Assess
If the frequency, duration and/or intensity of the concerns continue or increase despite the whole school approach and adjustments to quality first teaching, a more detailed and structured ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ process needs to be followed.
The purpose of the further assessment is to pinpoint specific areas of concern and investigate the root of the problem which will enable school to provide targeted support and intervention.
For all concerns, the following is recommended to gather more information:
- Completion of the Warwickshire Awakening Resilience Model (WARM) Rating tool (PDF, 249 KB)
- Discussion with key adults at home and at school, e.g. using solution-focussed questioning. Parental concerns should be investigated even when responses at school are not raising concern
- Asking young people for their views using person centred approaches - these could be recorded in a One Page Profile or a Pupil Passport.
- Attendance data
- Completion of the Boxall Profile or Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
- Completion of the CWRISE dimension tool to consider appropriate next steps
- If other appropriate external agencies have been involved, the information that other professionals have provided needs to be considered.
In some contexts, it may be appropriate to seek support for the wider family through the Early Help pathway
As part of this information gathering it is important that the behaviours causing concern are measured in order to assess the impact of the interventions that are subsequently put in place.
Tools to measure/quantify behaviours that have disruptive effects include:
- Records of the frequency of behaviour, such as ABC records, STAR records or Coding charts
- Referring to the escalation cycle when describing behavioural responses.
- An assessment of the classroom environment, e.g. an environmental checklist completed by teachers in school
- Observations in class, e.g. Structured time-based observations
- Assessment of the impact of the behaviours on the learning of others, for example, a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
- A risk assessment may be needed.
For concerns regarding general wellbeing:
- Tools to assess, intervene and evaluating for mental health support, e.g.
- Tools to help understand a young person’s social and emotional needs, e.g.
- Boxall Profile (available through the Specialist Teacher Service)
- Tools to assess self-concept/self-image, e.g.
- Pupil Attitudes to Self and School - PASS Survey (available through the Specialist Teacher Service)
- Tools that assess anxiety, e.g.
- Tools that assess resilience, e.g.
- Tools to assess attachment and relationships with peers and peer acceptance, e.g.
It may be useful to note that some behaviours may arise as a result of language concerns (see the Snow Report) so a more detailed language assessment may be required. Please refer to the Communication and Interaction Section of this toolkit for more details.