PROGRESS Stories

A primary in Bexley and a secondary in Suffolk show how a focus on wellbeing improves learning and behaviour

Like many other headteachers, Andrew Fell of Chantry High School in Suffolk regularly gathers information from students about their attitudes to learning or experiences of bullying. The challenge can be knowing what the data really means. Without any way of answering the question 'why?', how can he find a clear way forward in addressing the underlying issues?

This is where Fell has found the data generated through Antidote's PROGRESS Programme to be enormously useful. 'It has enabled us,' he says, 'to understand the emotional dimensions that shape what is going on with behaviour and learning.'

Jane Reason, an assistant headteacher at Chantry, says the Programme has led to a shift in focus from behaviour and achievement to relationships and learning. This is expressed in the three 'rocks' that shape the school's strategies for improvement:

• Achieve more
• Listen more
• Look after each other more

There is always, says Reason, a danger that schools will give an excuse for anything that comes up in surveys' and decide to nothing about it. The Antidote data, by contrast, 'informs the development of a strategy that pulls on the key levers to change.'

At Chantry this led to changes in the way staff teaching. The PROGRESS Programme identified that students were struggling to stay curious and work in teams. Focusing on that issue has led to students becoming significantly more aware of the fact that they can change the way they learn. This has had, says Reason, 'a massive effect in terms of achievement.'

Chantry's experience has informed Antidote's response to Ofsted's current consultation on what indicators schools should use to assess whether they are promoting student wellbeing.

The quantified indicators proposed, says Antidote, 'to tell us something about whether students are currently experiencing some aspects of wellbeing. They don't, though, tell us if the measures taken by the school translate into an experience of wellbeing for children and young people. Nor do they give any indication of what lies behind the data. This limits their value as levers for positive change within the school.'

At Northumberland Heath Primary School in Bexley, they have included the questions identified by Ofsted into the PROGRESS surveys. And whereas Ofsted is only planning to gather the experience of parents and children, Northumberland Heath is also exploring the experience and perceptions of staff. This reflects Antidote's finding that the wellbeing of each section of the community impacts on all the rest.

Northumberland Heath collected data from 111 parents, 185 students and 48 members of staff. This told an enormously positive story about the school's emotional environment, while also identifying ways to build an even more cohesive staff team and help children get along even better.


PROGRESS Stories