Overview

When reviewing our attendance data at the end of the last academic year, we noticed that our persistent absence was above the national average and disproportionately affected our most disadvantaged children. While we felt confident in the changes we had made to our existing attendance policy, we knew we needed to pivot our approach for this academic year to meaningfully impact this data. We decided to focus heavily on the relational aspect of our attendance policy, centering our efforts on building authentic connections between parents, Wandsworth local authority, and most importantly the pupils themselves. 

This became an whole school approach involving every stakeholder across our community. It required active participation from our admin team, classroom teachers, teaching assistants, senior leadership team, and our wider governing body. Knowing we did not have cases of Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA), we focused our energy entirely on removing practical barriers for families, which naturally led to a much more targeted approach.

At the start of the academic year, we worked closely with teachers on relational practice, ensuring they spoke face to face with every single parent in September to share information, regularly communicate over class dojo and foster early engagement. From that first half-term, we prioritised attendance as a standing item in senior leadership and phase meetings. Using our attendance flowcharts, teachers began targeting families in a positive, supportive way the moment a child’s attendance dropped below 95%. For families facing persistent absence, we introduced our Individual Attendance Plan (IAP) document to work collaboratively with parents and pinpoint exactly where the most effective support could be placed. Crucially, we made the deliberate decision to avoid fining parents. Fining often impacts disadvantaged families more proportionately than more affluent families, and we wanted this process to remain strictly supportive rather than punitive.

Strategies

Our approach relies on an active, highly visible frontline presence. Our entire leadership team is outside on the playground every single day building relationships and praising parents for bringing their children into school. Behind the scenes, the admin office acts as another crucial frontline, proactively reviewing attendance data every two weeks, communicating with parents and thinking of unique ways to support our most vulnerable families. They share these insights with the leadership team, who work with phase leaders and class teachers to ensure the most proactive support.

When individual families struggle with persistent absence, we implement targeted IAPs to establish tailored support. Furthermore, because we recently brought our wraparound care under the school’s control, we now have the structural flexibility to offer free wraparound care or deploy staff members from the wraparound team to run a tailored “walking bus” collection scheme.

We intentionally focus this home collection model on lower Key Stage 2 pupils. By intervening at this specific age, we can provide temporary, practical scaffolding that supports families through challenging routines, with the ultimate goal of transitioning the children toward walking to school independently by the time they reach Year 5 and Year 6.

Outcomes

Our intensive focus on data and relationship building across the school has resulted in a significant reduction in persistent absence, with our current figures now back above pre-pandemic baselines.

When analysing our whole-school attendance data, we can see a clear improvement. Our baseline figures stood at 95.9% pre-COVID in 2018/19, before dipping during the post-pandemic recovery period to 94.4% in 2022/23 and 94.0% in 2023/24. Following the launch of this attendance approach, whole school attendance climbed to 94.6% in 2024/25, and has now reached 96%  this year.

The most substantial impact of this strategy is visible in our persistent absence figures, which have dropped significantly. Having risen from a pre-COVID baseline of 8.7% up to a peak 16.8% in 2024/25, our current whole-school persistent absence now sits at a 7.9%, comfortably beating our pre-pandemic record and a have halved since we have introduced this relational approach.

By embedding relationship building into the daily culture of all parts of the school, we have seen our most significant improvements among our most vulnerable cohorts. Persistent absence for children with SEND has seen a sharp reduction from 31.9% in 2022/23 and 25% in 2024/25, to 8.9% currently. Similarly, our focus on removing practical barriers has led to a major, positive shift for our FSM6 eligible pupils. Their persistent absence rates stood at 34.8% in 2023/24, and 32.9% in 2024/25, but have now dropped significantly to 18.4% this year.

Resource Implications

This strategy required rethinking how we use our internal team and assets. Bringing our wraparound care in-house was a vital component, as it gave us the staffing flexibility to deploy familiar adult faces for morning collections and walking buses without disrupting regular classroom teaching. It also allowed us to utilise free wraparound spaces as a practical tool to support struggling families. Additionally, we restructured our communication timelines so that bi-weekly admin data reviews feed directly into phase and leadership meetings, ensuring a quick turnaround between identifying an attendance drop and offering families targeted support.

This term, we have hired a dedicated attendance champion who will work closely with kay families for a more personal approach. This member of staff was hired based on their values and positive relational practice. 

Voice

Below are some examples of pupil and parent voice and the impact this approach has directly had on their attendance.

Year 5 vulnerable pupil who was PA last year:

“I love school now, I’m interested in lots of subjects so I don’t want to miss anything! It feels good to be here for everything” (This pupil’s attendance improved from 89% in 24/25 to 95% in 25/26 ). 

Year 4 pupil and parent who were part of the targeted collection scheme:

This pupil had an attendance rate of 76% until March 4th when the intervention started, supporting a family who had just had another baby and was struggling to get her child into school. Following the home collections, her attendance has been 97.8%. 

Year 4 Pupil: “Because Mr X and Miss M come and get me, this helps me so much and I think it really helps my mum. I can’t wait to walk to school by myself next year”. 

Parent of Year 4 Pupil: “The collections are a blessing, the way the school have supported us this year has completely changed my engagement with the school”.

Overview

Our one-form-entry Church of England primary school serves a diverse international community in Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden and each of our cohorts includes children with a wide range of SEND.

