Ladygrove Primary School: Creating Calmer, Happier and Safer Children  

Impact of CPI Training

• Empowered staff to handle situations confidently without involving senior leaders.
• Reduction of physical holds.
• Improved school environment with less anxious staff members.

Situation

The mainstream school, which is in Dawley, Shropshire, sits in between an affluent area and a more deprived area. Therefore, the school caters for a wide range of pupils from different backgrounds and staff can come up against the full spectrum of behaviour challenges.

“At Ladygrove, we have a range of different needs. We have high-flyers with good backgrounds, but we also have some children from less privileged backgrounds and who may be under other local services,” Angie said.

Angie’s initial task was to ensure the wellbeing of both staff and children and set up a nurture room.

Solution

Having been a Certified Instructor in MAPA®, already, Angie Atkinson started at Ladygrove Primary School in 2019 with a wealth of knowledge about CPI’s training.

Angie knew that CPI training was best placed to meet Ladygrove’s needs as having been in charge of behaviour management in her previous role, she was familiar with the CPI’s train-the-trainer model and the money-saving and practical benefits of having a Certified Instructor on hand to deliver ongoing training as required.

As Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager for Ladygrove, catering for both staff and learners, she was keen to continue the CPI ethos within the school, knowing the difference it had made in her previous academy setting. She updated her training to becoming a Safety Intervention™ Certified Instructor.

Results or Outcomes

As of June 2023, Angie will have trained the whole school’s staff in at least some elements, for instance the verbal de-escalation methods and general philosophy, of Safety Intervention™.

“The training has been really well received so far. It’s giving all the adults in the school the extra tools and skills they need as well as better understanding. It shows them why we do things the way we do and retrains the brain for the responses to become second nature. Everyone can see the solutions and the bigger picture now and it aids the understanding that behaviour is a form of communication.”

Thanks to the training, staff, including lunchtime staff, know how to handle a situation confidently with senior leaders now not being called to the playground so often.

The school has also experienced a reduction in physical holds, it is a ‘no shouting’ school and there is a strong focus on a calm, consistent, adult approach across the board.

“We used to have eight children who we had to hold, only if they were becoming a danger to themselves and others, but now we have just two children we hold, but only if we absolutely have to. It’s very rare now as they have safe adults and safe spaces so more often than not, we can de-escalate the situation effectively well before we resort to the very last option of holding them.”

Because the children are calmer, happier and feel safe at school, staff members have also become less anxious and much more confident. They know they have the skills to deal with anything that arises and as a result, everyone’s wellbeing has improved.