[senco-forum] downward spiral in school behaviour, primary

Hello Kate
  We are a secondary school and we run a Learning and Behaviour Unit like Janice's school does.  Pupils can spend some time in there as an alternative to exclusion as well as usually having to have one day in there when they return from external exclusion.  Ours is staffed by a Unit Manager and a part time assistant.  
  What is important is that most kids hate it.  They are in school but they can't mix with their friends or go out of the room at all.  Lunch is spent in there too.  And the best thing is that there is a chance to talk to some about why they behave like they do.
  We use it on a lesson-by-lesson basis for some pupils (one of my Year 11 is doing my English lessons in there and he is desperate for me to let him back in the classroom - the price is his improved behaviour).
  The other side of what you say is how parents treat a pupil who has been excluded.  We need them to reinforce the idea that an exclusion is something which merits some sort of sanction at home.  

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall
Kate Barnes <kate.senrab at btinternet.com> wrote:
  Our school has always had a number of children with quite severe BESD and challenging behaviour. We have a whole school behaviour policy which uses a stepped approach and classes have their own variants on golden time. Those few children (several with statements) for whom this is inappropriate have additional reward strategies and small group/1:1 work. Despite this, at times these few display more extreme behaviours, such as running out of school, climbing trees, swearing at staff, refusing to come off the playground, repeatedly attacking other children. Various agencies are involved and each child has an IEP and strategies in place to manage as best we can in a mainstream context. Unfortunately we have increasingly occasion to resort to short term exclusions. We have instigated a short period (11/2 hours of working with a member of SMT on return from an exclusion to try and reduce the "Hey look at me , I had the day off yesterday" syndrome
However in recent weeks the extreme behaviour of these few seems to be impacting more on each other and on the next group down (all of whom have BESD, but previously have not displayed such extreme behaviour)
One child summed it up today. "No I'm not ***** going to, and you cant make me, all you can do is send me home, and then I can play on my play station, so *** you"
I can see a worrying downward spiral......any ideas you wise people at there?
Kate

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall