Case Study: Preventing Permanent Exclusions in Primary Schools through our specialist coaching support
Updated: 15 hours ago
The Challenge
A Year 6 pupil had been repeatedly excluded for short periods of time due to his aggressive behaviour towards other children. Staff reported that he became angry very quickly in both the classroom and on the playground and would often hurt other children. Several parents had complained to the school about this pupil’s behaviour. The child’s parents and the school were concerned they were close to a decision to permanently exclude him.
The pupil found it very difficult to accept that there was anything wrong with hurting children if they were ‘annoying’ and he would often withdraw from support offered by adults and refuse to discuss the situation. The pupil’s parents and school staff were also concerned about how he would manage the transition to secondary school and how the new staff team would manage his behaviour.
The Support Plan
The pupil participated in a series of six Emotional Logic coaching sessions delivered in school.
Our specialist school coach supported the pupil to:
Build a supportive, trusting relationship with his coach.
List and discuss the things in his life that he was happy with and the things he would like to change or have more of. To explore plans to successfully address these areas.
Develop a shared vocabulary for expressing emotions using our kinaesthetic resources.
Understand the useful purposes of his strong, unpleasant emotions.
Understand the differences between aggressive, passive and assertive bargaining and the different impact these have.
Reflect on the way he bargains when he is under pressure and whether there are more effective ways to do this.
Identify practical strategies to expand his ‘window of tolerance’ for other children.
The Outcome
Over the course of the intervention, the pupil demonstrated:
An increased ability to recognise and talk honestly about his emotions and how he reacts when under pressure.
Significantly improved social behaviour in the classroom – no further children were hurt by him since he started the sessions with his coach.
Improved learning behaviour – he invited his coach to speak to his whole class about Emotional Logic and the different styles of bargaining and helped them to do so.
More positive engagement with school staff.
No further exclusions from school.
Staff reported that the pupil appeared significantly calmer and more resilient since taking part in the sessions. He hurt no other children and finished the final six months of his time in Year 6 without any further exclusions. As a result of the success of this case, our team have been asked to continue to support the school over many years and have trained staff throughout their academy trust.
This case study is an anonymised, composite case study, to protect the confidentiality of children, families and schools.