Our strong and school-wide culture of belonging across our school community supports every child, whatever their individual needs, to feel they have a place in our school and within their class. This sense of belonging and of feeling known and valued, in turn supports every child to make excellent progress and leads to strong outcomes both academically and socially. The strong sense of belonging in our school has not occurred by chance but instead has been strategically created over a number of years and is now maintained through a range of whole school projects, curriculum activities and staff behaviours (see strategies and activities section below).

The impact of this long-term and ongoing work can be seen in:

• children who tell us they feel safe, valued, known and that they ‘belong to something bigger’, whatever their individual needs
• positive academic outcomes and progress for all pupils, including for those with SEND
• high attendance figures for all, especially for our SEND group
• positive transitions into our school for children with SEND, and onwards into secondary provision
• a collaborative partnership with families of pupils with SEND.
  (See impact section below for more detail)

As the SEND needs in our school change and evolve, we are already reviewing our current belonging strategies and activities to ensure they continue working for every child and family. We also ensure that new staff members understand our ways of working through effective induction and ongoing support.

Key advice for other settings aiming to replicate this model includes:

• review, honestly, what you already do so that all pupils are known, valued and feel they belong; think particularly about the experience of pupils with SEND
• plan specific curriculum and whole school activities which teach the skills and concepts of inclusion and belonging – dedicate time to this and plan specifically how your SEND pupils will be fully involved
• if your school is much bigger, split it up into smaller units where everyone can feel they belong
• invest time and energy into explaining to your staff team why developing a sense of belonging is important and into making the small things happen, for example knowing everyone’s name and greeting every child – leaders need to model the behaviours they want to see in other staff and in the children
• consider your behaviour and reward systems with a specific focus on the experience of SEND pupils – build in flexibility and opportunities for success for every child
• review how you welcome new families into your school (at all entry points) and how you deliberately engage with parents to build relationships

Strategy

Belonging to something bigger – no opt-out culture – every child, every experience

We provide as wide an experience as possible for all our pupils and every child participates in everything, whatever their individual needs. We plan ahead, make adaptations and provide additional support so that every child participates in both our day-to-day activities (assemblies, class trips, workshops in school) and our one-off events (whole school performances, church services, concerts, sharing events). No one misses out, no one can opt out and everyone’s contribution is visible and valued.

One example of a whole school inclusive project is our Happiness Project which puts well-being at the heart of our school for all children.

Belonging beyond the classroom – inclusive extra-curricular activities

We specifically target and include SEND pupils in our sports teams, music opportunities, pupil leadership groups, art projects, after school clubs and other wider activities.
Using the language of belonging – how adults talk changes everything
There is a relentless focus on the positive and inclusive in our parent meetings, staff discussions, pupil progress meetings, in our playground and our classrooms:

• setting aspirational targets, maintaining high expectations, ‘we can’t do that yet…’, no labels
• ‘we include everyone in our games’, opportunities to celebrate that we are good at different things
• we are always conscious of children’s dignity and the need for fresh starts in our behaviour policy

Relationships supporting belonging

We invest considerable time and energy into building, maintaining and modelling positive relationships across our school:

• building positive staff-pupil relationships – starting from before children even start; knowing names; greeting every pupil each day on the gate and at the door; effective transition processes
• building positive staff-family relationships – taking time to develop and cultivate these relationships, especially for families of SEND and vulnerable pupils
• providing a safe space for every pupil and family – offering time to talk when needed
• there are no ‘broken’ relationships – a fresh start approach allows everyone to move on from challenging times

Knowing every pupil supporting belonging

Staff work hard to develop excellent knowledge of every pupil, right across the staff team and right across the school. We use a team approach for pupils with SEND so that our more vulnerable pupils are known well by a number of different staff members. We share key information carefully about our SEND pupils and this helps staff members to support each other and ensures smooth transitions for SEND pupils throughout the day and from class to class and teacher to teacher.

We ask (and support) every pupil to give an individual presentation every year, starting in Reception, with a focus on celebrating our differences and individuality. These provide opportunities for children to share their individual needs (their ‘super powers’) and for peers to develop understanding of difference, equity and inclusion.

Children leading belonging – peer culture and everyday inclusion

Our children are our biggest asset in supporting inclusion for all – they include everyone in their games, they respect everyone’s ideas in their classroom discussions, they understand that we all need different things so that we can all make progress and they respect differences between each other but look beyond these to appreciate what we all have in common. But none of this happens by accident and each of these skills is explicitly taught and reinforced throughout our school – in our curriculum, in the way adults role model inclusive behaviours and in the way we praise the inclusive behaviours we see.

Outcomes

There are many positive outcomes as a result of our focus on a school-wide culture of belonging:

Children who tell us they feel safe, valued, known and that they ‘belong to something bigger’, whatever their individual needs

• In a recent pupil voice session with an external adviser, pupils, including SEND pupils, highlighted ‘the sense of welcome, belonging and inclusion’ in our school.

Positive academic outcomes and progress for all pupils, including for those with SEND

• Our SEND pupils achieve well at the end of Year 6 – over the past three years 56% of them have achieved at at least expected in Reading, Writing and Maths with 78% achieving at expected in at least one subject and 44% of them achieving at greater depth in at least one subject. Our whole school three-year-trend figures are 90% achieving at at least expected for Reading, Writing and Maths and 45% achieving at greater depth in all three subjects.

High attendance figures for all, especially for our SEND group

• Whole school attendance for the last two years are well above national and local figures at 96.9% (24/25) and 96.3% (23/24) with comparable very high attendance figures for our SEND group at 96.8% and 96.3%.

