Tag Archives: HM Government

An independent review providing practical guidance to teachers about how to tackle bad behaviour in the classroom has been published today (24 March 2017).

Teacher and behaviour expert Tom Bennett spent several months meeting classroom teachers and leaders from a variety of schools to identify successful strategies used to tackle disruptive behaviour.

His report ‘Creating a culture: how school leaders can optimise behaviour’ concludes that while there is no ‘silver bullet’, there are a variety of strategies that can be used to tackle poor behaviour.

It also highlights that although standards of behaviour can be a challenge for schools, leadership is key to creating the right culture to tackle this issue.

Tom Bennett said:

How well students behave in school is crucial to how far they succeed, socially and academically. There are many tremendous schools doing a superb job, and some schools that could improve a great deal.

I spoke to leaders of coastal schools, inner-city schools, rural, primary, secondary, alternative provision and asked them what they did. Every school has different circumstances and challenges, but we found that some themes were almost universal: clear routines, robustly administered, high expectations and a focus on building a strong sense of identity and good relationships where children feel they belong, are safe, and are expected to do their best. That’s why I called it ‘creating a culture’. Because these things don’t happen by accident.

We also need to acknowledge that in some schools, challenges faced are greater than in others, and in these circumstances we need to look at better ways of guaranteeing that provision, skill sets and support are available. The skills required to improve school behaviour cultures already exist within the ecosystem of schools. The challenge now is for us to collaborate as a community to do so.

The Department for Education has welcomed the report and will now use its findings to inform ongoing work to help and support schools to deal with this issue.

Edward Timpson MP, Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families, said:

Part of our plan for Britain is building a fairer society – with a good school place for every child. That means children being able to learn in classrooms that are free from disruption. Tom Bennett’s report is relevant, insightful and draws on tried and tested methods that will provide real help to teachers across the country.

I would encourage all school leaders to use its practical examples to help create a positive environment that addresses the needs of their pupils.

National Association of Head Teachers General Secretary Russell Hobby said:

The design of a culture to support good behaviour is a central duty of every school leader. It requires clarity, consistency and courage. It is a conscious choice, constantly maintained. Tom’s report distils practical advice from excellent schools, alongside the evidence from research, to help leaders reflect on and develop their own impact.

John d’Abbro, executive headteacher of New Rush Hall School, said:

This is a refreshingly powerful, down to earth, and practical report, which distils and recognises effective good practice. Tom makes the key point that continuous professional development in behaviour management is vital for both teachers and senior leaders and more needs to be made available. The case studies exemplify these points and further demonstrate that behaviour is a whole-school issue.

Alison Colwell, principal of Ebbsfleet Academy, which was visited as part of the review, said:

This fascinating report should be read by every school leader. It rightly emphasises the critical importance of culture, attention to detail and consistent practice, all of which are at the heart of strong and successful school leadership.

In its response to the report, the government has set out a number of measures that are being taken forward to address the points raised. These include:

• reforming National Professional Qualifications to equip school leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to deal with bad behaviour. The new qualifications will be delivered from September 2017
• encouraging providers to bid for funding from a pot of £75 million from the Teaching and Leadership Innovation Fund to develop and run professional development programmes tackling bad behaviour for leaders in challenging areas
• revising our existing advice for schools including the mental health and behaviour guidance to ensure they support teachers and school leaders as best as they possibly can
• conducting further research into what works to help young people with behavioural issues, and as such, continue to develop our long-term ambition to give control of alternative provision budgets to mainstream schools, allowing these to commission their own such provision and take responsibility for educational outcomes of their pupils

Several schools are identified in the report as exemplars of good practice. These include:

Robert Clack, Dagenham

In one of the poorest boroughs of London, children from traditionally underachieving demographics exceed national expectations, and have done so for many years. The school uses practical measures such as wall displays to emphasise achievements, school awards and other opportunities. In this way, a culture of high expectation is in place for all students, regardless of their circumstances.

New Rush Hall, Redbridge

The school’s philosophy is that the most vulnerable, the most challenging pupils, need greater support, not less. The school ensures staff receive training throughout their careers to meet the needs of the student body.

Seymour Road Primary, Manchester

A school that went from requires improvement to good in just 2 years by developing good relationships with both parents and pupils. They have done this by having an open door policy for parents, a support worker who visits homes, and they have held behaviour training sessions for the parents.

Since 2010 the government has introduced a range of measures to give teachers more powers to tackle poor behaviour. These include:

• stronger powers to search pupils
• removal of the requirement to give parents 24 hours’ written notice of ‘after-school’ detentions
• clarified teachers’ power to use of reasonable force
• updated advice on tough but proportionate sanctions for misbehaviour as well as ensuring schools’ decisions on exclusions can no longer be overruled
• ensuring that all teachers are equipped with the skills to tackle both the serious behaviour issues that compromise the safety and wellbeing of pupils, as well as how to deal with low-level disruption that stops children from learning properly

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The Charity Commission has concluded that the trustee in charge of Khalsa Missionary Society has damaged the good name of charities by using a charity as a conduit for immigration fraud. The Commission has permanently removed him as a trustee barring him from becoming involved with charities again (see ‘Notes to editors’).

