: Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. If you talk to anyone in education you will find that behaviour is always a hot topic of conversation

If you talk to anyone in education you will find that behaviour is always a hot topic of conversation. However, there are some sound pieces of evidence that can support us in identifying ​‘best bets’ that will help us to manage behaviour effectively.

The EEF’s published guidance report on ​‘Improving behaviour in schools’, makes six recommendations on how to tackle behaviour in school.

Each of these six recommendations are explored in detail in the guidance report, Improving Behaviour in Schools, but for now, let’s dig deeper into Recommendation 6 which highlights the importance of consistency at a whole school level. This guidance brings to light the impact a consistently applied behaviour policy can have; not only on pupil wellbeing and attendance but also on staff. I don’t think that any school would disagree with the fact that consistency is important. It is important to pupils, their family and staff in order to create a community that feels fair, feels safe and is a place where positive relationships have the opportunity to thrive. However, this is not always easy to achieve.

So how did we do it?

When developing our whole school approach to behaviour, we knew it would be imperative to have buy-in from all members of staff: ranging from office staff, to play mentors to teachers. To get this buy-in, we dedicated time to explore the relevant evidence with all stakeholders and came to a mutual consensus on which aspects of it would work with our children. From this we developed a clear rationale as to WHY it would work which helped us to develop our active ingredients. These were:

• Having an effective engagement policy that made sense to all staff and pupils
• Setting clear expectations; enabling staff to consistently follow the policy
• Setting clear expectations for pupils to support them with behaviour and how to feel safe whilst at school
• Developing empowered staff who would feel confident in delivering the policy and know they have the support of ALL members of staff

We wanted a clear vision that sung, ​‘This is how we do it here’ and we wanted all members of staff to sing the same tune. The next challenge was to plan how to do this whilst ensuring that consistency was the key.

A range of options were explored with some key actions arising as the outcomes. One outcome was a daily meet and greet. As we know relationships are key to ensure connection between pupils and staff, where behaviour can not only be commended but how that pupil is feeling on arrival to school can be recognised. This small, low cost, not time-consuming action, has had a dramatic effect on teacher – pupil relationships. Children expect it, teachers know it is part of the engagement policy and therefore staff and pupils can hold each other to account.

Pockets of misbehaviour are common in all schools, particularly at the beginning and end of lessons and during movement about the building. Meet and Greets are a great way to help aid either the transition from home to school, in the Primary Sector, or lesson to lesson in the Secondary. It is often not a ​“magic” bullet that is fired and sorts the problem but a little improvement and tweak that can build up to a cumulative effect. The important thing then, as the title of this blog suggests, is the consistent monitoring of the quality and consistency of your chosen approach. Are all staff using it? What impact is it having and how do we know?

In conclusion, by fostering positive behaviour in a consistent way, it is possible to create an environment where students and staff feel safe, respected, supported and motivated to learn.