Positive transitions into our school for children with SEND, and onwards into secondary provision

• Pupils with SEND, who have often found it challenging in other settings, move into our school positively, benefiting from a fresh start approach and from being part of a small and welcoming school community where they feel known, valued, understood and supported. One parent of a pupil with SEND who joined our school mid-year spoke about her child’s ‘…real progress in opening up and feeling safer. He has spoken positively about the kindness he has received, and that has meant a lot to him.’
• Children with SEND joining our school in Reception make a similarly positive start due to the time and energy put into ensuring their transition is smooth, by getting to know the child, their needs and their family before they start and taking time to build relationships.
  There are several case studies of pupils who have needed significant external agency SEND support in previous schools or nurseries, where support has been able to be stepped down after a positive start at Christ Church.

A collaborative partnership with families of pupils with SEND which helps us to coordinate support that is right for their child

• Parents work with us collaboratively to plan the right support for their child as a result of us building positive and trusting relationships.

Resource Implications

There is very little cost or resource implication to ensuring that a culture of belonging exists for all pupils and especially for those pupils with SEND. It is more about a culture change and a prioritisation of school leaders’ and staff members’ time and energy into building relationships alongside a whole school focus on the expectation that all activities are for everyone.

Voice

Pupil voice session with LDBS adviser (March 2026):
When asked about their school ‘….pupils mainly focused on the sense of welcome, belonging and inclusion.’

Parent survey (February 2026), parent of new joiner:
‘Our daughter recently joined the school as an in-year entrant. Over this brief period we have seen her thrive. She is brimming with confidence and displays a love for learning. She is excited to arrive at the gate every morning. The school and the staff have been stellar in every way and have created an exceptionally positive environment for learning and wider child development.’

Parent survey (February 2026):
‘We are extremely happy with the school and deeply grateful for the dedication shown by the teachers. They’re kind, supportive, and genuinely care about each child’s learning and well-being. The atmosphere at the school is warm and positive. It’s clear that a lot of heart and hard work go into making this such a wonderful community.’

Comment from parent of SEND pupil joining our school mid-year (July 2025):
‘…I wanted to thank you all for welcoming K and making him feel part of your school community….Since starting at Christ Church, K has made real progress in opening up and feeling safer. He has spoken positively about the kindness he has received, and that has meant a lot to him.’

Overview

Our school has changed enormously over the last decade with pupils eligible for FSM rising from 25% in 2016  to 44% in 2026 and with pupils eligible for PP at 48% for the current Year 7. The proportion of EAL pupils in the school has increased from 375 to just over 1500 and EHCPs have increased tenfold. These pressures led to an increase in behaviour challenges, SEND need, pupil anxiety and contextual safeguarding issues. Most SEND issues stem from SEMH.

We have set out on a mission to transform inclusive provision, moving to more proactive therapeutic solutions, in order to support pupils with the challenges they face in everyday life and to help manage SEND SEMH behaviours and support learning in the classroom. This provision spans the curriculum and teaching and learning strategies, bespoke academic support, numerous pastoral interventions and a full time staffed ‘Student Services’ office to provide practical items and support for pupils throughout the day.  Work experience placements for all pupils and a specific focus on careers through specific events for SEND pupils, along with an extensive partnership with Aim Higher has also led to impactful work on destinations and aspirations for SEND pupils.

Next potential steps include further enhancing our curriculum provision for SEND pupils, further developing ‘specially resourced provision’ to improve access for SEND pupils who would previously have attended special schools, opening up our Pathway Provision to give respite for pupils from other schools and continuing to develop our teaching and learning strategies.

If you asked us how to go about this, we’d say that firstly, everyone should start with an ethos that every child is to be known and valued for their individuality. Leaders need an unapologetic commitment to ensuring that staff put empathy and an understanding of disadvantaged pupils’ challenges at the core of any decisions made about them.  Next comes CPD, classroom and pastoral based provision that puts disadvantage at the heart of provision, and finally, rigorous tracking to ensure that every possible intervention is explored.

Strategy

Our practice includes:

Strong, adaptive curriculum to nurture a range of talents and needs. This includes a range of KS4 provision beyond traditional GCSEs including qualifications in BTEC Work Skills, NCFE qualifications in Childcare and Health and Fitness plus Cambridge Nationals qualifications in Creative iMedia and Information Technology.

Research-led classroom based strategies, focusing on scaffolding, support and bridging to independence along with a range of SEN bespoke interventions. All CPD begins with a start on supporting SEND and other disadvantaged learners.

Academic support provided through tuition, financial support for materials, laptops for home and school, mentoring from Post 16 students, our ‘Studio 11’ Year 11 after school club, specific SEN homework clubs and digital learning programmes.

Numerous pastoral interventions such as mentoring, counselling, bespoke plans, strong tracking systems and bespoke intervention, with well resourced, strong pastoral teams comprising both teaching and non teaching professionals.

An in-house ‘Pathway Centre’ which provides respite for pupils who are struggling in the day, especially those who find change difficult. Staffed full-time with the same member of staff, academic work continues alongside therapeutic support, and is especially beneficial for pupils who struggle with temporary staff changes (eg: supply teachers), those experiencing contextual safeguarding challenges or those who had had recent trauma in their personal life.

A good balance between sanctions complemented by education to improve behaviours, including a wide range of behaviour workshops to provide educational input for perpetrators including anti-bullying, anti-racist and regulation (anger management) workshops. Other input such as ‘social stories’ provides educational support for higher level SEND pupils, and external workshops also provide input into contextual safeguarding risks such as gang affiliation and grooming.

