aid sense of ‘belonging’ Set up the eRecord Departures Establish an E-mail link with a pupil in the new school Keep accurate records of progress and current targets Help resolve any conflicts with other pupils Plan farewell rituals Affirm relationships and achievements Think positively about the future
While talking to the pupil, I try to keep the emphasis on the positive side of moving, however it is prudent to listen carefully for other aspects of the move that may be concerning the pupil, and feed that back to the CT and teachers where possible. Hyperlink – video of positives (1 min from 00:26)