Great Academy Ashton has been awarded the accolade of becoming a ‘Behaviour Hub’ partner school.
‘Behaviour Hubs’ are the brainchild of Tom Bennett, the lead behaviour advisor to the Department for Education and an initiative to improve behaviour in schools.
He was appointed to chair a new task force created by the DfE early last year.
More than 1,000 schools applied to become a ‘Behaviour Hub’.
Becoming a ‘Behaviour Hub’ means Great Academy Ashton, part of the Great Academies Education Trust, will work closely with other schools to support and facilitate them in implementing systems and measures to improve the behaviour of students in their educational establishments.
David Waugh, Principal of Great Academy Ashton said: “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 working with other schools and sharing best practice around behavioural needs.”
The £10m behaviour hubs’ initiative aims to support schools which struggle with poor discipline over the next three years.
The initiative begins 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.
Phil Smith, Director of Education of Great Academies Education Trust said: “Teaming up with other Multi Academy Trusts is a wonderful opportunity to further develop and improve the consistency of what we do.
“Good behaviour is the bedrock to improving our schools further and we want all of our schools to be places where every teacher can get on and teach and all students can get on and learn, day in day out – helping everyone reach their full potential.”
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.