The removal of daily barriers through practical solutions such as our Student Services drop-in providing uniform, equipment, breakfast bars, lunch money, referrals to other agencies and breakfast club.

A comprehensive careers and work experience offer for all pupils with additional SEND career support through 2 x additional careers fairs for our SEND cohort aswell as a strategic focus on the statutory ‘Preparation for Adulthood’ pathways through additional support through our Connexions Lead, who is onsite 3 days a week. Our work with Aim Higher, and St Mary’s University also targets SEND pupils and those with low aspirations.

Outcomes

By setting out an ethos for a fully inclusive culture, with ‘every teacher ambitious for all’, we have seen significant reduction in exclusions well below the national average, almost zero truancy, improving attendance, fewer pupils being put forward for alternative provision and the gap closing between the achievement between disadvantaged and non.

2025 results demonstrate that 48% of SEN K pupils achieved 4+ including English & Maths, with those achieving 5+ including English & Maths in line with the national average.  36% of EHCP pupils achieved 4+ including English & Maths, double the national average over the last 3 years and 24% achieved  5+ including English & Maths. 60% of our Additionally Resourced Provision for pupils with ASD and /or Speech, Language and Communication needs achieved 4+ including English & Maths, with 40% achieving 5+ including English & Maths.

Our inclusive nurture classes have established a culture of high expectations and exceptional progress for SEN pupils. By utilizing small-step incremental trackers focusing specifically on reading, comprehension, and writing skills, we ensure that students make continuous progress. The rigour of this targeted approach is evidenced by the fact that multiple students have accelerated their reading ages by two full years within a six-month period.

Progress is driven by alignment. Student Pupil Passports (IEPs) are directly mapped to their statutory EHCP targets, creating a transparent roadmap for success. As our staff genuinely understand each individual child’s needs, our culture rewards effort and personal growth alongside data. This embedded, whole-school inclusive ethos has successfully cultivated a deeply positive attitude to learning among our EHCP pupils.
Our inclusive model extends seamlessly into the community. We operate a strict open-door policy, supplemented by regular parental coffee mornings designed to share best practices and gather vital stakeholder insights. This collaborative journey has built profound trust with our families. Feedback is overwhelmingly positive, with over 95% of parents and guardians recommending these sessions and demonstrating sustained attendance.

Transition into our school begins long before September. Beyond standard primary school visits, prospective students and their families are invited for an immersive day to demystify school expectations, timetables, and the curriculum.  Through structured team-building activities, we actively minimise transition anxiety.  By matching incoming students with older peer mentors on the day, we ensure new arrivals feel valued, safe, and fully integrated into our school community before their first official day.  Our pupils’ voice always supports this.

Resource Implications

Our spend on pastoral provision has increased significantly since Covid-19 with resource in every year group comprising a teaching Head of Year, aswell as a teaching Deputy Head of Year, and a combination of either a non-teaching pastoral support worker or additional Deputy Head of Year . We also have invested in full time staff members for our ‘Pathway Centre’ and for our ‘Student Services’ drop in centre.

We also resource safeguarding and mental health significantly, with a full time Mental Health Leader in school, counselling provided through the Schools Counselling Partnership, a team of 4 in our Child Protection team and a full time non-teaching member of staff who works specifically with our Looked After Children, of whom we have the highest number in the borough.

We also make use of a grant provided by the John Lyons Charity to help support our provision of Parent Ambassadors, of which we have 3 in the school. Our ambassadors work one to one with specific families, often with the parents and carers of SEND and EAL pupils and also organise workshops and parent events.

Voice

Parents value our work highly. Parent of EAL and SEND child: ‘The school  has helped me a lot as I don’t speak English well and [the parent ambassador] has been helping me communicate with school for the past 3 years. They have been making arrangements for parents evenings and other meetings and translating for me during these meetings.  I can also contact her to pass messages or if I have a concern about my child or if I need to find anything out.’

A parent who has 2 SEN children at the school: ‘We have found the school support useful, communication particularly from subject teachers and SEND staff has been amazing. Also these coffee mornings are excellent to build parental relationships/friendship.’

We use our students’ voices to cultivate an academically ambitious school culture where every student feels valued, heard, and responsible for their learning environment. Students have commented that they ‘feel safe’, ‘everyone is nice’ and that they can ‘be themselves.’

Following on from Year 7 transition, we asked our students with SEN how they felt. 100% of students asked said that they ‘felt like they belonged at GHS’ and that they ‘felt supported at GHS.’

Overview

When I arrived at Holy Trinity, in January 2025, SEND was a priority on the SDP. It was, and still is, a school with higher than average numbers of pupils with SEND (35%). There are 38 EHCPs in the whole school currently, which works out as 13% of the whole school population. This means that every class, in the 1 form-entry setting, has pupils accessing a bespoke curriculum. Every class has at least one pupil whose needs make emotional regulation very challenging, and therefore has a propensity to impact the whole class, and the wider dynamics in the school. SLCN features as the most salient category of need at Holy Trinity, so it almost goes without saying that ASD, as a communication disorder, is the predominant diagnosis within this category. SEMH as a barrier to learning is present across all of our categories.

Therefore, back in January 2025, a solution was needed to help minimise pupils absconding from class, due to sensory and emotional overload, pupils refusing key transitions during the day (including the start of the school day), pupils presenting self-injurious behaviours and pupils damaging furniture and injuring  peers and adults. Holy Trinity is a large, modern building, with very good internal security. However, due its design, classes can feel quite cut off from each other, meaning that when staff need support, due to dysregulated behaviour from pupils, the risk of further escalation is high. The size of the building can also feel quite daunting to pupils.

Nevertheless, it is thanks to the generous proportions of the building, we were able to set up 3 intervention spaces, with distinct purposes, to catered to provide meaning, but intensive, interventions for a wide-ranging, sizeable population of high needs pupils. Our EYFS cohort over the last couple of needs, has presented with high needs linked to speech and language and independence and self-care needs.

Therefore, we set up an Intervention Space, where regulatory strategies and focus and attention interventions are provided, with a beneficial adult-pupil ratio. We also set up two additional Intervention Rooms. Intervention Room 1 predominantly caters for pupils in EYFS and KS2, and Intervention Room 2 mostly for pupils in KS2, and focuses mostly on learning skills (metacognition). No pupil accesses any of the intervention spaces for 100% of the school day, and some transition in and out of the spaces several times.

The impact from these spaces is tangible. SEND is no longer a whole school priority, and we rarely have children absconding from where they are meant to be. The most vulnerable pupils are excited to come to school every day, and many previous classroom refusers are now back in class for the whole school day.

Strategy

All pupils accessing the intervention spaces either already have an EHCP, or are on a pathway to getting one. Therefore, the curriculum underpinning the daily schedule in the intervention spaces is key to meeting their needs. Essentially the curriculum is based on Section F of the pupils’ EHCPs, and is relatively simple to collate given that many of the suggestions and outcomes on pupils’ EHCP are similar, e.g. Core Boards, and choosing activities.

The two main Intervention Rooms described are characterised by a busy timetable, featuring a range of group, 1:1 and independent activities. There is no ‘dead time’, although pupils can choose ‘quiet time’, or even visit our Calm Room, or spend time in the ‘den’ (1 in each Intervention Space), if they want to be alone in a safe space, but remain supervised in the setting. Intervention Room 1 and Intervention Room 2 differ slightly in expectation, largely due to ‘age and stage’ factors. For example, while most pupils in Intervention Room 2 complete independent TEACCH activities twice a day (which we call ‘Sequence Time’ here), of up to and within 6 activities, in Intervention Room 1 pupils are preparing for further independence and following visual scaffolds via Now and Next activities, comprised of just two steps. That said, both provisions feature some non-negotiable activities at key transition times, e.g. Circle Time, Makaton Song Time, and Write Dance (fine and gross motor skills set to music). At the end of the week, pupils take part in baking, which everyone looks forward to. This has had an impact on behaviour and attendance.

Routine and predictability are essential for pupils accessing the Intervention Rooms. Therefore, an unambiguous visual timetable, as well as use of transition songs and deployment of objects of reference are vital to ensure that children know when an activity starts and finishes, and when it is time to transition to a new task. Economy of spoken language and deployment of Makaton signs help to reinforce communication, and reassure pupils.

A close, transparent working relationship with the speech and language therapy team, and occupational therapists, as well as our specialist teacher, has ensured that staff supporting pupils in the Intervention Rooms are well equipped and confident when it comes to delivery of evidence-based practice.

Relationships with parents and carers, based on trust and an open door policy are also key to our success at Holy Trinity, since the intervention spaces cater for the most vulnerable pupils in the school.

Outcomes

Progress against starting points: Since practice is evidence-based, and tailored specifically to meet individual needs, pupils make measurably progress against their own starting point, and in some cases, visibly close the attainment gap. Children have developed a real sense of achievement, even if progress for them means simply following a 3 part visual sequence, or remaining calm during transitions.

Readiness to learn: Many of our pupils develop the learning skills, and behaviours that allow them to spend the majority, if not all, of their day in the mainstream classroom. Strategies embedded in the Intervention Rooms are available in the mainstream classroom, and class teacher and TAs have received training in regulation techniques and bespoke learning programmes, such as TEACCH. Therefore, there pedagogy is joined up

Improved well-being: the most important metric for us is how happy pupils are to access the provision, and the school as a whole. Anecdotally, one of our highest needs pupils was visibly distressed on a daily basis, prior to the implementation of the current system. He now smiles almost constantly, and has even started to show his sense of humour. There is no doubt that he is happy to come to school. This is thanks to consistent communication strategies, and attention paid to his general needs, such as self-care and his sensory needs

Improved attendance: this very much hinges on the section above. The pupils enjoy being in the setting and really dislike the idea of missing school. The predictability of the routine also plays an important role, here, as at home often time (quite rightly) is unstructured. The pupil alluded to above’s attendance has risen by 11% compared with this time last year

Improved practitioner confidence: CPD has been another cornerstone of cohesive provision here. Intervention Staff have a weekly briefing with myself, which is more of a forum most weeks, and enables staff to express concerns or ideas, or to raise any need for additional CPD. I provide incremental coaching and feedback, at least x1 each half term, and the speech and language team are present every week to model strategies and provide feedback. Teachers and support staff also have a programme of weekly CPD. When it comes to SEND, this may focus on emotional regulation one week, and perhaps a specific Speech and Language therapy strategy such as Colourful Semantics the next. Therefore, the SEND culture at Holy Trinity has been transformed; staff not only know and can articulate their reponsibilities when it comes to SEND, but are confident when it comes to explaining components of a strategy and their rationale.

