Under the Behaviour Improvement Programme (BIP) - a key part of the £470 million National Behaviour and Attendance Strategy - local education authorities (LEAs) will be granted funds to develop a package of measures to improve behaviour and attendance which could include:

• Behaviour and Education Support Teams (BESTs) which identify and provide intensive multi-agency support to pupils at risk of developing emotional, social and behavioral problems;

• supervised first day provision for pupils on temporary exclusion to provide alternative education that seeks to motivate disaffected vulnerable pupils;

• behaviour audits to identify schools’ pressing behaviour and attendance issues, and enable them to plan training for school staff to tackle them;

• Learning Mentors, school staff who help pupils to overcome problems that are getting in the way of their learning;

• ‘Safer School Partnerships’ where a dedicated full-time police officer is based in selected schools to work in partnership with pupils, school staff and the wider community to identify and work with young people who are at high risk of victimisation, offending and social exclusion;

• ‘extended schools’ with activities outside of the school day, such as breakfast clubs to keep young people engaged with the education system and encourage regular attendance and good behaviour;

• a range of measures to reduce truancy, such as more frequent truancy sweeps, school-based educational welfare officers, and attendance audits;

• electronic registration systems which confirm the attendance of each pupil in every class, and can reduce unauthorised absence rates by up to 10%.

Background: In July 2002, the Department for Education and Skills allocated £50 million under phase one of the Behaviour Improvement Programme to the 34 local education authorities with the highest levels of crime and truancy. Between two and four secondary schools together with their ‘feeder’ primary schools in each authority are participating in the programme, covering a total of 130 secondary schools, 555 primary schools and over 300,000 pupils.

LEAs receiving support under phase one of the Behaviour Improvement Programme are:

Barking and Dagenham, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Brent, Bristol, Camden, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Knowsley, Lambeth, Leeds, Lewisham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newham, Nottingham, Oldham, Reading, Rochdale, Salford, Sheffield, Slough, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Westminster, Wolverhampton

From 1 April 2003, the Behaviour Improvement Programme was extended to a further 27 local education authorities at a cost of £37.8 million to cover some 100 secondary and 500 primary schools and over 250,000 pupils. Total investment in the programme from its beginning to the end of Spending Review in 2005 will be £342 million.

LEAs receiving support under phase two of the Behaviour Improvement Programme are:

Corporation of London, Rotherham, Wandsworth, Ealing, Gateshead, Halton, Hartlepool, Hull, Leicester, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, North Tyneside, St Helens, South Tyneside, Sunderland, Redcar & Cleveland, Stockton, Stoke, Solihull, Wirral, Sefton, Sandwell, Barnsley, Doncaster, Luton, Blackburn & Darwen, Blackpool.

All LEAs and schools participating in the Behaviour Improvement Programme have committed to achieving the following objectives:

• improve standards of behaviour overall, and reduce the number of serious incidents;

• reduce truancy, setting challenging targets to limit unauthorised absence;

• secure lower levels of exclusions than in comparable schools;

• ensure that there is a named key worker for every child at risk of truancy, exclusion or criminal behaviour by January 2003; and

• ensure the availability of full-time, supervised education for all pupils from the first day of either permanent or temporary exclusion.

Other elements of BIP include Key Stage 3, Police in Schools, the strategy to tackle truancy, and full-time provision for permanently excluded pupils.

The following case studies illustrate the type of activities currently being implemented by schools under phase one of the Behaviour Improvement Programme:

Behaviour Education Support Teams (BEST) in Manchester
Manchester local education authority has 4 BESTs up and running and working with their school clusters on individual referrals and whole school behaviour and attendance issues. Currently their workload consists of referrals of individual pupils and their families, issue-led group work, supporting schools in carrying out behaviour audits, holding surgeries for school staff and working with the Adult Education Service on parenting support.

The local education authority considers one of the positives of the BIP to be greater discussion among schools about the benefits of early intervention and preventative strategies. The Project Manager cites the reaction of one of their secondary schools, Ducie High, as a validation of the cluster based approach because of the headteacher’s insistence that the BEST focuses on the school’s feeder primaries.

Manchester’s BIP project manager claims that despite the newness of the BEST there are some early indications of impact – including the engagement of difficult pupils, and their families, who have historically been hard to reach and positive links between agencies involved with vulnerable children.

Behaviour Education Support Teams (BEST) in Liverpool
Liverpool local education authority used the BIP money to fast track development of multi-agency links it was already making with its Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS). As a consequence of this relationship Liverpool BESTs include CAMHS workers – mental health provision was one of the gap areas that the schools and the LEA had identified as essential in tackling poor behaviour and attendance. Ofsted recently evaluated Liverpool’s programme and praised the strong multi agency working being carried out under the BIP’s auspices.

Counselling Services in Greenwich
Kidbrooke School in Greenwich has used BIP funding to finance a counselling service which provides one-to-one support for pupils and their families, group work and family therapy. In addition, the consultancy also runs a helpline for parents dealing with crises such as self harm, drugs or crime. The headteacher Trisha Jaffe says parents have reacted very positively to the service, despite it only starting in January, and that “the aim is to keep them engaged at every stage”.

Skill Force in Nottingham
The Ministry of Defence-led Skill Force project works with children at highest risk of being disaffected in all of Nottingham’s Behaviour Improvement Programme secondary schools. Skill Force operates in 13 of the 34 BIP areas and runs an alternative programme of educational activities for disaffected pupils at key stage 4.

In Nottingham, they run two half-day sessions in each of the four schools involved in the project with groups of 25 young people. Activities include accredited first aid courses, team building and key skills work. It is well attended, is now a key element of after school activities, and has improved attendance. The BIP Project Manager claims that Skill Force is so popular that schools want more. This achievement is significant as they were dealing with the worst students for behaviour and attendance – it has also taken some of the pressure of the school staff.

Alternative Curriculum – ‘Activate’ in Slough
Slough is using BIP money to pump prime their ‘Activate’ work-related learning programme for disaffected students. The scheme is part of the council’s aspiration to achieve zero school exclusions through offering alternative curriculum choices. The scheme is run by the authority in partnership with a local business, Sara Lee, with help from East Berkshire College, and the Slough Business Community Partnership.

Pupils spend time training at offices based at the Sara Lee headquarters in Slough. The centre offers a work-related curriculum to young people who have often become disenchanted with school, which can lead to poor behaviour and attendance. Trainees are helped to secure work placements as well as working towards vocational qualifications.

Further information about the programme, projects, useful links and guidance on Exclusions, Social Inclusion: Pupil Support and Social Inclusion: The LEAs role in Pupil Support is available on the Behaviour and Attendance site.