PROGRESS Stories

Why Antidote's PROGRESS Programme works

In the past few weeks, we have been talking with school leaders about the impact of Antidote's PROGRESS Programme:

Nicola Bulpitt, headteacher, Belvedere Junior School in Bexley, said the quality of teaching had improved in ways she had not expected. 'It was because', she said, 'we got to know the staff much better and they got to know us a little better: they no longer think they are doing it for management.'

She was similarly impressed by the impact on children's behaviour. 'As a result of getting the children to think about themselves and what they would like the school to be, they know they need to behave properly so that they can get the best out of school.'

Deputy head Alan Holland said the improvement in relationships between staff and students at Llanishen High School in Cardiff had come about because students now felt more valued and listened to. The Programme, he said, enabled the school 'to assess the emotional climate accurately and to look at what the main concerns of staff and pupils were so that we knew exactly how to go forward.'

David Wilcox, headteacher of the Hayes Primary School in Croydon, said the improvements in communication in his school came about because of the way in which 'the process moves everybody to think about the learning environment, to think about they can make it change and make it much more worthwhile for everybody in the community.'

The overriding impact, says Linda Mulley, headteacher of Belvedere Infant School, is that 'people seem much happier. As you move around the school, you feel that they are really working together. The shift has been really wonderful.'

Schools working with Antidote have been discovering how much positive change can come about when staff and students become engaged in a shared conversation, informed by data, about how to make things even better. Meanwhile, policymakers have continued to struggle with the tension between their desire to maintain a centralised education policy and their recognition of the need to let go.

Click here for more information on the PROGRESS Programme.

PROGRESS Stories