Resource Implications

Additional adults: At present, we have an adult-pupil ratio in the Intervention Rooms of 1:4, with minimum 2 adults in the room at any given time. However, the school’s finances are in deficit, and this means we are set to lose at least one of the additional adults from September 2026, even with some EHCPs having a significant amount of top-up funding attached. This means, to protect the beneficial ratio, careful planning, when it comes to transitions from the mainstream classroom to the Intervention Rooms will need to take place

Exhaustible concrete resources: orders for exhaustible resources, such as jelly baff, kinetic sand, chew toys, bubbles and sensory soap etc usually comes from EHCP funding. Other concrete resources for key strategies, such as manipulable for Sensory Story and Talking Tables also comes from this pot.

Large items: dependent on what funding remains, we are occasionally able to order useful regulatory items, such as trampolines and holding chairs, or have our bubble tube and lights repaired in the Calm Room

In summary, we use whatever little we have to ensure that provision is engaging and exciting, but sometimes a little financial creativity is required, e.g. fund-raising via the PTA.

Voice

Y1 pupil with ASD, accessing Intervention Room 2 daily, in the afternoon:

Q: What to adults help me with in the Intervention Room?
A: Baking, learning and calming down
Q: Which part of the routine am I really good at?
A: TEACCH and I like to meet my friends
Q: What do I like most about the Intervention Room?
A: Bucket Time, sand, big puzzle, snack time, time with my friends

Y4 pupil with suspected ASD/FAS, accessing Intervention Room 2 daily, in the afternoon: Q: What to adults help me with in the Intervention Room?
A: Correcting my work, and asking questions
Q: Which part of the routine am I really good at?
A: TEACCH and helping the teachers with what they are doing
Q: What do I like most about the Intervention Room?
A:Talking Tables, Sensory Story, Bucket Time
Q: What part of the routine am I not good at yet?
A: x6 tables are really hard for me sometimes

Overview

At Houndsfield, our mission is to empower all children to be successful at Houndsfield, at secondary school and beyond. We know they can only be academically successful if they are emotionally and developmentally ready for learning. Houndsfield Primary School was awarded Nurture UK’s Nurturing Schools Award in October 2025. This work started with the local authority funding a nurture group in KS1 which runs every day and is taught by a teacher with the aim of supporting children’s social, emotional and mental health in order to ‘break down barriers’ and prevent further issues as the children progress up the school. This has proved to be very successful with a reduction in the number of incidents of dysregulated behaviour across the school as the cohorts have moved up. 

Following this, we worked with Nurture UK to extend and embed this nurturing approach across the school in our behaviour policy and in our whole school ethos to ensure all children are ready emotionally and developmentally for learning, and are then supported to be successful academically. This has led to significant improvements in our outcomes for all pupils across the school.

There are six principles that are now part of our school’s behaviour policy:

1. The classroom offers a safe base
2. The importance of nurture for the development of well-being
3. Language is a vital means of communication
4. The importance of transitions in children’s lives
5. Children’s learning is understood developmentally
6. All behaviour is communication

This approach supports all children to be successful in class by ensuring our school is a safe, positive place to be. This means children are focused on their learning and are not distracted by unpredictable environments or inconsistent behaviour expectations. When things go wrong, we look at the root causes of the behaviours and work with the child and family to provide the support they need to continue to be successful in school.  All staff are trained in our approach, and this is further supported with access to Boxall Profiles and a range of interventions and strategies.

Nurture is fundamental to our school’s ethos and our approach to behaviour in school and is embedded within our behaviour policy. It therefore impacts on every child in our school from our day care for children 9 months+ up to year 6 and including our SRP and designated Units. Additional interventions are targeted at children whose Boxall profile demonstrates that further support is needed (Language for Behaviour and Nurture Group) but others are available to children who request support (ELSA and School Counsellor) as well as referrals.

Strategy

Our first stage was to rewrite our behaviour policy to include the six nurture principles which was supported by training for staff on how to support and manage individual children.  We did this in collaboration with a range of staff, looking at how our rewards and consequences worked and how processes linked up with what the nurture principles guided us to do.

We knew from our training that the key to successfully embedding nurture, is making school a safe, happy place to be with consistent routines and expectations and strong relationships. Therefore, our school expectations and policies set out:

• What should be included or displayed in every classroom
• Routines that should be used in every classroom and around the school
• That all staff should have unconditional positive regard for every child
• That disputes of whatever kind are best resolved through restorative conversations to understand what led to the incident

One of the key focuses for us was the principle that all behaviour is communication. We spent time looking at the impact children’s lives outside of school can have on their school days and particularly the impact of trauma. We work hard to ensure every child is listened to and create the environment for them to be successful in school. When things go wrong in school, we take time to think carefully with the child about what has happened, why it is has happened and what can be done differently. This has supported our ability to safeguard children as we have created an environment where children feel free to speak and share their concerns.

To further support staff understanding, the school has Boxall profiles for every child which give us information about children’s readiness for learning and barriers to learning; these are regularly updated. From this work, we are able to identify children who require additional intervention, above what is provided in class. We have often found children with Speech, Language and Communication Needs require additional intervention because they do not have the emotional language to explain how they are feeling. We have been able to support these children with an intervention called Language for Behaviour and Emotions which aims to support children with finding the right words for how they feel. This in addition to the Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) programme and School Counsellor provide safe spaces for children to talk and reflect on their own social and emotional concerns.

Outcomes

Boxall profiles are regularly updated which demonstrates the progress of individual children from their starting points.

