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Sally Allen
Inclusion
Co-ordinator
Part of my role is to
coordinate the programmes
running at
The Base I also provide
support to our
students through 1:1
mentoring and
group work.
Child A had a lot of
barriers to learning which significantly affected
their ability to be successful at
school. Child A’s home life was transient
and chaotic, and there was limited support
from Child A’s parent/carer. There was Police
and Social Services involvement with
the family as Child A would often run away
from home. Child A’s attendance to school
was poor (54%), meaning that Child A
missed huge chunks of her learning and
found it difficult to access the work when
she did come into school. Child A also displayed
challenging behaviour and lacked in
social skills. All of theses barriers to learning
meant that Child A was at high risk of
permanent exclusion and needed lots of
support.
I was Child A’s mentor and had weekly sessions
with her in which we covered appropriate
behaviour, anger management, making
good choices, attendance, social skills,
positive relationships and issues at home.
Child A was on a Success Card with three
personalised targets which she would show
to me at the end of each day. Good cards
meant personalised rewards!
Child A was also put into a smoking
cessation group for one term to explore
addiction and the effects of smoking. Child A
had 8 sessions a week of extra literacy and
numeracy at The BASE to help her ‘catch up’
with work she’d missed due to her poor
attendance. This was really beneficial for
Child A who was then able to access the
work in lessons reducing the amount of
challenging behaviour in class. Child A
started attending Breakfast Club which
meant she was able to start the day off in a
positive way and this also stopped lateness
to morning lessons. I regularly liaised with
Child A’s social worker and parent/carer to
maintain good relationships and keep them
informed with Child A’s progress. I invited
Child A’s parent/carer to an informal coffee
morning at The BASE and as a result they
eventually signed up for a Positive Parenting
Programme.
Child A’s attendance went up to 92% and her
behaviour improved significantly both in and
out of school. She was able to use the social
skills she had learnt to form some solid
friendships and her confidence grew and
grew. Ultimately, Child A knew that she was
cared about at school and felt safe. Without
the support of the Inclusion Team I believe
that Child A wouldn’t have been able to
succeed at school to the degree that they
did.
It gives me great job satisfaction knowing
that I am part of a team that helps to remove
the barriers to learning for many young
people and consequently this allows them to
reach their full potential. Often it’s the little
things that make a big difference, and
sometimes you have to think outside the box
and go that extra mile for our students.
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