Being part of a close-knit, cohesive team of professionals working in a relatively small school might be thought to bring unmitigated joy. Yet, the very strength of this situation can be its Achilles heel.

Many of the staff at Campknoll Primary had been there for over 15 years. The children benefited from the constancy of the adults around them. There were few behaviour problems and the school hummed with a purposeful sense of learning.

The staff and students completed Antidote's Environment for Learning Survey (ELS) and the results were as positive as expected, with relationships scoring particularly high.

Yet all was not completely well; some 15% of responses were scored 1 or 2 out of 6 for questions about feeling 'connected to people with whom I work'. A closer look at the data showed that this scoring was to do with feeling connected to other adults in the school.

In a very close-knit staff community, this is difficult information to hear. The very closeness of the relationships makes it almost impossible to say negative things. No one wants to upset anyone else.

Antidote's confidential questionnaire provides the anonymity and confidence for people to have their say and express their concerns. Through this, it was revealed that the issue at Campknoll Primary had to do with new staff joining the team, mostly in support staff roles.

These were people from the local community, often with children in the school. They found it extremely hard to join the core of long-serving staff. Without the advantage of professional status, they felt the lack of opportunity to develop and grow in a school where individuals had held jobs for years.

It wasn't that they couldn't voice their desire to try out new areas of work or responsibility. The appraisal and personal development systems were excellent. The headteacher was a warm and empathic listener. It was just that she was unable to accommodate the developmental needs of newer staff without running the risk of upsetting the very smooth running status quo.

The solution lay in developing understanding across the school of other people's perceptions and experiences so that it became possible to open up the structures and allow for small changes. As a consequence, the headteacher made annual change an expectation of every member of staff. It became part of the way the school was run to expect that staff would have a professional buddy from another part of the school each year. Alongside this, there was an expectation that people could try out parts of different roles on a rolling programme in order to extend their confidence and expertise.

With time, staff relationships became more open-weave and better able to accommodate newer members so that people coming in to the school felt connected, valued and respected in a more profound way than before.

Click here for more information on the PROGRESS Programme.