The Boxall Profile provides a very detailed summary of a child’s current difficulties and readiness for learning; it produces targets to help staff work on the areas for development as well as strategies and resources to use.  As a baseline, all children were assessed at the beginning of the project. We then identified 3 children from each class whose profiles showed that they needed more support and tracked their progress termly using the Boxall Profiles. The impact of this shows that these children have made good progress and have more accurately targeted strategies to support them.

The outcomes on the profiles can also be shown at a class and school level. Teachers are able to identify areas and strands that require additional attention and can then plan to support these needs through whole class circle times, nurture activities or social times. This has led to improvements in areas such as self-regulation or being able to empathise as activities are specifically planned. Leaders can also plan assemblies and theme weeks based on whole school needs – for example; a recent focus of assemblies was empathy and emotional intelligence as this showed up as an area of development.

The purpose of nurture is to ensure children are ready for learning and to understand children’s learning developmentally. Teachers take time to learn about each child and support them in their learning which has led to improved outcomes. Our statutory data for 2024/25 was significantly better than previous years. For example, our combined at KS2 has increased for 40% in 2023 to 62% in 2025 and our phonics has improved from 48% in 2023 to 82% in 2025. Exclusions have reduced significantly from 15 children in 2023/24 to 7 in 2024/25 and we still hope to reduce this further.

Relationships are key to nurture and the approach we want to take as a school and this can be seen in and around the school all day, every day. Our Nurture UK report highlighted how well developed these relationships are and this was also reflected in an externally commissioned Inclusion Survey Report run by Greenshaw Research School.  The survey found that our pupils report high levels of connectedness, suggesting that they feel staff make the effort to care about them as individuals, and high levels of belonging, suggesting that they feel they belong within our school.

Resource Implications

As a whole school approach, this required careful planning and implementation with all of leadership engaged in leading this change so that it became habitual and embedded. This meant leadership time was needed to create the strategy and engage other members of staff. Training time was needed to ensure all staff were familiar with the behaviour policy – this included regular revisits and was not a one-off training event. There was also time allocated to training on the Boxall Profile, and this is repeated every term to allow staff time to complete the regular updates of the profiles that we need. Some of this training was delivered by an external professional from Nurture UK as part of the Nurturing Schools programme.

The Boxall Profile requires a yearly subscription.

Voice

As part of our National Nurturing Schools Award, pupils and families were asked about their perceptions of nurture and our school. The comments included statements such as “adults respond to issues quickly and put strategies to make it better” and “there is a strong culture in the school to address needs”.

Our Inclusion Survey Report gave us an average score for belonging of 3.52, where 4 is the maximum and 3 is the average show high levels of belonging. It also included comments such as “I like how the teachers are encouraging and how the students are very kind, welcoming, encouraging and funny,” and “I like how friendly and energetic school is. I’m treated with respect and I feel like I can fly!”

Our families’ survey also showed strong support with 57% strongly agreeing that their child is happy at school and 64% strongly agreeing that their child feels safe.

Overview

In Wandsworth 193 total days of schooling were lost to children and young people (CYP) in primary schools due to exclusion.  Additionally, a significant number of CYP with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) for a Social, Emotional Mental Health (SEMH) need are placed into specialist or independent settings.  These placements cost, on average, in excess of £30,000 annually per CYP, which is more than triple the cost of the intervention piloted.  We recognised an opportunity that, with the right support to the people around the CYP, these CYP could remain in their mainstream placement.  This aligns with the proposals in the 2026 schools white paper, ‘Every child achieving and thriving’, that shifts the emphasis towards greater inclusion in mainstream settings so that more children can stay in their local mainstream school.

In order to address the underlying causes and keep CYP in their mainstream schools we had to identify the patterns of behaviour and beliefs in the adults around the CYP which led to a breakdown in their placement.  The main themes we identified within school systems were: (i) staff feeling overwhelmed and deskilled by the level of need, (ii) rigid systems, and (iii) a lack of belief in the capacity for change.  These barriers warranted specific targeted support to empower staff through a coaching model, which allowed the system capacity for change and for innovative solutions to the problem.

Within the family the following themes were identified as contributors to the problem: (i) feeling disempowered [in the system], (ii) loss of trust in the school, and (iii) feeling overwhelmed by [understanding] their child’s needs.  This lent itself to support which mediates the relationship between home and school and allows space for parents to influence the support their child receives at school whilst guiding parents to reflect on their own values and how to bring these into parenting.

The approach therefore focused on intensive support to both the key staff within the school and the parents as well as bringing these people together.  Previous support had given advice and strategies but did not support the implementation of these.  Whereas our approach focused on helping the staff and parents develop confidence and understanding of the CYP over time.  Our approach values the expertise of those who know the CYP best whilst acknowledging that change is easy to recommend but hard to affect.  

By addressing the emotional barriers to change within individuals the effect on the CYP was profound.  Change was brough about through minor changes in provision and significant changes within the perspective of the adults working with the CYP. 

Strategy

In order the ensure that the approach taken to supporting the CYP was evidence informed and individualised the work started with a positive behavioural analysis.  This helped to identify the long-term difficulties that had led to the current presenting behaviour (which was putting the CYP at risk of exclusion or their current setting not meeting their need).  As well as the short term triggers that led to behavioural incidences. 

The difficulties and triggers were considered to understand what areas of need a CYP needed to have support developing which would then lead to a decrease in the behaviour indirectly.  For example, one CYP felt isolated and excluded by his peers, which meant when peers whispered near him he would often become dysregulated and direct his anger at his peers.  A focus on building a more positive view of himself and developing relationships with peers meant that whispering no longer triggered the behaviour.   For all CYP the positive behaviour analysis support plan was considered a ‘live’ document so that it frequently adjusted to the changing needs presented by the CYP as certain issues were resolved and new ones surfaced.

