ST AUGUSTINE’S Catholic High School and Sixth Form has been awarded the accolade of becoming a Behaviour Hub by the government.
Behaviour Hubs are the brainchild of Tom Bennett, who is the lead behaviour advisor to the Department for Education.
Early last year he was appointed to chair a new task force created by the DfE to tackle unruly behaviour in schools.
More than 1,000 schools applied to become a Behaviour Hub and today, Wednesday, April 7, 22 successful schools have been announced.
The award will enable St Augustine’s, which has an exemplary behaviour culture and practice in place, to work closely with partner schools to support and facilitate them in implementing systems and measures to improve the behaviour of their students in school.
Gerald O’Connor, Principal of St Augustine’s said: “I am proud of our staff who have worked hard to earn this well-deserved distinction.
“Our Pastoral team are dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to ensure that our high expectations of behaviour are met by every student.
“We look forward to partnering with other schools to share our best practice and support them with their behavioural needs.”
The £10million behaviour hubs initiative aims to support 500 schools which struggle with poor discipline over the next three years.
It will begin at the start of the summer term.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, has also pledged to consult on “how we can help heads remove phones from the school day”.
Lead schools and academy trusts will work closely with the schools they are supporting to diagnose what can be improved.
They will also develop and launch new behaviour approaches and policies and provide ongoing mentoring and support.
The DfE said mentoring schools will provide advice on issues ranging from setting clear expectations to eliminating low-level disruption, to more systematic approaches to maintaining order and discipline such as forbidding the use of mobile phones and maintaining quiet corridors.
There will also be “open days” at lead schools where their counterparts can observe good systems and approaches in action.