The Commission was notified in August 2013 by the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team (‘HOIE’) that it had commenced a criminal investigation into the charity as it suspected it was being abused to allow illegal entry of Indian nationals into the UK for a fee.

The Commission assisted the HOIE investigation through the sharing of information and opened a statutory inquiry in September 2014 to examine whether there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity. The Commission’s inquiry found that there was only one active trustee in the charity. As a result of its concerns the Commission removed this individual as a trustee in January 2016.

The individual pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court to 3 counts of assisting unlawful immigration to between 2011 and 2013, and was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment on 16 May 2016.

The Commission’s inquiry concluded that the trustee used the charity to facilitate immigration fraud. The charity had been used as a conduit for the immigration fraud, which worked by the charity sponsoring individuals as ministers for religion, while funds were circulated through the charity’s bank accounts to give the appearance that the charity was receiving legitimate donations.

The inquiry concluded that there had been misconduct and mismanagement in the administration of the charity in that he had breached his legal duties to protect the charity’s assets by using the charity as a conduit to commit immigration fraud. The regulator also concluded that he had potentially providing false and misleading information to the Commission.

The Commission removed the charity from the register in February 2016 as it no longer operated.

Carl Mehta, Head of Investigations and Enforcement, said:

We work closely with law enforcement agencies to prevent and disrupt abuse of charities. In this case we were able to share information with the Home Office Immigration and Enforcement Criminal Investigations Team and support the successful prosecution of an individual who was benefiting from this disgraceful abuse of charitable status.

Charity trustees must act with integrity and avoid any personal benefit or conflicts of interest. They must not misuse charity funds or assets and make decisions which are reasonable and in the best interests of the charity. Trustee duties are detailed in our guidance ‘The essential trustee’.

The full report is available on GOV.UK.

Ends

PR 22/17

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Notes to editors

1. Removed under Section 79 (2)(a)(i) of the Charities Act 2011, therefore disqualified from holding a trustee position or other management role in a charity subject to a waiver from the Commission.
2. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work, see our annual report.
3. Search for charities on our online register.

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It is a great honour to be here today. I lived and worked for two years with the British, US and Afghan military in the war-zone of Helmand, southern Afghanistan, during which time our coalition forces were losing lives on an almost daily basis. And my eldest son is a British army officer who could be deployed on operations at any time. Therefore I know from personal experience about the good that our armed forces can achieve in trying to stabilise places in the world that are shattered by conflict. And I know about the sacrifices that brave military personnel are often called upon to make.

I repeat that it is an honour to be here today.

I echo the US Ambassador’s congratulations to President Lungu, to the Government, to the Zambian Defence forces, and to the Zambian people, for supporting peace and security mission in Africa, with boots on the ground.

I am glad that British Army trainers could assist again with the Zambian Defence Force’s pre-deployment training, in 2017 as we did in 2016. The training of ZAMBATT 3 over the last 2 months has been a joint effort between Zambian, US and UK trainers: the Zambian Army under Colonel Changala, US African Contingency Operations Training & Assistance under the direction of Curtis Crum, and British Army under WO1 Regimental Sergeant Major Ash Curson.

The training package involved individual specialist courses ranging from advance medical training to creating and training the female engagement teams rightly highlighted by the US Ambassador. This training then progressed from training individuals to Companies of around 120 personnel, and to the whole Battle Group 750-strong.

I wish to thank the Zambian and US teams for their patience in trying to understand the wide variety of British accents within the UK team. While Britain can’t compare with Zambia for the number of local languages spoken, we display our diversity through regional accents and dialects which can be difficult to comprehend when first heard, even for fellow countrymen like myself.

The British team have described to me the training as “testing”. I gather that Mr Crum and Colonel Changala, who designed, coordinated and, ran this package, are not the kind of trainers who would allow anyone to have an easy or comfortable time.

Credit must go to Colonel Changala, and his Zambian trainers, who worked tirelessly to ensure their fellow country men and women are now well placed to achieve a positive effect in the Central African Republic.

Mention should be made of the Zambian Air Force contingent, under the command of Col Alipher Phiri, who have been put through their paces – from base protection to helicopter casualty evacuation exercise. I wish you well with your probable mission to South Sudan.

I wish to pay tribute, as well, to Lt Col John Banda, CO of ZAMBATT 3, for the sterling effort he and his headquarters team have put into shaping ZAMBATT 3 into an effective force of which Zambia can proud.

ZAMBATT 3 can expect a challenging tour, with your subunits spread over great distances in a confusing and contested environment, where the belligerent forces are neither easily defined nor contained.

ZAMBATT 3, you represent a glimmer of hope to the people of the Central African Republic. Treat them with respect. Since you are guests in their land, the onus will be on you to understand their story, their pain and anger, after the trauma they have experienced. When you finish your work in their country, let them remember the people of Zambia with affection and pride.

Lt Col John Banda, I wish you and the men and women of ZAMBATT 3 the best of luck. From what my British Army colleagues have told me, I don’t believe that ZAMBATT 3 will be found wanting.

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For latest updates on the incident that took place in Westminster on 22 March you can read more on the Metropolitan Police website. Twitter updates You can follow @Terrorism Police UK and @MetPoliceUK for Twitter updates on the incident. Useful advice… read more