The approach with parents used an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy approach which helps parents to identify values which are meaningful to them and use those to direct how they might approach difficulties at home.  This approach was implemented in weekly sessions with the parents to build their autonomy to choose how to respond to their child.  This approach increased parents’ confidence.

Staff at school were supported through a coaching model such as Motivational Interviewing via a weekly session.  This approach allowed staff to set goals for themselves (in relation to the CYP) and focus on addressing gaps between current practice and their goals whilst also empathising with the difficulties in their role.  A key facet of this support was building the staff members’ confidence in their capacity to make change and stick to it.  Without this aspect we believe staff members would not have been able to continue implementing the  positive behaviour analysis support plan.

A final aspect of the approach involved regularly bringing together home and school to celebrate the successes and the progress that had been made.
The next steps for this project are to seek funding from schools within the local authority for this to be offered on a wider basis.  We know there are many more CYP in the borough who need this support and we want this offer to be available to every school.  For other boroughs looking to develop a similar approach I would suggest that they work intensively supporting the adults around the CYP to cope and feel empowered rather than focusing on what can be changed about the setting. 

The ongoing and regular aspects of our approach (for example, weekly support sessions) seem to have been a key ingredient to the success.

Outcomes

Impact was measured in a variety of ways.  The number of days of exclusion 6 weeks prior to the involvement beginning was recorded and then compared to the 6 weeks following the involvement.  In the first week of the involvement the staff and parents were asked to record each behavioural incident and rate its intensity (from 1-5, 5 being the most intense).  From this an average number and intensity of incidents was taken.  This was compared to the same data recording 1 week prior to finishing recording.   Schools were also asked to rate a CYPs risk of permanent exclusion prior to the involvement (from 1-10, 10 being the CYP was at immediate risk of permanent exclusion) they were then asked to re-rate at the close of involvement.  Where CYP were on a part-time timetable this was recorded at the start of involvement and compared to the end of the involvement.  All of these measures moved in the positive direction (please see attached graphs for specific values). 

An objective measure was also taken which asked whether the CYP had been excluded or moved to a specialist setting during the involvement (or 6 weeks following). 100% of participants had not been excluded or moved and this was no longer a prospect.  This is despite the average risk of permanent exclusion across all cases, at the start of involvement, being 8/10.

Quantitatively in the parent/school review meetings all of those involved were asked about changes they saw in the CYP and changes they felt in themselves.  Qualitative changes reported for the CYP included: (i) being happier in school, (ii) being calmer, (iii) being more willing to take part in the activities in the classroom, (iv) being more comfortable accepting positive feedback, and (v) asking to go back to school after a school break.  Staff at school regularly reported: (i) having more confidence, (ii) having more ideas of how to approach a difficulty, (iii) feeling calmer in times of crisis, and (iv) looking forward to spending time with the CYP.  Parents reported: (i) feeling like they were better parents, (ii) having a much more positive atmosphere at home, (iii) feeling less ‘on edge’ around their child, and (iv) being more hopeful about their future. 

Resource Implications

The only cost of resources in this intervention was the cost of labour to carry out the intervention which was carried out by either an Educational Psychologist or a Behaviour Analyst.  This was calculated at £550 per day.  On average the intervention took one day a week for 16 weeks.  This means that the cost of the intervention to each CYP was £8,800 (on average).  Over the course of five months we prevented five CYP from being excluded from school and maintained their placements in their mainstream settings. 

Voice

Parent

What has been helpful about the support?
“Knowing how C is doing in school on a more regular basis. Hearing feedback and strategies that help C.”

What change have you noticed for the child?
“C is more amenable to directions given”

What change have you noticed in your own approach to the problem?
“I use more word dialogue with C after receiving positive feedback when mentioned knowing this is the best approach for him”

What specifically about the support has enabled a positive change?
“Reaching a level of patience with C, his learning and knowing the best way to support him”

How does this support differ from other forms of support (or professionals) you have received before?
“I receive more feedback and a regular basis so I know what happening within school”

Anything you would like to suggest about how we offer support.
“Nothing  this is a wonderful service that has offered a lot of help. Thank you”

Professional (Assistant Head)

What has been helpful about the support?
“Helping us to see things differently and understand more about J.  The intensive support to guide us through our decision making and help during the ups and downs.  A real consideration of the emotional load of supporting some CYP”

What change have you noticed for the child?
“J’s challenging behaviour has reduced significantly, we have gone from being on the verge of excluding him to no exclusions for months.  He seems happier in school and is beginning to engage with such curiosity in his learning.”

What change have you noticed in your own approach to the problem?
“For us we have taken more of a problem solving approach rather than a defeatist approach.  We are more hopeful and we genuinely feel we can make a difference to him.  We understand so much more about him and we have started applying what we have learnt to others.”

What specifically about the support has enabled a positive change?
“The intensity of the support, having someone to guide you week by week.  It keeps you accountable but it also means that they adapt to what is coming up. It has also really facilitated the relationship with parents which has been key.”

How does this support differ from other forms of support (or professionals) you have received before?
“Not just giving us strategies and then going.  These kind of CYP really need some ongoing work and before we would say we didn’t have the skills but now I feel we do but we just need someone to help build our confidence for that.  It has been transformative for us and some members of staff.”